To feel sad that a £2 chocolate advent calendar is no longer enough?

[Ricekrispie22]

There are so many toy based advent calendars around these days and I feel they're just getting bigger and bigger. thetoptoys.blogspot.com/2018/09/toy-based-advent-calendars-sequel.html#more
I much preferred it when you could just get them a good old Cadbury choc calendar and that was enough. It's not like I need any more plastic tat in my house. Is it just me?

I wouldn’t buy them either.
I always buy Hotel chocolate ones for DD and DH because for us it’s kicking off the Christmas season.
But no way will DD have a toy filled one. No way. Open a toy a day before you open a shitload on the 25th?! Not in my house. Seems too much.

Decades ago now, but my dds used to feel 'deprived' (said lightheartedly!) because I wouldn't buy chocolate advent calendars, only trad. paper ones, preferably with glittery snow.

IMO they were lucky to have one at all - siblings and I never even had a paper one.

Last year I bought a lovely trad paper one for very little Gdcs. They loved opening the windows and played with it after all the decorations were taken down.

Agree 100% about going overboard with elves, boxes and God know what. Christmas can still be magical for kids without all that. It certainly was for us. We always put out a mince pie and a tot of sherry or brandy for FC - the idea of him wanting a glass of milk!! -😱 but apart from tree, trad. decorations, and making a wish as you had a stir of the Christmas pudding, that was about it.

@SilverySurfer I too am sad I would like one of these.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B01LF934GG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_a_it?ref=plSrch&keywords=gin+advent+calendar&dpPl=1&dpID=51DWoqrS0rL&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1535878062&sr=8-1

I love it all. I always get Thornton’s advents with our names on and a Lego or playmobil advent. I enjoy doing elf on shelf too.

Elf on the shelf*

I'd say the chocolate ones are the worst - what have you got by 20th Dec - a cardboard box with open doors and lots of lumpy plastic empty holes - not even a range of pretty Christmas pictures or a Christmas scene to look at - just a scraggy, torn, box.

In my case, the one time I had one as a kid, that was the case by 2nd December. I scoffed the lot on the first day

There is a section on MN where you pay to advertise, AardvarkChocolates4u.

I feel sad that the ones with little vintage Christmas pictures behind the doors are not enough!
I relented a couple of years ago and do get them a chocolate one now, but I would never buy into the toy/candle/big advent calendars. They don’t even look Christmassy and they are generally full of plastic crap. To be fair none of mine have ever seen them or requested them and a chocolate a day is exciting enough.
It is what you choose to make it.

I hate folk who moan about the commercialism...can you not ignore it?? lol.

Anyhoo, we have two refillable felt ones bought for us years ago which I fill the pockets with a little sweet, or a 20p, or evn a 'get out of washing up for a week' free card that I jotted down! These are so much more fun. My two boys share one, and the girls share the other, did these mainly because none of my kids like chocolate (unsurprising, most chocolate tastes bloody disgusting these days!) and they like how different it is, and how they never know whats coming next.
I used to love my old glittery calenders without the choc, was always magical to open and see the pcture inside. :-) x

I buy mine chocolate Advent calendars every year.
A work colleague of mine one year, made an Advent calendar for her son, that he’d open one every day and he’d get Smiggle stationary bits, lip salve etc, and he was moaning wanting chocolate. She’d spent about £200 on making the Advent calendar, when in reality £1 chocolate calendar would have done

The chocolate ones had a picture behind each door when I was a kid and a nice Christmas picture on the front. It was lovely opening the doors to find a little picture of something and a little chocolate.

Now the chocolate ones don't seem to have a picture behind the door anymore. So once the door is open it looks horrible! The front of them don't even have a Christmas picture on either.

I like the reusable advent calendars best. We have one which is a wooden nativity scene and each little box has a character to display in the manger each day. There's room to add a small chocolate in each box as well if you wish but don't need to. I imagine I'll still do the calendar (without chocolates) even when dd has left home.

I agree @PolkerrisBeach but you'll now be told to scroll past if you don't like it and how boring you are.

We didn’t even have an advent calendar with just pictures; I never felt the lack - Christmas still happened.

I never had an Advent calendar. Assume my parents didn't think it was necessary or we didn't have money to spare for anything other than a few secondhand toys and some food.

Are all the people that buy them doing it for religious reasons or just because everyone else does/commercial like all the other Christmas stuff?

We didn;t even have a piece of cardboard you could call an advent calendar. Just an old lump of wood that we took turns to nibble at.

Ajas 😂

ToadOfSadness I cant speak for anyone else but we do chocolate advent calendars as we had them as children (I don’t know mine or DH’s parents motives) and we loved them, so we continue that for our children. They love them too. No other reason than that.
We also celebrate Christmas Day despite not believing that it is to celebrate the birth of Jesus 🤷🏻‍♀️

We still get the beautiful traditional picture ones from Germany, and will do as long as they still exist.

www.traditionaladventcalendars.co.uk/advent-calendars/german-advent-calendars.html

We usually shared one of the lovely paper ones with pictures. If it was a particularly nice one, I put it away for next year, to enjoy again!
My dad got a brandy one for his last Christmas! I've never seen anyone enjoy an Advent Calendar more!

Ajas!

May try to introduce this tradition to my teenagers.

I might get myself one of the old picture ones

Still have ds1 first paper ones

I used to make a homemade activity one for the children....back when they did load of school activities and i didnt need to do much

Do people buy advent calendars in Sept?