
It’s that time of year again. The countdown is on! And we’re looking into the many ways you can count down to your favorite holiday, whether it’s Hannukah or Christmas, Kwanzaa or Diwali, Halloween, or even your next vacation. Whatever you’re looking forward to, there’s a fun countdown activity for you, your kids, the entire family. Here are some of our favorite Advent Calendars for the 2023 holiday season. Watch this space for our post about our favorite Hanukkah countdown calendars.
Buffalo Games
Puzzlers and Disney fans will enjoy the Mickey and Friends Advent Calendar Puzzles. This 12-day countdown calendar that includes 11 100-piece puzzles in the shapes of ornaments and a 300-piece puzzle in the shape of a tree. It also includes adhesive puzzle pages so you can preserve your puzzles as ornaments for your Christmas tree. A perfect advent calendar for Disney-loving families.
Build a Bear
Counting down to Christmas? Build a Bear’s Merry Mission Advent Calendar, inspired by “Glisten and the Merry Mission” has 25 windows of surprises, including 6 mini plushes, with clothing and accessories in the remaining windows.
https://www.buildabear.com/merry-mission-advent-calendar—25-pieces-included/031933.html
Hidden Games
Professor Charlie’s World Tour Prof. Charlie has disappeared and to find him, you have to solve your way through the puzzles in the advent calendar. The puzzles are presented as letters, complete with envelopes, that Charlie has sent from his world tour. There’s even a map so you can follow along. How do you know which letter to open next? Solve the puzzle in the last one you opened! This is a great family activity, bringing everyone to the table to try to solve the riddles. Each puzzle takes 10-15 minutes to solve, though it may take a little longer if you’re solving it on your own. Too impatient to wait? You can complete the entire puzzle in just a few hours. Another great family activity!
Ika Chocolates
Ika Chocolates is based in Tel Aviv and they don’t ship to the U.S., but you can order for friends and family who live in Israel. They have a very modern advent calendar that looks super chic!
Insight Editions
For the readers in your life, check out the Book Lover’s Advent Calendar from Insight Editions. While there aren’t any actual books tucked behind the 25 windows, there are bookmarks; a Winter Reading bingo card; gift tags; stickers, and more. They also have an Elf advent calendar that looks enticing, especially because it’s from the best Christmas movie ever.
Laduree
Looking for luxury treats? Laduree’s advent calendar ticks all the boxes! Nougat, candies, jams, marshmallows, and an assortment of caramels and chocolates are exciting enough, but their brand-new Eugénie cookies are included, too. Eugénie cookies are a macaron variant, with a soft topping and a chocolate coating. This calendar has 25 boxes, but no overt holiday theming, so you can use it to count down anything you want.
Lego
Lego has three advent calendars that each include 24 mini Lego kits. Of the three, City is the most Christmas themed. The Lego City advent calendar includes minifigs engaged in various winter activities and Santa with his sleigh. The Lego Friends advent calendar is mostly winter-themed, with a train, snowboarder, minifigs (are they called minifigs in the Friends collections?), and an adorable dog on wheels. Most of the builds in this advent calendar can be used at any time of year. The Lego Star Wars advent calendar includes various Star Wars characters and vehicles. Like the Lego Friends advent calendar, the theme is more winter than Christmas, though there are some Christmas-leaning decorations. Any Lego Star Wars fan would love these mini-builds for their collection.
https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Christmas-Countdown-Adventure-Collectible/dp/B0BXQ52N4L
https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Friends-Calendar-Building-Including/dp/B09YVTV39F
https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Christmas-Characters-Experiences-Collectible/dp/B0BXQ55F99
Playmobil
Playmobil has created two original advent calendars: Princess Magic: Christmas under the Rainbow and Horses of Waterfall: Christmas Sleigh Ride. As with all Playmobil kits, the real charm exists in the small details. The Horses of Waterfall Christmas Sleigh Ride includes not only the sleigh, a barn, and, obviously, horses, but there are also tiny woodland creatures that are adorable! Princess Magic: Christmas under the Rainbow is as colorful as it sounds and the purple decorations on the Christmas tree were made for me!
https://www.amazon.com/Playmobil-Advent-Calendar-Christmas-Rainbow/dp/B0BT8BGZJX
Ravensburger
You might know Ravensburger from their beautiful puzzles (see my review of their Witches Kitchen puzzle here), but did you know they also make toys? They have two advent calendars this season. The Brio World advent calendar includes pieces to enhance any Brio world train set, but could also be played with on their own and are not overtly Christmas themed (though there are a couple of pieces that are closely tied to Christmas), so could be used for other countdowns, as well. The Gravitrax advent calendar has no holiday theme, so could be used for any countdown you like. Gravitrax is an interactive track system and the advent calendar includes pieces that combine to create an intriguing marble maze, but can be used with other Gravitrax sets, as well.
https://www.ravensburger.us/products/brio/brio-railway/advent-calendar-2023-63601500/index.html
Sugarfina
Sugarfina has put together a delicious collection of treats for Advent, including gummies, chocolates, and lots of little treats for your family to share.
Swarovski
More Disney love here. In honor of Disney 100, celebrating 100 years of Disney magic, Swarovski Crystals has created a dazzling set of Disney-themed Christmas ornaments and tucked them inside a beautiful advent calendar, along with other holiday-themed ornaments, including a mitten, a star, and a snowflake. If Christmas isn’t your holiday, but bling is your thing, they have a collection of crystal Disney figurines that would work for any gift-giving holiday.
Thames & Kosmos
A brilliant countdown innovation from Thames & Kosmos is their Exit the Game Advent Calendar: The Silent Storm. They have transformed the exit room game concept to the countdown calendar format. Each day has a puzzle that leads you to the next day’s puzzle to solve, following a storyline where the solver is helping Santa to deliver his presents. I’ve reviewed their Hunt for the Golden Book version, if you’d like a review of these calendars. (Spoiler Alert: I love them!)
Williams Sonoma
There are many great advent calendars to choose from at Williams Sonoma. Among many different themed calendars, my favorite is the Elf™ Advent Calendar. Behind the 12 windows are treats that Buddy would certainly include in an elfin nutritional meal, including colorful caramels, milk chocolates, maple syrup, an adorable Mr. Narwhal sugar cookie, marshmallows and more.
If you’re one of those people (like me) who doesn’t consider winter to have started until the peppermint treats come out, then you will love the Williams Sonoma Peppermint Bark Advent Calendar, full of their famous peppermint bark in four festive shapes: a snowman, toy soldier, Christmas tree or Santa. And the cooks in your family will love the Spice Advent Calendar, which includes an incredible selection of spices and recipes from Parisian spice specialist Le Comptoir Colonial.
We love all the holiday-themed calendars, but let’s normalize countdown calendars for anything we’re anticipating! You can find countdown apps for your phone, but they’re nowhere near as fun as eating a piece of candy; building and solving a puzzle; or creating something new, one day at a time. I want a birthday countdown calendar! Or a birthday month calendar with a birthday treat for every day of the month, so it doesn’t matter which day of the month is your actual birthday. What are you counting down to?
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
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