Advent calendar for 15yo boy not keen on chocolate

[Exp1etiveDeLighted]

Any suggestions? We're out of ideas, in previous years he's had Match Attax and Jelly Beans but doesn't want either this year.

He doesn't like Pringles either .

Unbelievable though that seems.

At 15 he does not need an advent calendar at all.

@Perunatop [santa]

Has anyone got a link for the popcorn one? My ds is 13 and hasn't got a sweet tooth either.

I had no idea you get to discuss/choose your advent calendar. If I'm feeling generous, I pick one up in the supermarket and expect them to be grateful

Why wouldn't you discuss it? We discuss presents, its no different really.

I guess everyone's different but to me an advent calendar is a little surprise treat, not an expected gift to be fussy over. I still think the paper ones with only a picture for a surprise are the best though. In my memories of childhood the excitement was the countdown and guessing what the picture would be.

@LoyaltyBonus I love the picture ones but they can be quite hard to find. My mum has always bought them for me and my siblings and now we have children we put them up for them to open.

Despite the modern commercial world we live in the kids all love finding out which picture is behing the door each day.

a few years ago my mum's usual supplier didn't have any picture only advent calendars and mum suggested that maybe my sister and I were 'too old' for them anyway. That did not go down well haha, thankfully she found somewhere else to get them

I do confess that we also have a big felt homemade advent calendar which i put small treats in but I buy whatever I think will be nice and it's a little surprise for DS like you say. Not something which is dicussed or turned down because it's not quite what he/I fancy

It is not "an expected treat to be fussed over". If anything he isn't that bothered about having one at all, however as the rest of us are having them it seems a shame for him to miss out and I am looking for something he'd like as the usual chocolate/sweets ones aren't really to his taste and he's outgrown Match Attax. Thanks to all those who have made helpful suggestions.

@soupforbrains my mum used to bring the same ones out every year We had to open the doors very carefully so they could be closed again for next year. I still have a nativity one from c. 1968. It is probably my most prized possession.

@LoyaltyBonus I love that. My mum has one she gets out every year at her house which the kids all take turns doing but it has little cardboard figures which slot into numbered slots in the backboard creating the nativity scene.

One year mum bought some cheap picture ones from somewhere and my sister and I (both grown ups at this time) were very unimpressed when on day 4 I got the baby jesus alread and then my sister did on day 11. that's a no-no.

This year as part of the advent calendar and candle thing which DS and I are doing we are going to read one chapter of The Christmas Mystery together each day too. I'm very excited to share this book with him :)

I haven't bought one for DD this year as she is 22. The cat is only 15 though.

Yes, we started to notice that the baby Jesus made random appearances at quite the wrong time in the more modern ones (by which I mean c. 1985!)

The best one I did with my DC was a father Christmas head with numbers on the beard and they glued on a cotton ball each day. We didn't even think about gifts/choc in them until DC were into their teens.

I love the reverse advent calendar thing but I can't quite get my head round how it works a as a countdown, as you're not going to shop for the items on a daily basis.

Loads of options here
www.menkind.co.uk/advent-calendars

AmazingAardvark that is genius! I love it. (I am also a massive nerd.)

OP maybe you do something along those lines - a joke per day, or can you get electronic ones that send you a Grumpy Cat meme every day or something?! You can try too hard at these things. Personally I would do something edible or re-useable, because he is probably not going to want the faff of using up 24 things he doesn't need. Or you could wind it back to just pictures.

I've got my teenage son a knock-knock joke one

Lobster - my cat LOVED her wilko one last year

My DS is also not keen on chocolate and although he would love a Lego one, I would rather use that kind of budget for an extra xmas present. I found some old school picture ones (with obligatory glitter) a few years ago,when he was about 6, and they were way more expensive than the chocolate ones! (I agree though that baby jesus on day 11 would be s deal breaker!!😂)

I did not know you could get cat advent calendars .... I'm presuming you can get dog ones too....

Carpathian2, I got DD's popcorn calendar online from Joe & Seff's. I have seen others advertised on FB, but can't remember where from.
thaegum, I got my dog advent calendar from Tesco. Have also seen them in Sainsbury's.

@Skinnychip we were OUTRAGED  we lost interest in even opening the windows after that haha.

@AmazingAardvark that calendar is AMAZING. Annoyingly amazon are out of stock. Am trying to decide if I can wait until 5th December and still get it anyway... I am a huge HUGE crime detective nerd and am ashamed that I didn't know this existed.

@Exp1etiveDeLighted aw! That's a lovely photograph! And yes, Wilko also supply the dog advent calendars.

https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/mixpixie/product/christmas-playlist-advent-calendar?DGMKT=FIDTIDaud-453406178336:pla-340936504022PID903297CRI340936504022&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjbGZ66335QIVhrTtCh3foAWaEAQYCCABEgItvvD_BwE