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.

I loved the look of the Benefit one but at £60 felt it a bit much... love my Lindt one though!

The world is ridiculous. And Christmas competitiveness is the most ridiculous part of it.

The ONLY Advent Calendar I remember from childhood was one I chose myself at an Autumn Fayre. No chocolate, but tear off windows which you reversed and stuck on a grid underneath the actual calendar and it made a new picture - the Nativity scene. It was lovely.

playmobil and lego ones are amazing. naff cheap chocolate ones only last 24 days, playmobil n lego last a lifetime

we have one we re-make every year (old style playmobil calendar with boxes you make and fill)
then about 6 others that we now just play with for december, setting up christmassy scenes

its all part of the xmas magic, like mulled wine and bratwurst at xmas markets, carol singing etc etc

you are majorly missing out on some xmas fun here

You'd hate it here then. We have two lego ones and I have a huge thorntons one. We've had pound land ones in the past but I thought I'd treat us all this year. The dcs were thrilled and I've counted it into my overall spend.

I have the Yankee one, with my first candle burning merrily away.

And I had a chocolate one this morning.

So Nyah.

I've not seen these! I imagine they are nice for kids who can't have chocolate for whatever reason, don't think I would buy one though, I do agree with your reasons!

What I do think is daft is when children have more than one chocolate advent calender, like what is the point? takes away the whole point of an advent calender! Just buy them a pack of sweets if they already have one & don't take away the meaning behind things!

Is it that unusual to have a little gift each day, I've seen loads of drawers and hanging calendars with pouches to do that? My DD is getting a toy farm for Christmas, so is getting the Scleich farm calendar, it will hopefully add to the excitement and was much easier than me trying to find all the little bits without buying a whole stable or something. I don't think getting a bit of fence/ bale of hay/ piglet would be that exciting individually on Christmas day. My BF at school used to get a wee gift each day, a pencil or something, and I swore I would do that as it was lovely.

Saying that, we haven't actually got it yet, we got it 1/3 price as they won't be in the shop to collect until 2nd Dec. It might be a bit rubbish when I see it!

Love the Lego advent calendars, love how my DD and DS are so excited each morning when they jump out of bed to see what they have. Dislike how much they cost, and I hesitate very year but worth every penny come Dec 1st. Plus I'm equally excited to see what they get each day
They also have an advent calendar each that comes out every year which is a string of small stockings that I fill with small chocolates each year which costs £2 to fill.

I bought my kids a Playmobil one (to share) about 15 years ago for £10. It's come out every year since.

Can't see what anyone sees in massively indulgent chocolate ones which you have to replace every year myself.

I really love the lego one and the idea of the wooden ones. I would really love filling them. I can't justify either though and I think it would spoil the DCs a bit! That's not to say I think all DCs would be spoiled by it, I'm just going on how loopy my DCs get about that kind of thing

If I ever saw a lego one on sale after Xmas I would perhaps buy it and just keep the pieces, but I don't really like the idea of them getting new stuff every day for a month. As it is they are very happy with chocolate ones as that's quite a treat in itself.

ghosty I know its just lovely isn't it? and amazingly we still have all the animals, including the teeny tiny hedgehog.

mine have chocolate ones each (3 cost me £4) and a Playmobil one to share, which I would never pay more than £10/15 for and is mine :) really. Not really a big expense (though buying one each would be). If you wait until the middle of December or after Xmas you can get then for at least half price.

DS has a Lego advent calander. I have a Yankee candle one. DS loves his (and I love mine)

DS isn't a chocolate lover so it's fab for him.

The Lego Xmas one has HUGE play value and the minifigures are hugely sought after. DS looks forward to his more than almost anything else. He leaves the builds set up all year. DD was not arsed about her Lego one, so this year she has one building up a charm bracelet, which she quite likes the look of.

I agree that we were satisfied by pictures and a numerical countdown, but we also had one 3 TV channels and no computer games. I made it very clear that we have a finite budget to my kids, and that advent would be coming off of it, and they both agreed that it was worth it. Our budget is £120 or less for each of them, including all the sack stuff. Savvy shopping throughout the year helps.

The best one I got for my dc was a colouring one. You opened the windows and coloured it in each day to create a great big Xmas scene. They loved it. Can't find another like it though this year they have a Lego one

We've bought the playmobil one this year, but DD isn't opening it. Every day a piece gets put in her stocking for her to build over the month. It will get packed away an reused every year, so I hAve no problems spending that chunk of cash on it.

When dc2 is old enough, they will share it, and on days where one of them gets a piece of the grotto scene, the other will get a different random gift in their stocking, like a single chocolate coin, or a 20p (love that idea) or something else inexpensive.

And as PPs have said, if you don't like them, don't buy them. Everyone doesn't have to agree on everything, thankfully!

The playmobil Christmassy ones are lovely. DD had the woodland one last year. It's quite good value especially if you get it on offer.

Aaaargh I wish I hadn't opened this thread. Really want the Benefit one now!!

I have a Yankee one, DS has the Lego star wars one and DD has one with makeup and jewellery inside. We also have a refillable wooden house that I've filled for about £2. Love our daily Advent treats. Yabu, nobody makes you buy one and if I want to indulge myself and my DCs I will.

Children need to be trained up to be good consumers

I've got a string of stockings that are numbered and I fill for doc. However the dc nanny that they haven't seen for 18months decided to buy their love and get ds Lego Star Wars and Lego for ds 2 and dd has a schleich horse one which she thinks is amazing!!
I'm loving the sound of benefit one. Almost got myself a Yankee one but didn't

Oh a gin advent calendar! just looked and it is £114.95- so I have made my own- I have just made a large glass of gin and put a number 1 on a post it note and stuck it to the glass. Only 23 more to go_ I think at a push I may get to day 5 tonight.

I'm going to save up for the gin one next year. Will make December worth looking forward to!

A colouring one sounds brilliant!

I've bought DP the Lego Star Wars one. It makes him smile in the morning before a day at his crappy job, so well worth it.

Dd (17) and I have the Lego star wars one. £5 with my club card boost. Bargain.

I think op might really judge our family though as the dog has an advert calendar to