When looking for an advent calendar I always wonder exactly what I am getting for my money. I mean I want to know exactly how far my hard earned cash is going and I assume a lot of you do too. With this in mind I have taken a selection of Advent Calendars and I will show you exactly what you get and let you make the decision on whether this is the right Advent Calendar for you.
Kinnerton Advent Calendars £1 each
First up is the classic kids calendar from Kinnerton. These things are everywhere from poundshops to card shops and as they are licensed kids always want them. As you can see the chocolates are not very thick or very big (that is a penny at the front to show scale). These are great for young kids but there isnt a huge amount of chocolate in there.
Kinnerton Light Up Advent Calendars £3.50
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Now these light up calendars come in Star Wars and Frozen and feature a light up section on the back. This looks cool but for £2.50 more I was concerned that you wouldn’t get much more chocolate. However I was pleasantly surprised. As you can see the majority of the chocolates are a lot bigger that the penny which has been used for scale and they were also thicker than the other chocolates. Now you could buy 3 and a half of the cheaper calendars and you would get more chocolate but it wouldn’t light up and look cool would it.
Classic Lindt Advent Calendar (160g) £5.49
I love Lindt chocolate so this was bound to go down well with me but for £5.49 its more one for the kids. Look to the more expensive Lindt Advent Calendars if you want more chocolate (or just buy yourself a box of Lindor which is what we really want anyway). The balls in this picture are about the size of a malteser and the rectangular bars were quite thin. I was actually quite disappointed with this but the girls loved the luxury of having more grown up chocolate.
Montezuma Advent Calendar – £9.99 available in Dark or Milk and White
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When it comes to quantity this Montezuma’s chocolate calendar certainly delivered with each parcel more than enough to satisfy a chocolate craving. I have not had much Montezuma’s chocolate in the past but I will now definitely keep my eye out for it as I found the quality to be brilliant. I had to ask Gaming Daddy of Two to take this away as I kept going back for me the chocolate was that delicious and that is not good for my diet.
Hotel Chocolat – £12.50 available in Milk, Dark and White
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Now Hotel Chocolat is the place I usually buy my advent calendar as I love their dark chocolate and I reckon that at around 50p a chocolate it is worth it for the quality but if you are not as fussy about your chocolate as me then you may find this a bit expensive especially when you look at the quantity involved. Although fairly thin I think that these are actually the most festive looking chocolates out of the lot and the attention to detail is fab. Each chocolate is around an inch tall and I am really glad I got this in milk chocolate because if it had been dark chocolate I would have scoffed the lot in one go!
Mad Beauty Advent Calendar £19.99
When Chocolate just isnt good enough there are lots of different options available and Find Me A Gift sent me this fabulous Mad Beauty Advent Calendar. This would be perfect for a tween or early teen as it has everything they may desire and at less than £1 per item it is good value too. Contents include: 2 x Lipsticks (3.5g), Powder Compact (3.5g), 3 x Nail Polish (5ml), 3 x Lip Gloss (6.5ml), 2 x Lip Gloss (2.5ml), 2 x Eye Shadow (3g), Eyeliner Pencil (0.5g), Lip Liner Pencil (0.5g), Blusher (3.5g), Blusher (2.5g), Sharpener, Toe Separator, Lip Brush, Blush Brush, Nail File, Applicator and Nail Stickers.
Lego Friends Advent Calendar £19.99
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We love the Lego Advent Calendars as they slowly grow to create a scene and this years Lego Friends Calendar is no exception. With Christmas markets and an Ice hockey pitch as well as two mini animal friends and a stage to perform some songs the imagination play with this set goes on and on. I think that at £20 this is really great value and would definitely recommend it.
Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar £24.99
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Now I know this is £5 more than the Lego Friends one but firstly it is Star Wars so way better anyway and secondly it comes with 7 mini figures and a huge variety of vehicles including a mini Millenium falcon and an at-at which is so cute. The box opens up to show a few different types of terrain and from what I can gather they include the ice planet of Hoth, the forest moon of Endor and even Tattooine where you will find the Sarlacc pit. This set features some of my favourite characters including an ewok which is a really hard mini figure to come by normally. Well worth the money and fantastic fun to build too.
WOW Toys Advent Calendar £24.99
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This has to be one of the best toy advent calendars I have seen. Not only was the box massive meaning that the toys inside are standard wow toy size but the play area also has numbers on it that correspond to the door so you know where to put each item to make the scene look amazing. Obviously you can then move them but it really helps get a sense of what they were aiming for when you know where to put each toy. In this set you get 3 figures, 4 animals and a variety of Christmas decorations as well as toys and a shop front. It looks great and makes a fantastic advent calendar for younger children and the play-ability is brilliant. You also receive a piece of paper that tells you the story that goes with the set and gives you some Christmas activities such as dot to dot, colouring and look and find.
Wooden Activity Advent Calendar £48.00
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I would normally say that this sort of thing would be way out of our price range and a waste of money but I think that they are absolutely brilliant and as they can be used year after year they will soon become part of our family tradition. I was actually thinking of putting them on our Christmas tree as they look fabulous. Anyway a bit more about them. The Activity advent calendar are 24 walnut wood rectangles that are 7cm by 5cm. They are oiled to preserve them and come with instructions in how to maintain them.
With numbers on the front and suggestions of activities to do with all the family on the rear it helps to bring the spirit of Christmas alive. The variety of activities include ‘watch a Christmas film’, ‘sing some Christmas carols’ and ‘make some mince pies’, however you can ask Create Gift Love to put your own activities on if you contact them.
So it seems that being more expensive does not actually put me off as I loved the more expensive calendars way more than the cheaper ones. I always say you get what you pay for and sometimes it is worth paying more.