The days of finding a paltry chocolate behind an advent calendar door are long gone.
With even adults expecting daily December treats from mini bottles of booze to luxury beauty products, we can hardly expect children to be satisfied with a chocolate in the shape of a Christmas tree. Readers of a certain age might remember the designs that had just – gasp! – festive pictures behind each door.
Now, some of the biggest toy makers have got a head start on Santa and produced their own advent calendars.
Best toy advent calendars at a glance
- Best overall: LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar - £29.95, Amazon
- Best to keep little ones busy: Orchard Toys Advent Colouring and Activity Book - £3.99, Amazon
- Best for tweens: Disney Stitchmas 24 Day Cosmetics Advent Calendar - £24.99, Mad Beauty
- Best eco-friendly advent calendar: Build Your Own Marble Labyrinth Advent Calendar - £25, Menkind
- Best for craft fans: Disney Crystal Art Advent Calendar - £34.99, Craft Buddy
- Best for Littlest Pet Shop collectors: Littlest Pet Shop Advent Calendar - £19.99, Amazon
- Best for mini petrol heads: Majorette vehicles advent calendar - £19.99, Amazon
- Best for wannabe princesses: Mattel Disney Princess Advent Calendar - £21.53, Amazon
- Best for superhero obsessives: Marvel Funko Bitty Pop! Countdown Advent Calendar - £25, Amazon
There’s one to suit almost every child, whether they love LEGO or are potty for fictional princesses. Some require colouring, building or assembly to set kids a mini-challenge each morning and are a great way to keep them engaged all month.
Whether your child prefers superheroes or Star Wars, all these calendars will make counting down to the big day even more exciting.
How I Tested
I roped in our own and friends’ children to help us test these calendars and give us their honest opinion on how appealing each one looked and whether it would keep them excited throughout December. I broke the first rule of advent calendars, and opened all the doors in one go to get a sneak peek at the toys inside, considering the fun factor of each toy, how challenging each one was to build if necessary and what age each calendar would suit best.
Below, you’ll find my rundown of the best ones to get this Christmas.
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LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar
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Best: Overall
This Star Wars version is by the far the best advent calendar I tested because it gives kids something to do each day, yet they still end up with a new collection of small toys to play with after Christmas.
It doesn’t fob them off with stickers on some days either (my testers’ pet hate!), but includes something to build behind every door, even if some of my testers were a little confused by what some of the items were. Even the non-Star Wars fans still really enjoyed building all the items and found them just challenging enough to do themselves. They also liked the fact that some had a quirky festive theme, including a BB8 snowman and a Jawa in a Christmas jumper.
I’d have loved to see fewer droids and more Minifigures, but overall, this is a really engaging and entertaining calendar for any child who knows their Chewbaccas from their C-3Pos.
Buy now £29.95, Amazon
Orchard Toys Advent Colouring and Activity Book
Best: To keep little ones busy
While this isn’t an advent calendar in the traditional sense, it’s a lovely idea for younger children to help them understand more about Christmas and keep them entertained in December.
There’s a page for every day throughout the month. Each one comes with a matching sticker to add in the specified spot, plus an activity that might be a festive colouring picture, dot-to-dot puzzle or simple wordsearch. There’s a second sticker to add to a pullout advent scene each day, a Christmas recipe to cook together – which I can attest is easy but delicious - plus a letter to Santa for kids to fill in for a personalised response on the Orchard Toys’ website.
While it won’t interest older kids, it’s a fun but educational way to engage younger children throughout December and a great bargain too.
Buy now £3.99, Amazon
Disney Stitchmas 24 Day Cosmetic Advent Calendar
Best: For tweens
What do you get when a child thinks they’re too old for toys, but isn’t ready for pricey teenage beauty calendars?
This cutesy Stitch cosmetics calendar is a fun, not-too-grown-up option with plenty of treats in that they’ll actually use, but won’t feel silly showing off to their friends. Almost everything inside is tween-friendly in gentle fruity fragrances like Frosted Berries and Raspberry. There are reusable makeup remover pads, bath fizzers, lip balms, hair scrunchies, nail files, bubble bath and more in attractive pink and green packaging with a festive picture of Stitch on to add some Christmas spirit.
It’s perfect to enjoy mini-pamper days over the winter, as long as they’re so inspired as to ask for the Charlotte Tilbury calendar next year.
Buy now £24.99, Mad Beauty
MenKind Build Your Own Marble Labyrinth Advent Calendar
Best: Eco-friendly advent calendar
If you can’t bear the thought of any more plastic tat in your home, this is the advent calendar to go for. It’s suitable for children over eight, but my nine-year-old tester found it a little tricky to get to grips with without help, so you can expect to be roped in. It’s made entirely from sustainable cardboard and builds a game that can be played long after the Christmas tree has come down – or can be fully recycled.
Each door reveals that day’s instructions and comes with a separate sheet of pre-cut parts. There’s no glue needed for assembly; the parts simply slot together after following the instructions, and it gradually builds two games that have pull tab controls and a 3D tilting mechanism. There are five marbles behind door 23 to play – though I did think that made Christmas Eve something of an anti-climax.
Otherwise, this will give any child a real sense of satisfaction by the end of December and challenge their building skills - but it is best suited to those with patience.
Buy now £25.00, MenKind
Disney Crystal Art Advent Calendar
Best: For craft fans
Kids who love to get crafty will adore this ingenious calendar, which will keep them busy all through December. Behind the doors is everything they’ll need to make 24 6cm-tall crystal-art magnets depicting Disney and Pixar characters, including Buzz Lightyear, Tinker Bell, Olaf and Donald Duck.
The calendar also comes with a crystal pick-up pen, jelly wax and a tray they’ll reuse every day while adding the crystals to each magnet. It also includes a framed tree-themed metal display frame they can add their magnets to each day – though be aware that this is quite large at 48cm tall, so you’ll need somewhere to store it throughout the month. The magnets are very cute, and some of my testers loved adding the crystals, though others were less interested, so this is one strictly for the craft fans.
But if they’re keen, they’ll have a sparkly tree decorated entirely with their own work by Christmas Eve.
Buy now £34.99, Craft Buddy
Littlest Pet Shop Advent Calendar
Best: For Littlest Pet Shop collectors
Littlest Pet Shop devotees will think Christmas has come early if you present them with this advent calendar full of LPS goodies. Behind every door is a Littlest Pet Shop treat, including six pets, six accessories and twelve (!) stickers, a number which all our testers said they would be disappointed by. There’s also a collector’s card, which they can redeem online for a virtual pet.
The wide-eyed animal figures are very sweet and will thrill anyone who’s a fan, though I would have preferred less stickers and more pets. The dinky toys will still be a great addition to any existing collection and will be played with long after Christmas Day.
Buy now £19.99, Amazon
Majorette vehicles advent calendar
Best: Mini petrol heads
A true Christmas treat for car-mad kids, this calendar is made by cult French brand Majorette, which produces licensed models of famous car brands.
The calendar includes eight metal vehicles, five of which are exclusive to this calendar. It’s worth pointing out that all but one are versions of police vehicles though, which might not be as appealing to some children. There are also 16 accessories, half of which are Christmas-themed, such as antlers to go on top of a car and a sledge they can pull behind them, which are a nice festive touch.
Some days were a touch disappointing – with the world’s tiniest sheet of stickers, a colouring picture or a plastic ramp behind the door that I felt would likely end up binned by January – but the quality cars (and a helicopter!) are the big draw here.
Buy now £19.99, Amazon
Mattel Disney Princess Advent Calendar
Best: Wannabe princesses
Any child who is rarely seen out of a princess dress will be delighted by this Disney calendar, which features a festive princessy design including favourites Belle, Tiana and Rapunzel (IYKYK).
The calendar opens out onto a Christmassy palace scene with a tree laden with gifts, a pop-up fireplace and table and every shade of pink imaginable. There are 24 doors containing a surprise each day – just three of these include small princess dolls of around 3.5 inches each which are great little toys with sweet removable Christmas-themed skirts and capes.
There are also three small animal friend figurines and plenty of accessories, including a cake, an easel and a throne, though be aware some of these are tiny so not suitable for very young children.
Buy now £21.53, Amazon
Marvel Funko Bitty Pop! Countdown Advent Calendar
Best: For superhero obsessives
It’s likely this Marvel advent calendar will appeal to adult collectors as well as children, so kids may need to be prepared to share this one.
It features mini versions of the cult collectable vinyl figures Funko Pops, which come in all kinds of versions, including Star Wars, Pokemon, Disney and even bands like Queen and Aerosmith. These are all Marvel characters and are teeny in comparison – only around an inch high – and the calendar builds into a stackable Christmas tree-shaped display case to showcase the ten figures inside. You also get two keychains and two badges that the figures can be slotted inside. The days that reveal the stackable cases could be a little disappointing, but any Marvel fan will love finding the little figures and enjoy building their superhero-themed decoration over December.
Buy now £25.00, Amazon
Verdict
Of course, the best calendar for any child is the one that suits their current obsession, whether that’s cars or Disney princesses. However, the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar was the most impressive toy advent calendar we tested, with something for children to do every day, a nice selection of toys inside and no disappointing stickers behind doors.
The Orchard Toys Advent Colouring and Activity Book is a great alternative for little ones to keep them entertained throughout December, while the Disney Stitchmas 24 Day Cosmetic Advent Calendar will suit older children who won’t appreciate mini toys.
