Picture Advent Calendars in the 1980s

[FurForksSake]

DH and I have just had a festive discussion : disagreement.

AIBU to ask you - if you had a picture advent calendar as a child, we are mid 40s so perhaps in that era or before or after, did you get a new picture advent calendar every year, or reused the one you were given for years (decades..)

if you remember - what was the scene in your advent calendar / favourite calendar?

Always the robin on a snowy gatepost.

We had a New one every year and my fave was the 24th as it was a double door.

Opening the doors to find whatever christmas picture. It was the excitement of not knowing would be behind each door. Sure there used to be little chocolates wrapped in foil.

no, we didnt get a new one each year. i think there were 2 or 3 in the house that were reused. i can't remember my favourite picture but i do remember the calender had glitter on.

Yes, we did reuse them, my parents were very frugal. I don't remember the picture on the front but the 24th window was always a nativity scene.

We reused one for a few years when money was tight - and I still remember the excitement of being sent a new one by a relative! I think the one we reused had a simple old-fashioned snowy street scene if I remember right. I used to love opening the advent calendar, and was actually disappointed when I got my first chocolate one as a teenager to find that it had no pictures. I was probably a bit of a weird child though.,

New one every year. I don't know anyone who reused them, they didnt close properly once opened.

My sister and I shared a calendar and had to take turns opening the doors. The calendars were reused for a couple of years before getting a new one.

New one

Ah yes, remember that.

I tried to get one for DD this year but none around I could locate. I had one with glitter and loved it. The robin the best picture. We got a new one every year

New one every year. No chocolate, just the excitement of what the picture would be - a bell, a robin, a wreath?

Double doors only existed on the door for the 24th.

Always a new one so I don’t remember being excited for any one particular picture. But loved guessing what each one would be with my siblings. And the sheer excitement of opening the big one on 24th. Those were the days!

I so vividly remember my Aunty had a beautiful paper advent calender. The scene was a skyline of Bethlehem and you opened one paper set of shutters in the windows of a house on each day of advent. Behind each shutter was just coloured to look lit up so by the time Christmas arrived all of Bethlehem looked illuminated. Final window was the nativity scene. They used it every year and I loved it.

We got a new one every year, my ultimate favourite picture one was in the shape of Santa and there was a string at the bottom which you pulled to make his legs move. I’m 55 and it must be 45 years ago when I got that one and I can still remember how much joy it brought every day.

We had a new one every year.

I'm sure we had a new one every year. About 30p from Woolies. All covered in glitter, usually a Nativity scene I think, or just a snowy Victorian street scene. It really was exciting opening each window, even though it was just a picture!

Reused them. 30th November was spent sticking the doors with blutac to hold them shut.
My favourite was either the 3d house which you could put a candle inside and the Windows glowed or the one which was different people looking out of windows.

It was like having an old friend opening them again.

We had a new one every year. Always a picture, no chocolates. Was always really excited to see the picture!

We reused them. We had one between us. The best picture was a kitten with a Christmas bauble.

i was telling my children today that the first year we had a chocolate calendar we had to share it, it was such a luxury. I must have been 8 or 9, so very early 1990’s.

That has just unlocked a memory!! We had that one too, I loved it!
our were mainly nativity scenes bought from church, I do remember mum ironing it under a tea towel one year when putting away all the decs so I assume we had it the next year too!

Frequently reused.

My mum was a teacher so had a plentiful supply of little gold and silver stars which she would use to stick the doors back down!

I had a new calendar every year.
I always wanted to see the Nativity scene behind the double doors of number 24.

One year it was a big Father Christmas and I was disappointed.(I loved him behind any other window though.)

My favourite picture was a moon with a face in a dark glittery, starry sky. It was magical and I often think of the fleeting moment of pure joy when I opened that window.

I'm not quite sure why that picture made me so happy. I was about 4 at the time.

I reused one through my teenage years because I was apparently too old to need an advent calendar

My first Christmas at uni, I took great delight in buying myself an advent calendar because I could. And it was a chocolate one. Bonus, as it was 1999, it went up to Millennium Eve

New one every year until one year I made my little sister one from a big Christmas card. The next year she made me one from a cereal box. The front picture was a pregnant Mary, Joseph and the donkey playing frisbee (she was 6). My dad had helped her cut all the little doors and she’d drawn a Christmassy picture under each one. I’ve put it up every year since.