Holiday fun in 2021: Advent calendars
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While most Advent calendars are designed to help you count down the days until Christmas, they can be a festive addition to the holiday season no matter what you celebrate. And they don’t just come with chocolate candies hidden behind each tiny door (although you can purchase those, too). Some Advent calendars are filled with coffee pods, skin care products and other unique items.
If you’re looking for an Advent calendar for yourself or to gift someone else this holiday season, we rounded up some of our favorite options that we think Select readers will enjoy.
Advent calendars for the 2021 holiday season
To source these Advent calendars, we referenced our previous coverage and associated expert guidance. We also included top-rated items and products aligned with Select reader interest from brands like Nespresso, The Body Shop, Happy Socks and more.
Home and kitchen Advent calendars
Uncommon Goods Embroidery Advent Calendar
This Advent calendar doubles as a craft project and a piece of home decor at the end of the holiday season. From the first day of December until Christmas, you stitch a new design into the provided fabric, which connects to the embroidery hoop. The kit comes with colored string and directions both beginner and advanced needlers can understand.
Uncommon Goods Embroidery Advent Calendar
Uncommon Goods Embroidery Advent Calendar $45.00 at Uncommon Goods
Voluspa Japonica Candle Advent Calendar
Voluspa’s Advent calendar contains 12 votives, each of which has a burn time of about 25 hours, according to the brand. You open one door a day to reveal 2.5-ounce candles in different fragrances like French Cade Lavender, Spiced Pumpkin Latte, Moso Bamboo and more.
Voluspa Japonica Candle Advent Calendar
Voluspa Japonica Candle Advent Calendar $150.00 at Nordstrom
Voluspa Japonica Candle Advent Calendar $150.00 at Bloomingdales
Voluspa Japonica Candle Advent Calendar $150.00 at Voluspa
Uncommon Goods Cookie Making Calendar
If you know a baker who likes to try new cookie recipes, they might enjoy using this Advent calendar leading up to the holiday season. It supplies baking tools like cookie cutters as well as ingredients and recipes to create six different kinds of cookies. Each of the recipes is a surprise, although some of the items that come in the calendar may give you a hint about what you’ll be making, from cocoa powder and marshmallows to peppermint candy.
Uncommon Goods Cookie Making Calendar
Uncommon Goods Cookie Making Calendar $70.00 at Uncommon Goods
Wellness Advent calendars
Bluemercury 31 Days of Dazzle Advent Calendar
From eye masks and shower oil to lip balm and sunscreen, Bluemercury’s Advent calendar is filled with 31 different skin care and hair care products. Items are hidden in their own numbered drawers, allowing you to count down to the holidays or New Year’s Eve. Brands featured in the Advent calendar include Supergoop, Bobbi Brown, SkinCeuticals and more.
Bluemercury 31 Days of Dazzle Advent Calendar
Bluemercury 31 Days of Dazzle Advent Calendar $400.00 at BlueMercury
Spotlight Oral Care 12 Days of Christmas Calendar
Some of the products featured in Spotlight Oral Care’s Advent calendar contain hydrogen peroxide, an ingredient dentists previously told us helps whiten teeth. In addition to oral care products like floss, a toothbrush, teeth whitening strips and toothpaste, the calendar offers skin care and lip care like lip masks and a gua sha tool.
Spotlight Oral Care 12 Days of Christmas Calendar
Spotlight Oral Care 12 Days of Christmas Calendar $142.50 at Spotlight
L’Occitane Holiday Advent Calendar
This L'Occitane Advent calendar holds 24 miniature versions of select products from the brand, including ones formulated with shea butter, almond oil and Immortelle essential oil, all of which it says nourishes skin. The Advent calendar includes moisturizers, hand creams, shampoos and conditioners, as well as face serums, lip balms and more.
L’Occitane Holiday Advent Calendar
L’Occitane Holiday Advent Calendar $79.00 at Sephora
L’Occitane Holiday Advent Calendar $79.00 at L'Occitane
The Body Shop Share the Joy Advent Calendar
The Body Shop’s Advent calendar brings the spa to you with 24 products like sheet face masks, lip butter, bath bubbles and more. The products come in a box that features a pop-up, holiday-themed display.
The Body Shop Share the Joy Advent Calendar
The Body Shop Share the Joy Advent Calendar $79.00 at The Body Shop
Barber Pro 12 Days of Grooming Advent Calendar
Filled with different types of sheet masks, Barber Pro’s Advent calendar provides 12 days’ worth of skin care designed to hydrate, soften, soothe and brighten all skin types. Some masks are for the whole face, while others go under the eyes. The Advent calendar is geared toward men and also comes with a post-shave cooling mask.
Barber Pro 12 Days of Grooming Advent Calendar
Barber Pro 12 Days of Grooming Advent Calendar $55.00 at Urban Outfitters
Uncommon Goods Shower Steamer Advent Calendar
In the 24 days before whatever holiday you celebrate, unwrap new shower steamers made with essential oils like peppermint, eucalyptus and lavender. Shower steamers dissolve in water to add fragrance to your bathroom and can double as fizzy body scrubs.
Uncommon Goods Shower Steamer Advent Calendar
Uncommon Goods Shower Steamer Advent Calendar $98.00 at Uncommon Goods
Clarins 24-Day Advent Calendar
You can hang this Advent calendar in your bathroom and open different flaps to reveal new skin care and makeup products for 24 days this holiday season. Clarins designed the calendar to include a selection of its bestselling items in full, travel and sample sizes. Products include body scrub, hand lotion, micellar water, lip balm and more.
Clarins 24-Day Advent Calendar
Clarins 24-Day Advent Calendar $120.00 at Clarins
Food and drink Advent calendars
Bonne Maman Limited Edition Advent Calendar
Bonne Maman’s Advent calendar lets you or the food fanatic in your life try different flavored fruit spreads and honey leading up to the holidays. The Advent calendar features exclusive seasonal jams like Cherry With Hibiscus Flower, Sweet Orange With Passion Fruit, Peach With Jasmine, Wild Blueberry With Lemon Balm, Raspberry With Rose and more. The jams come in 24 1-ounce jars and are packaged in a decorative and seasonal display.
Bonne Maman Limited Edition Advent Calendar
Bonne Maman Limited Edition Advent Calendar $69.90 at Amazon
Bonne Maman Limited Edition Advent Calendar $34.99 at Bonne Maman
David’s Tea 24 Days of Matcha
Some people prefer matcha over coffee for their daily caffeine fix. This Advent calendar provides 23 different flavored matcha packets — from Mocha Matcha to Earl Grey Matcha — as well as a matcha spoon. You can add the ground green tea to hot water and whisk until it's frothy, and then add ice cubes to make a cold beverage or use a milk frother to whip up a warm latte.
David’s Tea 24 Days of Matcha
David’s Tea 24 Days of Matcha $65.00 at David's Tea
Pukka Tea Advent Calendar
Introduce the tea lover in your life to new varieties this holiday season with Pukka’s Tea Advent Calendar. It comes with 24 different tea bags in flavors like Mint Refresh and Night Time. The Advent calendar and the sachets within it are all recyclable.
Pukka Tea Advent Calendar
VineBox 12 Nights of Wine (preorder)
Pair wine gifts like glasses with the VineBox 12 Nights of Wine Advent calendar. It boasts 12 glass tubes, each of which contains approximately 3 ounces of wine. The box includes four white wines, two rosés and six red wines selected by VineBox’s sommeliers. The wines come from a handful of countries like Italy, France and Spain, highlighting different flavors across the world. You can preorder the wine box now and choose from either a Wonderland or Abstract design. It ships in early November.
VineBox 12 Nights of Wine
VineBox 12 Nights of Wine $129.00 at VINEBOX
In Good Taste Wine Advent Calendar
If 12 bottles of wine aren't enough, this Advent calendar from In Good Taste offers 24. It features mini bottles that contain about 6-ounce servings of select wines from the brand’s California Wine Mixer, Wild Child, Passport and Cascade collections, as well as two types of wine exclusive to the calendar. You can purchase the Advent calendar now to ship later in November.
In Good Taste Wine Advent Calendar
In Good Taste Wine Advent Calendar $150.00 at In Good Taste
The Spirit Co Whiskey Advent Calendar (preorder)
Instead of gifting one bottle of whiskey, The Spirit Co’s whiskey Advent calendar allows you to give 24 different varieties. The whiskeys featured in this Advent calendar come from across the world and include tipples like West Cork Black Cask, Teeling Small Batch and more. The spirits come in handmade wax-sealed drams that hold about a 1-ounce serving of the drink. You can preorder the Advent calendar now to ship in late October.
The Spirit Co Whiskey Advent Calendar
The Spirit Co Whiskey Advent Calendar $214.03 at The Spirit Co
Food 52 X Stone Hollow Farmstead Advent Calendar
This Advent calendar gives the chefs on your holiday list 24 new ingredients from Stone Hollow Farmstead to cook with throughout the winter. It includes botanical drinking vinegars, jams, jellies, syrups and more. Items come packed in a wood box that counts down the 24 days before whatever holiday you celebrate.
Food 52 X Stone Hollow Farmstead Advent Calendar
Food 52 X Stone Hollow Farmstead Advent Calendar $275.00 at Stone Hollow Farmstead
Keurig Advent Calendar Variety Pack
With this Advent calendar, Keurig owners get new K-Cup pods to pop into their single-serve coffee makers each morning leading up to the holidays. The Advent calendar comes with 24 pods from brands like Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, McCafe, Peet’s Coffee, Swiss Miss and more.
Keurig Advent Calendar Variety Pack
Keurig Advent Calendar Variety Pack $18.99 at Keurig
Keurig Advent Calendar Variety Pack $19.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond
Keurig Advent Calendar Variety Pack $37.95 at Amazon
Williams Sonoma Compostable Coffee Capsule Advent Calendar
A gift for Nespresso and KitchenAid espresso machine owners, this Advent calendar provides 24 days of capsules in six flavors like Vanilla, Classico and Hazelnut. Each capsule makes one shot of espresso, and the capsules are made from compostable materials.
Williams Sonoma Compostable Coffee Capsule Advent Calendar
Williams Sonoma Compostable Coffee Capsule Advent Calendar $39.95 at Williams Sonoma
Whittard Hot Chocolate Advent Calendar
Hot chocolate is a signature winter drink, and this Advent calendar provides 12 different cocoa flavors to enjoy over 24 days. Each drawer in the Advent calendar contains two sachets of hot chocolate powder, giving you a total of 48 packs at the end of the month. Flavors include Peanut Butter, Luxury White, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Strawberry and more.
Whittard Hot Chocolate Advent Calendar
Whittard Hot Chocolate Advent Calendar $78.00 at Whittard
Nespresso Limited Edition Original Advent Calendar
Nespresso partnered with artist Johanna Ortiz to design Advent calendars filled with coffee and espresso capsules. You can purchase calendars filled with either Original or Vertuo capsules, depending on which Nespresso machine you or your loved one owns. Each Advent calendar surprises you with a flavored capsule from Dec. 1-23 — on Dec. 24, you get to open a larger gift.
Nespresso Limited Edition Original Advent Calendar
Nespresso Limited Edition Original Advent Calendar $45.00 at Nespresso
Bean Box Twelve Mornings of Coffee Advent Calendar
For those who don’t own a single-serve coffee maker or espresso machine, Bean Box’s Advent calendar features 12 different holiday blends you can make using a regular drip coffee maker. You can choose between whole bean or ground coffee, and the flavors have notes of roasted chestnut, cranberry and more.
Bean Box Twelve Mornings of Coffee Advent Calendar
Bean Box Twelve Mornings of Coffee Advent Calendar $68.00 at Bean Box
Nipyata Boozy Advent Calendar
Nipyata’s Boozy Advent Calendar features a selection of 12 spirits in miniature bottles. It includes whiskey, vodka, rum and gin, as well as two types of liqueur: coffee and Irish cream.
Nipyata Boozy Advent Calendar
Nipyata Boozy Advent Calendar $109.99 at Nipyata
Apparel Advent calendars
Target 15 Days of Socks Advent Calendar
Target offers multiple Advent calendars filled with women’s socks during the holiday season. Some are themed around Christmas — featuring characters from the movie “Elf,” for example — while others revolve around Harry Potter, “Friends,” Disney princesses, Star Wars and more. Advent calendars come with 15 pairs of socks to count down to the holidays, including low-cuts and crew-cuts.
Target 15 Days of Socks Advent Calendar
Target 15 Days of Socks Advent Calendar $15.00 at Target
Happy Socks Advent Calendar
If you can’t choose just one pair of Happy Socks to gift this holiday season, the brand’s Advent calendar provides 24 different pairs. These unisex socks are made from cotton and feature colorful designs.
Happy Socks Advent Calendar - 24 Pack
Happy Socks Advent Calendar - 24 Pack $225.00 at Happy Socks
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