The Hotel Chocolat Chocolate Advent Calendar for Two (£26) is the romantic way to do advent. The calendar contains two truffles behind each of its 24 windows, so you can share the excitement of the run up to Christmas with someone you love. We think it’s genius.
For a tea-themed advent countdown, the Twining's Christmas Advent Calendar (£20) contains 24 loose leaf tea pyramids. The box contains classics such as English breakfast tea, the Mighty Assam and fragrant The Earl, along with more unusual varieties such as Moroccan mint with rose, and redbush caramel velvet. A brilliant way to start each morning of December.
The Bonne Mamam Advent Calendar (£32.99), in a beautiful white and red box, makes the perfect gift for a jam fan. It contains 23 mini jars of jam in flavours not usually available in the UK, including grapefruit and dragon fruit, purple fig, raspberry and lychee, and pear and mirabelle plum. There’s also an exciting surprise behind Christmas Eve’s door.
One of the most extravagant alcoholic advent calendars, the Tipsy Tree with Fizz Advent Calendar (£140) gives decorating the tree a whole new meaning. It comes with 24 miniature bottles of fine sparkling wine, including Bottega Gold prosecco brut and Lanson champagne. Choose which fizz you want to save until the 24th – you can decide in which day's slot the bottles sit.
Behind each door of this gourmet Marshmallow Advent Calendar you’ll find a hearty chunk of handmade marshmallow in six sumptuous flavours, including salted caramel, gingerbread, mint choc chip and strawberry cream. The calendar costs £15, but for an extra £3.95 it comes with a tiny toaster and bamboo skewers, which is essential if you like your marshmallows gooey on the inside, with a golden caramelised crust.
The Carluccio’s Limited Edition Advent Calendar has returned for Christmas 2018 by popular demand. It costs £85, more pricey than some on this list, but it’s packed full of Carluccio’s favourites, including chocolate truffles, Piemontese biscuits, pasta, sauces and oils. It will take recipients on a 24-day culinary journey of Italy and bring a bit of la dolce vita to December.
This Gourmet Popcorn Advent Calendar (£25) from artisan popcorn makers Joe & Seph’s is beautifully festive-looking, illustrated with a snow-covered Victorian shopfront. Behind the doors are 24 snack-sized packets of popcorn in 12 flavours, including caramel and Belgian chocolate, toffee apple and cinnamon, banoffee pie, and orange chocolate. Perfect for packing and taking to work, to make the run up to Christmas extra exciting.
At £69.95 the Beerhawk Craft Beer Advent Calendar is a little pricey but contains 24 full-size craft beers from the world’s best breweries, including eight exclusive beers you can’t find anywhere else. You could also win a prize, such as a beer-themed holiday which, for some, would be a Christmas miracle.
The most elaborate of all the tea advent calendars, the Rare Tea Wooden Advent Calendar (£145) will stretch beyond most budgets. However, if you’re willing to splurge, you’ll find rare teas such as purple bamboo shoot and dong ding oolong hidden behind the beautiful wooden calendar doors. This would make an extra special gift that will be treasured for many Christmases to come.
For fine wines, try the Virgin Wine Advent Calendar (£79.99). It contains 24 award-winning wines – reds, whites, rosé, port and fizz – and provides access to a digital tasting hub with winemaker videos, food matching tips and wine fact files. This calendar has sold out for the last two years, so be quick!
The Ginvent Calendar 2018 (£124.95) was born out of The Gin Foundry's idea to create the world’s first gin advent calendar. Price-wise, it’s pushing the boat out, so we suggest putting it on your own wish list. There's a mix of big name gins and smaller craft brands in cute 30ml bottles.
Pork crackling fans – listen up! The Snaffling Pig Co. Pork Crackling Advent Calendar is packed with their best-selling, flavoured pork crackling. Work your way through 24 bags of BBQ, maple, black pepper and sea salt, pig in blankets, and salt and vinegar. This is perfect for people who prefer savoury snacks to sweet and at £15 it’s great value.
The Pukka Christmas Advent Calendar (£9.99) contains 24 herbal teas for a refreshing December countdown. Sample a tea a day, including Three Ginger, Vanilla Chai, Peppermint & Licorice, and Wild Apple & Cinnamon.
The Cheese Advent Calendar (£8), created by blogger So Wrong It’s Nom in 2017, begs the question: why don’t more cheese advent calendars exist? Inside you'll get 24 Ilchester mini cheeses including Jarlsberg, Applewood, Edam, mature cheddar, red Leicester, and suitably festive Wensleydale with cranberries.
Kick start each day of December with a caffeine hit courtesy of the Coffee Advent Calendar from Debenhams (£25). It contains one sachet of festive-themed flavoured coffee per day, including brandy, Christmas pudding, cinnamon, hazelnut and Irish cream. Get the kettle on.
The Pringle’s trademark red Merry Pringle’s 12 Days Advent Calendar (£19.98), is conveniently festive looking and here to help savoury snack-lovers celebrate the 12 days of Christmas. Behind each door awaits a mini tub of Pringles in original, sour cream and onion, salt and vinegar, and Texas BBQ sauce flavours.
The Pact Coffee Advent Calendar (£39.95) contains 25 speciality coffees for a brew a day, including Christmas Day – and it’s cheaper than getting your daily takeaway latte. The 25 types of coffee beans are pre-ground to suit cafetière, AeroPress and drip brewing methods, and each comes with a little card to read about Christmas around the world while you drink.
To make this December the merriest yet, treat yourself or a friend to Laithwaite’s Beer Advent Calendar (£49.99). It contains 24 full-size bottles of refreshing lagers, hoppy IPAs and rich stouts from the biggest names in craft beer – Brewdog, Magic Rock and Loose Cannon, to name a few. Cheers!
The Duerr’s Jam & Marmalade advent calendar (£11.99), from the UK’s oldest family-owned jam company, delivers a month’s worth of festive breakfasts. Ideal for toast-lovers, it contains 24 miniature pots, and one whisky and marmalade miniature jar for the big day. It will be hard to wake up in the morning once the festive season ends.
The Aldi Wine Advent Calendar (£49.99) flew off the shelves in 2017 and is back for another year, with 24 mini bottles of red, white, rosé and bubbly. It’s a great gift for oenophiles, containing wines like the Exquisite Touraine Sauvignon and award-winning Fleurs de Prairie Côtes de Provence rosé. The Christmas tree-shaped calendar is also a great centrepiece.
After Eights are a dinner party classic – the refreshing mint fondants in wafer thin dark chocolate, rounds off a meal beautifully. This After Eight Big Ben Advent Calendar (£10) contains 24 dark, milk and white mint chocolates, one to enjoy each evening of advent, in an impressive Big Ben-shaped calendar.
The Limited Edition Biscuiteers Advent Calendar is a work of art. It’s quintessentially British: a pastel-hued cloth calendar depicts a picture-perfect snowy Christmas scene. At £125 for the calendar, it’s not cheap, and with an extra biscuit tin, it costs £175. But it can be reused year after year, and you might want to try filling it with home-baked cookies.
The Children’s Chocolate Advent Calendar from Fortnum & Mason’s (£20) would be a treasured gift for any lucky young recipient. The box is decorated like the revered department store in December, with details like welcoming snowy windows, Christmas wreaths and a festive shopfront. Inside are 24 creamy, Christmas-themed milk chocolates.
Why should humans have all the fun this Christmas? While you tuck into your advent chocolates or fizz, furry felines can nibble on chicken with liver, chicken with shrimp, and turkey with cranberry – all treats from the Lily’s Kitchen charming, panto-themed Advent Calendar for Cats (£10).
The Gin Advent Cracker (£125) is shaped like a grand Christmas cracker and would make a generous gift. It contains 24 miniature bottles, selected to provide a mixture of flavours and styles, including London gins, dry gins, Old Toms and Christmas-flavoured gins. If you keep it for yourself, we suggest stocking up on mixers and inviting someone over to help sink some G&Ts.
Cheap and cheerful, the Haribo Advent Calendar (£5) is a great gift for both children and sweet-loving grown-ups. Within the Christmas-themed Haribo calendar are 24 miniature sweet bags and sweets, including cola bottles, gold bears and Maoams.
This sleek, black and white Lakrids Liquorice Advent Calendar (£34.95) is the sophisticated choice for any liquorice-lover. It contains fine Danish liquorice infused with chocolate, coffee and raspberry. What’s more, the card and plastic are made from recycled materials, and the calendar is 100% recyclable, so you can have a clear conscience while you enjoy the countdown to Christmas.
For whisky fans, Drinks by the Dram has released The Whisky Advent Calendar (£149.95). Within grown-up, chic packaging, the whisky calendar contains 24 superb whiskies from across the globe, including Balvenie Peat Week Aged 14 Year Old, Bunnahabhain Stiùireadair, Aberfeldy 12 Year Old, Peat's Beast and Glenfarclas 105.
The Protein Ball Co Advent Calendar (£12.99) is a great gift for people who like to carry a snack wherever they go. It contains 24 protein balls in six flavours, including cocoa and orange, peanut butter, cherry and almond, goji and coconut, lemon and pistachio, and coconut and macadamia.
The Swizzels Sweets Advent Calendar (£5) is a throwback to a 90s kids party. Each door reveals sugary treats such as Refreshers, Drumsticks, Love Hearts and Parma Violets – all certified tuck shop favourites. This snow-topped Santa’s house Swizzels calendar will delight kids and fill adults with nostalgia.
Spare a thought for Rover this year with Prezzy Buzz’s Dogs Treats Personalised Advent Box (£39.99). While us humans are merrymaking, our four-legged friends deserve to have some festive fun. The box contains 24 treats, one toy to keep them occupied on Christmas day, and comes personalised with your pooch’s name – a detail which might be lost on them but certainly won’t escape us owners.
Alcoholic advent calendars are taking over the market this year and there's one to suit every drinker’s taste. Drinks by the Dram sell a vodka, Scotch whisky, mezcal, tequila, Armagnac, Bourbon and Japanese whisky calendar, but the most extreme has got to be the Naga Chilli Vodka Escalation Advent Calendar (£99.95). It contains 24 bottles of chilli-infused vodka, progressing in heat from 10,000 to 240,000 scovilles. Perhaps one to give to someone you’re not so fond of.
We think the most outrageous advent calendar on the market is the Very Old & Rare Whisky Calendar from Drinks by the Dram. It costs a whopping £9,999.95 and is as opulent as it gets. It contains samples from revered producers and long-closed distilleries, and whisky from a bottle worth £19,000. The bottles are encased in a swanky Macassar Ebony box, although a walnut edition is available if that’s more to your taste.
The Big Chilli Advent Calendar (£29.95) will heat things up with a new chilli to try everyday. Perfect for spice connoisseurs, the calendar includes smoky Mexican chipotle, fiery Indian bhut jolokia, citrusy bullet chillies and the world's hottest Carolina Reaper. There’s also a recipe book to help you make the most of your fiery foods.