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Best for Bread Lovers
Bonne Maman 2023 Advent Calendar
Best for Self-Care
Lush Advent Calendar
Best-Smelling Advent Calendar
Immortal Perfumes Gothic Perfume Advent Calendar
Best for Chocoholics on a Budget
Godiva Holiday Classic Chocolate Advent Calendar
There’s something undeniably exciting about Advent calendars. To me, they were the first example of a little treat. I’d get done with a hard day of being an 8-year-old and come home to crack open a cardboard door to eat some powdery chocolate. As an adult, spending just a moment every single day with a special little treat or gift can help you stop feeling overwhelmed by all the tree trimming and gift wrapping—enough so you can start enjoying the ride.
Advent calendars are cooler now than they ever were when I was a kid, and the contents aren’t limited to novelty Santa-shaped chocolates anymore. I painstakingly tore into several cardboard doors to get to the bottom of the best Advent calendars. My favorites are below. Even if you start cracking into your calendar after December 1, don’t worry; a lot of Advent calendars are just 12 days. Plus, who needs rules? Just double up on treats if you start late!
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Photograph: Bonne Maman
Best for Bread Lovers
Bonne Maman 2023 Advent Calendar
The box the Bonne Maman Advent calendar arrives in is heavy—the calendar itself weighs over 5 pounds. That’s because behind each of the calendar’s 24 cardboard flaps, you’ll find a mini glass jar of fruit spread (except for one compartment that has Caramel With Coffee). Each of the adorable 1-ounce jars contains a flavor bound to shake up your loved one’s palate. Highlights from my tasting included the balanced and bright Cherry-Honey spread, the summery White Nectarine and Peach spread, and the truly unique Lemon and Elderberry spread. I’ve tried a lot of things, but I’ve never tried anything like some of these ooey-gooey flavors. Bonne Maman is a French brand that doesn’t use any high fructose corn syrup or preservatives, so this calendar is for somebody who enjoys starting their day with all-natural jam on toast or augmenting their afternoon tea with a sweet little treat.
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Photograph: Lush
Best for Self-Care
Lush Advent Calendar
I didn’t think it was possible for there to be an Advent calendar that was heavier than Bonne Maman’s (which weighs over 5 pounds), and then this gigantic, reusable box from Lush appeared on my doorstep. In total with packaging I’d estimate it to weigh around 10 pounds, and the box measures about 12 by 7 inches. The cardboard box has a locking clasp on the top and a drawer on the bottom. The design is stunning and so are the calendar’s contents. This calendar is made up of 25 delicious-smelling Lush goodies, including holiday-themed bath bombs, Bubble Bars, lotions, lip masks, shower gels, and more. There’s even a candle! And 11 of the products are Advent calendar exclusives, so you can’t get your hands on them elsewhere. This beautiful and reusable box offers a lot of value—and tons of opportunities for a decadent bubble bath.
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Photograph: Immortal Perfumes
Best-Smelling Advent Calendar
Immortal Perfumes Gothic Perfume Advent Calendar
I’m confounded as to how the best-smelling Advent calendar isn’t from Lush. But let me emphasize that I was wholly and utterly shook by this luxurious Gothic calendar from the micro-perfumery Immortal Perfumes. The reusable cardboard box is stunning, for one, with 25 individual drawers. Each contains a mass of tissue paper, at least one tiny vial of perfume, and a piece of cardstock explaining the notes and story behind each scent. You’ll also get a voucher for a free 15-milliliter roll-on perfume of your choice (valued at $75)—or you can pick which scent you want upon checkout, but the company recommends choosing the voucher if you haven’t tried its perfumes before. One drawer contains both Hades and Persephone—the former a cologne with notes of opium and belladonna, the latter a sweet blend with white musk and pomegranate. Another drawer has a cologne tribute to Henry VIII with notes of tobacco and balsam, as well as its counterpart perfume, Boleyn, with notes of champagne and violets.
You can wear these duo-day scents alone or pair them together. So far my favorite has been Voodoo Queen, a single perfume that “smells like a cross between a love potion and a curse”—at once beautiful, morbid, and curious. If you love being the best-smelling person in the room, this calendar is worth every penny. Shipping adds $20 in the United States but you can pick up the calendar for free in Seattle.
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Photograph: Godiva
Best for Chocoholics on a Budget
Godiva Holiday Classic Chocolate Advent Calendar
Kiss that fat-bloomed, powdery chocolate of yesteryear goodbye. Godiva’s 24-piece chocolate Advent calendar isn’t the most expensive you can buy, but it is frickin’ delicious. My partner and I agreed to split a piece every night—one day a salted caramel dark chocolate delight, the next a nougaty praline masterpiece. Then we decided we were adults and made quick work of the whole thing. There’s a solid mix of white, dark, and milk chocolate distributed throughout the box, and none of the pieces I received were damaged during shipment.
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Photograph: Compartés
Best for Chocoholics on a Bigger Budget
Compartés Gourmet Chocolate Advent Calendar
The 24-piece Compartés Chocolate Advent Calendar can only be described as “delightful.” There are three different themes to choose from. I received the Winter Fox Forest box, which is covered in a breathtaking and sweet scene featuring a fox frolicking with his friends. (Say that three times fast.) Every truffle has a stunning design printed on it featuring some of the characters and themes of the box itself. There are tons of different flavors—my box featured Vanilla Custard, Black Forest Gateau, and Linzer Cookie, to name a few. And it’s a small touch, but I appreciated that the box has a magnetic closure to keep things extra-fresh. The brand also offers a No Melt Shipping Guarantee. Good luck to those of you who only plan on eating one of these scrumptious truffles per day.
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Photograph: Straight Away Cocktails
Best for After Hours
Twelve Nights of Cocktails Advent Calendar
The Twelve Nights of Cocktails advent calendar is gorgeous and so are its contents. Each of the 12 100-milliliter canned cocktails in this box packs a punch, but there’s a handy chart that tells you more about each drink’s ingredients and alcohol content. You can pour the cocktails into a glass and garnish at your leisure, but I opted for sipping straight from the can like some sort of goblin. I found the drinks tasty and balanced—the espresso martini will sneak up on you—and it was nice to try drinks I wouldn’t usually order on a night out. Apparently, I like gin. Who would’ve thought?
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Photograph: Amazon
Best for Sensory Fun
Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty Advent Calendar
I was a little frustrated when I first tried testing this advent calendar, because some of the tins are a little hard to open with my short nails. That frustration quickly dissipated as soon as I got my hands on the contents. This calendar comes with eight tiny .07-ounce tins of Thinking Putty, plus a variety of mix-ins and rubber holiday charms. In total there are 24 surprises. I think someone younger than 31 would get a kick out of the alchemy aspect of it. But I was plenty content to just roll the thinking putty around in my hands while I thought of what to type next. If you’ve got a slime-obsessed youngster or you have a penchant for fidgets, this calendar is well worth the money.
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Photograph: Fly By Jing
Best for Adventurous Eaters
Fly By Jing Winter in Sichuan Advent Calendar
This Fly By Jing Winter in Sichuan advent calendar is full of 12 delicious and unique chili sauces and spice blends. You’ll get some of the iconic flavors the brand is known for, including its classic Sichuan Chili Crisp, but there are some even more unique items such as Sweet Shallot Sauce (which is so unbelievably scrumptious on eggs) and Doubanjiang Paste, which is deeply savory, a little spicy, and somehow keeps making its way into every recipe I cook. The contents of the calendar are vegan and perfect for any foodie with a penchant for spicing things up. Each 2-ounce jar is TSA approved.
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Photograph: FabFitFun
Best for Treating Yourself
FabFitFun Advent Calendar
This advent calendar, by my calculations, contains nearly $300 worth of goodies. I don’t want to spoil all of the contents, but I’ll say that I discovered a new product that I can’t live without, three of the items immediately went inside my purse, and for the two that didn’t work out for me, they are absolutely regiftable. Most of the products in this calendar are full-size. It’s very heavily beauty focused, so if you’re someone who oohs and aahs over those kinds of products, this is a fantastic way to treat yourself for 12 days this December. (Or give yourself a really big treat all at once.)