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?

I'm not sure if my parents re-used ours. But I do remember the pure excitement and joy of opening up the little doors. There were three of us kids and we'd take turns. I'm 40.

DS is 4 and has a home made calendar with chocolates. I wonder if he experiences the same excitement...I doubt it. He knows there will be a chocolate. It's no robin on a gatepost. And yet I'd feel he was missing out if there was no chocolate.

Did you just watch Josh Widdicombe on Live at the Apollo OP? 😂

I had a new one each year. Last couple of years they maybe had chocolate, before that religious and I opened it after church (from about 7 I went to midnight mass so would have been about 1.30 Christmas Day.)

I thought it was new each year, but it may have been reused, I remember how excited I was to see the pictures! At some point I got a chocolate one, and it didn’t have pictures, while the chocolate was exciting i remember being a bit disappointed with no pictures. Times have changed so much since the 80s.

We used to make our own out of last year's Christmas Cards.

I saw it and thought he must be younger than me!

I don't think I have ever known anyone re-use an advent calendar.

We reused the same one. I think it’s long gone, but I was very excited to see a photo of it on a Facebook nostalgia group a few weeks ago. The barrel at the right was for the 15th and said only ten days to go….

Same

I'm going back to the 60s and 70s.

We had a new one each year, but it was one between us all, so we took turns to open the door.

First response had it! We had the same one for years, and the 3 of us used to argue about whose turn it was.
Dh was the youngest of 4 with a big age gap. He reckoned theirs was from the 1950s.
Simpler times.

I’ve been trying to find my childhood calendar on eBay to no avail. The pictures year on year would be so evocative now. I’m convinced mine was the shape of a German cuckoo clock. Was so exciting getting it out every year.

We had the same one for several years….I really didn’t see the point tbh. But then we started to get chocolate ones, much better and iirc the packet then had some sort of game on it. This was 60s/70s.

@maximist that's my childhood advent calendar ! Came out every year, I loved it .

I was born 86 and we definitely re-used them
I actually bought a picture advent calendar this yr and it is really lovely.

New one each year from Grandparents, took turns to open the doors. 24th always a double door nativity scene iirc. I loved the simplicity and the gitter of them.

Born in 1976 - a new picture advent calendar every year. Lots f glitter on it. Loved it! Didn’t get a chocolate one till I was 14/15

We made one each year. There were 4 kids so we each had 6 small pictures to draw, gave them to our mum who put it all together. There was great excitement each morning to see whose picture it was behind each door and what had they drawn. Aw innocent times

New one every year but my mum has a book with an advent calendar in it that comes out every year (and that started in childhood!)

My mother still gave them to me as an adult, and it was a new one every year. My favourite was the Nativity, double door, scene.

1988 here, me and my brothers got them for years. My gran would send them. Little Robin on a fence, snowman etc

My aunt and uncle used to send me one, I bought myself a picture one this year just for the nostalgia.

Same advent calendar for years- my mum used to iron the doors shut. We took it in turns to open the doors. Pictures were things like holly, or a candle but the best picture was a little robin.

Mine was reused for several years. Late 60s to early 70s. A triptych nativity scene, the first two doors were large double barn type windows, one was a snowy scene with trees and one was a snowy scene with deer amongst the trees. Door 24 was the baby Jesus in the manger.

I was born in 1987 and always had picture calendars growing up (a new one each year) - I loathed them at the time, though -- all my friends had chocolate ones and I wasn't allowed (my sister was allergic and so it would've been unfair if I had chocolate when she couldn't - makes sense as an adult but as a kid I was infuriated 😅)
Now that I'm not a grumpy teen, I quite like the picture calendars and do sometimes buy them.

This year, though, I've got a coffee advent calendar which makes me very happy!