There was a time when an advent calendar meant a sheet of cardboard, 24 thin chocolates and a fight over who got to open today’s door. Those days are long gone. The countdown to Christmas has become a tradition in its own right, and this year’s calendars go well beyond chocolate. You’ll find artisan cheese, American whiskey, seeds to sow in spring and nightly candles to light.
There’s also a growing move towards calendars that last. Wooden houses, fabric pockets and fill-your-own drawers are designed to come out of the loft every December, so the tradition becomes part of your family’s story rather than another thing in the recycling bin.
Whether you’re buying for a little one who can’t wait for the first of the month, a friend who deserves some quiet self-care, or yourself (we won’t tell), we’ve rounded up the advent calendars worth knowing about this year. They range from pocket-money prices to proper investment pieces.
For the Self-Care Lover
12 Days of Wellness Advent Calendar, M&S, £120
This twelve-day countdown brings together some of M&S’s best-loved fragrances in classic and limited-edition formats. Alongside hand lotion and body wash, you’ll find a pomander, a candle care kit and a sleep mask that you can only get in this calendar. It’s a lovely way to treat someone to a little luxury each evening.
Shop at M&S
24 Day Self Care Rituals Wellness Advent Calendar, Hallby, £124.95
Each of the 24 numbered parcels holds a small wellbeing treat, such as bath salts, a candle, tea, chocolate, a face mask or a planner pad. Each one comes with a printed ritual that turns it into a few minutes of calm. It’s ideal for anyone who finds December more frantic than festive. Calendars ship from the start of November.
Shop at Hallby
Starry Nights Twelve Days of Christmas Advent Calendar, Bramley, £120
Bramley’s limited-edition calendar takes its cue from quiet winter evenings under the stars. Its twelve drawers each hold a botanical treat. The calendar itself is made to be refilled and reused, so the gift carries on long after the twelfth drawer is opened.
Shop at Bramley
Christmas Carousel Advent Calendar, ARRAN Sense of Scotland, £90
ARRAN says this carousel holds more than £200 worth of its Scottish-made products for £90, which makes it one of the better-value beauty calendars around.
Shop at ARRAN
7 Days of Pampering Beauty Advent Calendar, Oliver Bonas, £39.50
If 24 days feels like a commitment, Oliver Bonas offers a week of pampering instead. It’s a lovely stocking-sized gift or a final-week treat in the run-up to the big day.
Shop at Oliver Bonas
Candles and Home Fragrance
Hotel Collection Candle Advent Calendar, Aldi, £24.99
Aldi’s popular candle calendar is back with 25 doors rather than 24. Each one hides a 50g candle with up to eight hours of burn time, in scents including Warm Gingerbread, Hot Cocoa, Frosted Fir and Iced Berries. That works out at less than £1 a candle, which is hard to beat.
Shop at Aldi
Tealight Advent Calendar, St Eval, £50
Cornish candle maker St Eval fills its calendar with 24 scented tealights and a gold-dusted holder. The box is illustrated with a moonlit North Cornish coastline, with a humpback whale, mermaids and a castle. It’s a calendar for anyone who likes to end the day by candlelight.
Shop at St Eval
Christmas Wax Melt Advent Calendar, M&S, £35
This calendar holds 24 wax melts, eight in each of three M&S seasonal scents: Mandarin, Clove & Cinnamon; Yuletide Pine & Spice; and Frankincense & Myrrh. It comes with tealights and a burner shaped like a little townhouse, so it’s ready to use from day one.
Shop at M&S
Tealight Christmas Advent Calendars, Heaven Scent, £15.99
Behind each of the twelve doors is a fragranced tealight. The calendars are painted by artist Sarah Pettitt in three designs: Hare, Puffins and Snowy Owl. Collectors may struggle to stop at one.
Shop at Heaven Scent
Keepsakes to Fill Year After Year
Fill Your Own Advent Calendar – Festive Friend, Rex London, £14.95
This calendar has 24 drawers ready for notes, sweets and tiny gifts, and it’s the most affordable reusable option in our round-up. It’s a simple, sustainable swap for a cardboard calendar.
Shop at Rex London
Wooden Advent Calendar with LED Lights – Red House, Rex London, £39.95
This wooden house shows a wintry scene that lights up after dark, which makes it ideal for a windowsill. It has 24 drawers to fill and is built to come out every year.
Shop at Rex London
Woodland Animals Wood Book Advent, Gisela Graham London, £39.99
This woodland design comes from Gisela Graham’s Christmas 2026 collection. It’s shaped like a book and made from MDF, measuring 20 x 29 x 7cm. It would sit nicely on a shelf among the rest of your festive decorations.
Shop at Gisela Graham
Gingerbread House Advent Calendar, JoJo Maman Bébé, £22
This brightly coloured gingerbread house is covered in Christmas characters and has 24 drawers, each 6cm square. That’s plenty of room for a chocolate, a tiny toy or a festive joke.
Shop at JoJo Maman Bébé
Jolly Christmas Advent Calendar, Rockahula Kids, £30
This woven fabric calendar has 24 generous pockets decorated with reindeer, stars and candy canes. It rolls up neatly for storage until next year. Note that it isn’t suitable for children under 36 months because of small parts.
Shop at Rockahula Kids
Christmas Dolls House Reusable Advent Calendar, Rockahula Kids, £30
Rockahula’s second design takes the form of a dolls house. It’s a sweet keepsake for little ones to look forward to each December.
Shop at Rockahula Kids
Christmas Tree Fabric Advent Calendar, Abode Home & Gifts, £84.95
This calendar is made from 100% organic cotton with red velvet star and trunk details. It has 24 embroidered pockets for your own surprises and is part of the limited-edition Wintry Woodlands collection, so it’s well worth snapping up.
Shop at Abode Home & Gifts
Gingerbread House Christmas Advent, Caboodleit, £129.99
This freestanding, double-sided gingerbread house has 24 drawers and can be personalised with a name. The clever twist is Gary, a cardboard gingerbread man. Each day he’s hidden, and finding him unlocks the next drawer. Two family card games are included too.
Shop at Caboodleit
Christmas Tree Advent Calendar, Caboodleit, £149.99
This is the 3D tree version of the same idea. It’s a multi-tiered freestanding Christmas tree with 24 doors and drawers, and it comes personalised, with the same hide-and-seek Gary game and bonus card games.
Shop at Caboodleit
Little Ones and Family Traditions
Christmas at Home Puzzle Advent Calendar, Ravensburger, £29.99
Behind the 24 windows of this festive house are 24 puzzles of 56 pieces each, illustrated by Claire Wilson. Once they’re all done, they join together into one large finished picture. It’s a lovely daily wind-down for puzzle-loving families.
Shop at Ravensburger
Nativity Story Filled Advent Calendar, JoJo Maman Bébé, £39
This calendar is shaped like a storybook and tied with a ribbon. Its 24 drawers hold wooden figures and props, so little ones can build the nativity scene piece by piece through December. It’s sturdy enough to use year after year.
Shop at JoJo Maman Bébé
Advent Calendar with 12 Handmade Christmas Tree Decorations, The British Craft House, £169.99
Each of the twelve boxes holds a hand-sewn felt decoration, around 8cm tall and wrapped in hand-stamped tissue paper. The characters include a Santa, hedgehog, badger, puffin, gonk and robin. By the end of the countdown, your tree has a whole new collection to bring out every year. Handmade with love, one stitch at a time by The Velvet Hedgehog and available on The British Craft House.
Shop at The British Craft House
For the Gardener
Diddly Squat Farm 12 Days of Christmas Flower Seed Advent Calendar, Blue Diamond Garden Centres, £24
This calendar from Jeremy Clarkson’s farm brand holds eleven flower seed packs, a growing guide and a discount voucher. It also includes the farm’s tongue-in-cheek take on The 12 Days of Christmas.
Shop at Blue Diamond
Verve Seed Advent Calendar, B&Q, £15
Behind its 24 doors are flower, herb and vegetable seeds, plus a hidden surprise on day 25 and a complete grow kit with a grow house, soil tablets and plant labels. £2 from every calendar sold goes to Shelter.
Shop at B&Q
Food and Drink
Cheese Advent Calendar, George & Joseph Cheesemongers, £150
Curated by cheesemonger and Academy of Cheese trainer Stephen Fleming, this calendar holds 24 hand-wrapped artisan cheeses of around 75g each, roughly 1.8kg in total. Each comes with tasting notes. The line-up is kept secret, but you can expect soft, blue, goat’s and mature cheeses. To keep everything fresh, it arrives in two chilled boxes, with DPD dispatch on 26 November and 10 December.
Shop at George & Joseph
Luxury Whisky Advent Calendar – American Edition, Abode Home & Gifts, £219.95
This is our most indulgent pick: 24 x 50ml American whiskeys, from bourbons to ryes, with names including FEW Spirits, Peerless and Barrell Craft Spirits. They come in a wooden display case with two glasses and an illustrated guide to each distillery. Over 18s only.
Shop at Abode Home & Gifts
Something a Little Different
Gramophone Musical Advent Calendar, Graham and Green, £58
This red mini gramophone has a golden flower-shaped horn and comes with 24 tiny discs, each playing a different Christmas carol. It’s retro and charming, and it’s sure to start conversations. It needs 3 AA batteries, which aren’t included.
Shop at Graham and Green
Mischievous Cats Advent Calendar, Graham and Green, £16
This traditional glittery card calendar has a ribbon for hanging. Each window reveals cats and kittens up to no good. It’s perfect for cat lovers who prefer their countdown old-school.
Shop at Graham and Green
Choosing Yours
The best advent calendar isn’t necessarily the most expensive one. It’s the one that suits the person opening it. That might be a daily candle for someone who loves a cosy evening, a seed packet for the gardener already planning next year’s beds, or a refillable house that your children will remember long after they’ve stopped believing in Father Christmas.
A word of advice: the most popular calendars sell out early, and some only ship from November. If one on this list caught your eye, it’s worth ordering sooner rather than later. And if you’re choosing a fill-your-own design, start collecting small treats now so that December 1st isn’t a last-minute dash round the shops.
Whichever you choose, here’s to a December full of small daily joys. Happy counting down.
