Advent Calendars - UK

Like so many of our Christmas traditions, the Advent Calendar started in Germany. In the 19th century, the countdown to Christmas was observed by making chalks marks on a door, lighting small candles and similar daily acts. Printed Advent Calendars appeared in the early 20th century, and after a break during WWII, the tradition continued to grow and evolve.

Advent Calendars quickly spread to other countries including the UK. And they are very popular here today. I vividly remember Advent Calendars from my 70s childhood - these were traditional card picture window ones.

Modern Advent Calendars start on the 1st of December. They don't align directly with the Christian period of Advent. Like most Christmas traditions they are mostly secular, featuring animals, snow scenes, Father Christmas and the like. And of course we have the always popular Chocolate Advent Calendars. And the very cool Lego and Playmobil calendars - I would have loved one on the Playmobil forest scenes as a child.

Right, on to the Advent Calendars themselves ...

Playmobil Advent Calendars are a great alternative to chocolate ones if you don't want the kids to get used to chocolate every day. When you consider the cost of Playmobil, these are very good value. You can either use them year after year, or you can use them to add to a child's Playmobil collection. These are recommended from age 4. My oldest boy will be 4 in time for this year's Advent season so I think we'll be getting the forest scene one this year - pirates or knights would go down very well too, but the forest one is more Christmassy.


Oh wow. Playmobil 4162 Advent Calendar Dinosaur Expedition New 2010.
More Playmobil Dinosaur ideas.
Playmobil 4161 Advent Calendar Post Office New 2010
More Playmobil Advent 2010 ideas.
Playmobil Advent Christmas in the Forest. I'd want this one even if I didn't have children.
More Playmobil Christmas Forest ideas.
One for the girls.
More Playmobil Unicorn Advent ideas.
One for the boys.
More Playmobil Police Advent ideas.
Yo ho ho ho.
More Playmobil Advent Pirates ideas.
Ponies at Christmas.
More Playmobil Advent Pony ideas.
Another lovely Christmassy Advent Calendar. Harder to get hold of.
More Playmobil Advent Park ideas.
Christmas Knights.
More Playmobil Advent Knights ideas.

Lego Advent Calendars have a small Lego toy to make each day - while they seem quite expensive, you do get quite a lot for your money. The Lego Advent Calendars are suitable from age 5.

One or two new Lego calendars are released each year. This year we are due to get a Lego City Christmas themed calendar and a Lego Kingdoms calendar. They both look brilliant. They are due for release in September 2010.


2824. The new 2010 calendar. Released Sept 1st.
More Lego City Advent Calendar ideas.
7952 New for 2010
More Lego Kingdoms Advent Calendar ideas.
6299 from 2009. Yo ho ho.
More Lego Pirates Advent ideas.
7687. The 2009 Lego City Advent Calendar.
More Lego City Advent Calendar ideas.
7724. The 2008 Lego City Advent Calendar.
More Lego City Advent Calendar ideas.

We have a lovely wooden Advent train with drawers in the carriages that comes out every year. We put stickers in these for our toddlers. But we could only put stickers in each day because the boys liked to get the train down and look at it each day. Wooden Advent Calendars make a great family tradition.


Lovely brightly coloured advent calendar. We like this one.
More Wooden Advent tree ideas.
With little drawers to fill.
More Wooden Advent nativity ideas.
Beautifully designed reindeer.
More Reindeer Advent Calendar ideas.
Put gifts in the draws. Opening doors.
More Ziggy Art Advent ideas.
He'll make it feel like Christmas
More Father Christmas Advent ideas.
Christmas tree with room for gifts.
More Christmas Tree Advent ideas.

These are lovely to hang up on the wall, and like wooden calendars they can come out every year.


This one includes 24 fabric gifts.
More Christmas Presents Advent Calendar ideas.
Includes nativity figures.
More Hanging Advent Calendar ideas.
24 beautiful little sacks to put presents in.
More felt Advent ideas.
Inexpensive felt calendar.
More Santa Advent Calendar ideas.
Pretty personalised calendar. Comes in red too.
More Personalised Advent Calendar. ideas.

Many of the wooden and fabric advent calendars come without gifts. This means you get to choose different gifts each year. You could go with chocolate of course. But here are a few different suggestions.

Tip: If you have gifts that won't fit in the drawer or pocket of your advent calendar, put a clue in instead and hide the present - you can have a mini treasure hunt every day!


Stickers are great for toddlers.
More stickers ideas.
Lots of different Silly Bandz sets to choose from.
More silly bandz ideas.
Learning their letters?
More magnetic letters ideas.
20 in the set, maybe include a few chocolates or plastic dinosaurs?
More magnetic dinosaurs ideas.
Good for two children. Add a few chocs to make up to 24.
More christmas puzzle ideas.
Add a few links to a Christmas paper chain each day.
More paper chain ideas.
20 stars plus 9 planets. Include a planet every few days and then give the extras on Christmas Eve.
More glow stars ideas.
Start with a cord then add a few beads or a cord each day.
More bead set ideas.
A new colour each day.
More 24 crayons ideas.
There are lots of 24 piece jigsaws to choose from
More 24 piece jigsaw ideas.
One each a day for two siblings?
More marbles ideas.
Build a village scene.
More wooden village ideas.
We have this set it's beautiful.
More little London ideas.
Well, we had to mention chocolate.
More Christmas chocolate. ideas.

There are lots of alternatives to a traditional advent calendar. Many are suitable for adults too - why should we miss out ;-) From a tea advent calendar, to jigsaw puzzles to fuzzy felt. Lot's of ideas if you fancy something a bit different this year.


Read a section each day.
More Christmas book ideas.
Add to the puzzle each day.
More Wooden Christmas puzzle ideas.
10 pieces a day.
More Christmas puzzle ideas.
gingerbread house
More gingerbread house ideas.
Advent figures
More Advent figures ideas.
Christmas countdown
More Christmas countdown ideas.
fuzzy felt
More fuzzy felt ideas.
Sticker Advent Calender
More Sticker Advent Calendar ideas.
Rusty Buckets. A bit different.
More East of India Advent ideas.
Beautiful reusable tree. Age 6+
More Kidsonroof ideas.

Playmobil and Lego are the most popular toy advent calendars, but there are some interesting alternatives to consider.


Barbie Christmas.
More Barbie Advent ideas.
Star Wars Christmas.
More Star Wars Advent ideas.
Baby Born Christmas.
More Baby Born Advent ideas.
Brightly coloured!
More Abrick Advent ideas.
Magnetic.
More magnetic Advent ideas.
Pretty and girly.
More Magclicks Advent ideas.
Littlest Pet Shop Christmas!
More Littlest Pet Shop Christmas ideas.

I have clear memories of opening the windows on my advent calendars as child. There was always one picture that you couldn't quite make out!


Santa's Sleigh, a classic.
More Santa Advent Calendar ideas.
Rupert, Rupert the Bear.
More Rupert the Bear ideas.
A 3D pop-up calendar.
More Pop-up Advent Calendar ideas.
Gets good reviews.
More 365 Penguins ideas.