Regarding £10 plus advent calendar with presents in them?

[superstarheartbreaker]

Why would anyone buy these massively indulgent calendars? I think there's a Barbie and Lego one. Each window has a small gift. IMO presents are for Christmas Day and a small gift each day ruins the build up.
The chocolate ones are fine. I quite liked the old fashioned ones with pictures.

So don't buy one then. Problem solved.

Don't buy it if you don't like it!

X post!

Yanbu. Completely unnecessary imo. I've become old and cynical about most expensive Xmassy things now though.

I don't mind them. I have bought one with only pictures this year. the DC love it. It's got glitter and Father Christmas and everything! So vintage.

The Lego one is ace.

because it's mine we get a Playmobil one every year - 'for the kids' but secretly it's for me

you aren't forced to buy them a gun point to take your cats bum face elsewhere missy

Yanbu. I can't really splash out in three of these without affecting the Christmas present budget. When youweigh up the value of these advent calendars they tend to have less play value than a toy the same price, and kids won't really play with the whole thing as a set as they don't tend to get the best bits until Christmas eve, at which point the advent calendar gets pushed aside in favour of presents.

We have a refillable ikea advent calendar with little drawers that the kids take turns to open (I make sure each drawer contains 3 of whatever it is) and the reaction to getting 20p each one random day in December was much better than anything from the lego and playmobil calendars they'd had the year before.

Bloody hell. Are the picture ones old fashioned now?? DD will never have a chocolate one as long as she's living under my roof

I bought myself the Playmobil Santa Grotto this year (£13) - to join the Playmobil Xmas Woodland Scene one one child got last year and the Father Christmas workshop one his brother got a few years before. Normally I hate the Playmobil with a passion but I have already spent a pleasant .hour arranging everything, and every child that comes in in December has a little play (aka trashes it) and I get to do it again. do yabu.

I do insist they are christmassy though, can't really see the point of the pirate and police ones

Ours actually get played with constantly throughout December (unlike the rest of the bloody Playmobil) so I love them!

I wish someone would buy me a playmobil calender

At £10 it sounds cheaper than the elf on the shelf thing that's doing the rounds

Forago the woodland one was my very favourite

My Grandson get the playmobil pirate calendar. All the pieces go with his fleet of pirate ships.

What on earth is playmobil?

I did buy an expensive wooden one that creates the nativity, but I wanted one that I could hand down. I put other little items in the doors too.

DD had the Playmobil ones in the past. They built a lovely little Playmobil Christmas Scene. It was fun and DD played with the bits with other toys later after Christmas. And after, when she was older, I sold all the bits on ebay too - the individual bits sell surprisingly well.

This year, now she is older, she has one with make up inside it.

But yu know what, those little bits over advent did not, in any way, spoil the build up for Christmas. Just like the little squares of chocolate in no way spoil the run up to Christmas either.

But luckily, the toy calendars are not compulsory. No one is forced to buy one.

DH was eyeing up the whiskey one we saw online :) but unfortunately for him he wasn't getting one!

I got a gifty one with a huge discount for mine, costing not much more than a choc one. We are cutting down on sweet stuff, so I didn't want chocolate one at all and all the 'scene' ones I could find were 6/7 quid (swizz).

I loved the ones I had as a kid, the classic ones with pictures of wreaths, robins etc but the world has moved on and the bench is set higher. I don't like this tho and I am slightly regretting getting them. My kids were pleased but not thrilled enough for my liking

I bought DD's the Benefit one this year and I have a Yankee one. All four had wooden advent calendars when they were little that I filled with a little toy for each day which they still talk about. It only added to the build up for them.

I buy the indulgent ones as I like them and DD's love them. The Yankee one is lovely this year!

IceniMist

Playmobil: www.playmobil.co.uk/

Agree that the Christmassy Playmobil ones are lovely and pretty good value for the amount of bits you get. I hate the chocolate ones more, not at all Christmassy. Dd had one once (age 5) after a few years of traditional picture ones and was really upset that there was just blank cardboard inside and a tiny bit of chocolate that you couldn't even really see what shape it was - not at all festive or exciting. Now she has a refillable one.

I bought lego calendars this year (in like August or something). My 3 have never before had anything other than either homemade, with promissory notes and xmassy jobs to do - a much much loved tradition in our house, or paper one with pictures (that was mine when a kid).

They are totally thrilled, and I would rather they had lego than chocolate.

I must add that by the standards of MN (and indeed most of the kids at school) our christmas is fairly modest and is more about the little rituals and time spent than the gifts (though obvs they all get something they would like). So, YABU and a bit joyless to boot.

DH considered buying me a gin advent calendar this year! Sadly I don't have one at all. :(

I've got a Lego christmas scene one or should I say DS has one. I count is as part of his present and he and I love them. He and star wars one last year but I prefer the Christmas scene one.

But it's not a 'small gift' in each one. It's a piece of Lego that added together creates a festive scene. You don't have to get all boob hoiking about something you don't even have to buy.