Advent calendar

[Wilhelminawonka]

I want to really spoil my kids this year so instead of a £1 chocolate calendar from the pound shop I'm looking at the more fancy ones.

Are they worth it?

There's a hatchimal one which looks good and a smiggle one (that should give an idea of the interests here although there's also a radio building one that looks great)

Any others that people would recommend and do they sell out quickly?

we have bought the smiggle one in previous years and have been disappointed. don't know about the hatchimal one.

Our two wee ones (4&5) have the Playmobil ones and DS1 (11) has the Star Wars Lego one. I’ve not seen what’s inside but the reviews were all good.

Hmmm I figured the smiggle one might be disappointing. How much can they really fit in a box that small after all! Thanks for that.
The kids love the tiny hatchimals so looks like that might be better then.

DS (12) has had the Tinc one the last couple of years. Not sure if he'll want it again this year but he loved it.

How old are your DC OP?

My DS3 is after a Lego Star Wars one and DD has seen a Peppa Pig figure one. Which all 4 kids having £20+ advent calendars, it soon adds up!

The radio one is quite cool. My tweenagers enjoyed it last year.

You can see the contents of the Smiggle calendar if you go to their website, or message them on FB and they will send a PDF, they did this last year after a previous calendar had naff gifts inside.

The radio one sounds good.

sids DS is nearly 11 this year and I am considering getting the tinc one for him. We have past the stage of 0laymobil and Lego from previous years. Do you remember what was in it? I’m guessing it wasn’t too girly?

Both my girls had the Lego friends advent calendars but showed no interest each day opening them but really loved my Hubby’s Haribo calendar so I’ve got them one each this year - £5 instead of £25!

Have been looking for Paw Patrol advent calendars but spent my money on Playdoh Advent Calendar and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I've got the Haribo Advent Calendar and Reese's advent calendar. Although I have to make a confession, I opened the Reese's and scoffed some . Need to buy some more.

My girls prefer sweets to chocolate but I just couldn't bring myself to buy a haribo calendar.....they're SUPPOSED to be chocolate. Even better if cheap shitty chocolate. It's the rules. Toys?! Radio building?! I can't cope 😫

The Tinc one is really excellent. Good quality, good gifts. Have had that one last two years, and not been disappointed. I think there is a section on their website where you can see what was inside last years/find out what’s inside this year’s. Generally, it’s keyrings, pens, luggage/bag tag, those charm things they do that fit in the holes on pencil cases etc, one of those expandable flannels. There’s been a couple of excellent ‘other’ bit similar too, one year was a music box, dd also got a sticky notes set. Not particularly girly - the pens have snowmen/gingerbread men/reindeer on, lots of the other stuff has the Tinc monster thing (black scruffy looking thing) eg wearing a Christmas hat or similar.

DD loved the Smiggle one last year, they'd really improved it after a lot of negative feedback the year before. Cost a fortune though and DD has said she'd prefer a chocolate one this year.

I bought this one for DD a few years ago. It’s very expensive but beautiful and I rationalised it by thinking it will last forever. When she’s a teenager I can fill it with small make up items, etc. Hopefully if she has DC they can use it! It’s one of our favourite Christmas traditions and I’m so pleased I splashed out.

www.fortnumandmason.com/products/fortnum-s-house-wooden-advent-calendar?channel=ppc&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_7HdBRDPARIsAN_ltcIuOAtd2VkpFrK3Exr_5XMBlTzarTzhZMy6ObFH3xWUh7DfzISeNDcaAqrtEALw_wcB

I got them a Lego one last year and it was a total waste of money. The Lego just ended up all over the floor and eventually in the bin. Won’t be doing that again.