Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas, without an advent calendar full of hair ties, right? The doors that once revealed watercolour pictures depicting snowy scenes – or a chocolate button, if you were lucky – now contain all sorts of products, from scented candles to sloe gin to sex toys (yes, really).
50 best gifts and presents for those who have everything...
Below is TheWeek.co.uk’s guide to this season’s best adult-friendly advent calendars, to help spice up the Christmas countdown.
Food
Cheesegeek Cheese Advent Calendar
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Cheesegeek, the modern cheesemonger that specialises in cheesy gifts, has the perfect advent calendar for any turophiles. Priced at £150, the cheese advent calendar features 24 75g cheeses plus crackers and condiments. Rather than have the cheeses go mouldy behind advent calendar windows, cheesegeek arranges three December deliveries of eight soft, blue and hard cheeses, carefully selected to suit all tastes and palettes. There are just 350 of these advent calendars for sale and they are available to order up until 28 November. £150; thecheesegeek.com
Fenwick Food Advent Calendar
The British department store Fenwick (which has divided shoppers over its pronunciation for decades) has launched a food advent calendar to celebrate some of its biggest and best brands. COCO, Edinburgh Honey Co, Durham Distillery and Charbonnel et Walker are a handful of the names behind the 25 goodies featured behind the calendar windows, with products ranging from sloe gin and shortbread to brandy butter and salted caramel truffles. £145; fenwick.co.uk
Candyfloss Advent Calendar
In what is (apparently) a UK first, the Essex-based JB Treat Carts (known for working with celebrities like Gemma Collins and Stacey Solomon) has launched a candyfloss advent calendar designed to make Christmas that bit sweeter. Behind each calendar window is a festive message and a flavoured floss – with a different one for each day, including Christmas pudding, Irish cream and chocolate orange. £39.99; jbtreatcarts.com
So Wrong It’s Num Cheese Advent Calendar
So Wrong It’s Num’s iconic cheese advent calendar is returning for the sixth year in a row, having previously sold 1.3 million calendars in 17 countries worldwide. The calendar features 24 individual “chuckles” (miniature wheels) of cheese, encased in recyclable, “fridge-door-friendly packaging” (apparently that’s a thing). Nine types of cheese are contained within this gift set, including Jarlsberg, Applewood, Mexicana and Ilchester varieties, with the smelly selection partially chosen by a 20,000-strong online community of cheese lovers. £8; sowrongitsnom.com
Alcohol
St Austell Brewery Beer Advent Calendar
St Austell Brewery, a Cornish brewery founded in 1851, has reprived its beer advent calendar, which contains 24 different beers carefully selected by head brewer Georgina Young. The creative collection of lagers, IPAs, pale ales, wheat beers, stouts and more includes familiar favourites as well as limited-edition brews available for the first time. Order by midday on 24 November to ensure delivery by the start of December. £79.99; staustellbreweryshop.co.uk
Fever-Tree Gin and Tonic Advent Calendar
Posh tonic brand Fever-Tree’s advent calendar contains 12 perfect pairings of premium mixers and mini craft gins from big-name spirit-makers like Sipsmith, Chase, Hendricks and Warners. Surprising flavours, including pink grapefruit and pink pepper and sloe, elevate the classic G&T experience, helping juniper junkies say cheers to Christmas in style. Fever-Tree’s calendar is available on Ocado, Waitrose and John Lewis, as well as through the brand’s new online gift shop. £60; ocado.com
NIO co*cktails 12-Day Advent co*cktail Box
It’s any lazy co*cktail-lover’s dream: an advent calendar featuring 24 ready-to-drink co*cktail mixes. NIO co*cktails’ 12-day advent co*cktail box features a boozy blend and a dried garnish for every day of December up until Christmas. co*cktail flavours include negroni, margarita, old fashioned and daiquiri, and the set can be preordered for delivery between 14 and 30 November. £115; nioco*cktails.co.uk
The Craft Gin Advent Calendar
Switch chocolate for craft gin this Chrimbo. Drinks by the Dram has brought together 24 gins made by some of the most creative and passionate producers in the juniper game, including Bathtub Gin, Bluecoat American Gin and Kyrö Gin. A 30ml gin sample is behind each calendar door, introducing gin lovers to new brands, sparking gin-spiration (sorry) and supporting independent distillers around the world. £69.95; masterofmalt.com
Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur Advent Calendar
Baileys and Christmas – you name a better duo, I’ll wait. The two go hand in hand, so whoever thought up the Irish cream liqueur advent calendar was onto a winner. The 12-day calendar contains six Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur miniatures, three Baileys Coffee Liqueur miniatures and three Baileys Orange Truffle Liqueur miniatures, all of which can be enjoyed on ice or mixed into a Christmassy co*cktail. £34.99; thebottleclub.com
Sandford Orchards Cider Advent Calendar
Discovering a different delicious cider every day in the countdown to Christmas. Sandford Orchards’s cider advent calendar is packed with a selection of 24 ciders including all the well-known favourites from its award-winning range. £69.50; sandfordorchards.co.uk
Fortnum & Mason Spirits & Liqueurs Advent Calendar
This new spirits and liqueurs advent calendar from Fortnum & Mason provides a curated selection of limited-edition tipples to try in the Christmas lead-up, or keep stocked for the big day. Elegantly designed, it features a handpicked selection of gins, liqueurs, whiskies and vodkas from Fortnum’s Food Hall. In total, there are 24 unique 5cl bottles to open – plus a larger 20cl bottle of Speyside Scotch Whisky to open on Christmas Day. £250; fortnumandmason.com
Beer Hawk Beery Christmas Advent Calendar
The ninth edition of Beer Hawk’s advent calendar is packed with 24 amazing beers – which have been brewed exclusively by both offbeat and big name breweries. From traditional wheat beers, to more modern IPAs and famous Belgian styles, this year’s advent calendar brings innovative brews from 11 countries. Beers include Northern Monk, Tiny Rebel, Omnipollo, Pohjala and many more. £85; beerhawk.co.uk
Tea and coffee
Artisan Coffee Co. Ultimate Pod Calendar
Treat the coffee-lover in your life to the ultimate caffeinated creation. Artisan Coffee Co., which launched in early 2019 and is co-founded by the chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, has brought out a 24-drawer calendar featuring a rotation of six blends (in pods, bags and ground), plus a selection of 48 matching chocolates that pair with each coffee – and a special gift. The calendar comes with two servings of coffee and chocolate stuffed behind each door. £69.95; artisancoffeeco.com
Bird & Blend Tea Advent Calendar
Indie tea company Bird & Blend’s advent calendar features almost 50 tea bags and some rather unusual flavours including Birthday Cake Tea and Mascarpone & Sour Cherry Tea, as well as your classic Christmas blends. This tea advent calendar is extra special as opening each door reveals not one but two tea bags, with the makers hoping it will encourage people to catch up with a loved one, friend or colleague over a cuppa. £38; birdandblendtea.com
12 Days of Discovery Coffee
You can feel smug as you sip your coffee from Chimney Fire Coffee’s 12 days of discovery advent calendar. The Surrey Hills-based specialty coffee roastery – a B Corp – is all about sustainability from the ground up, with direct and transparent sourcing, 100% compostable packaging and the delivery of social impact through donations to Re-Cycle, a small charity that refurbishes UK bikes and sends them to rural communities in Africa. Each 70g coffee in this calendar has been carefully selected by Chimney Fire’s roastery team. £45; chimneyfirecoffee.com
Beauty and self-care
ARRAN Sense of Scotland Advent Calendar 2022
Hygge might be a Scandinavian concept, but this Christmas it’s coming to Scotland. The ARRAN Sense of Scotland calendar is all about self care, with a small Scottish treat behind every door. With contents worth more than £140, this calendar is packed with pampering products for the body, hair and home, from a seaweed and sage body lotion to a soft cinnamon candle. Last year’s version sold out within weeks of going on sale – so get your hands on this cosy creation ASAP. £70; arran.com
Home Fragrance, Bath and Body Advent Calendar
The Bristol and Bath-based home and body brand Sassy Shop has launched a beauty-centric advent calendar featuring 24 best-selling products, including mini wax melts, whipped soaps and full-sized lip balms. A small trigger warning: this calendar is entirely pink, features a large pink bow and boasts the slogan “Have yourself a Sassy Christmas”. If that doesn’t sound like your bag then don’t say I didn’t warn you. £49.99; sassyshopwax.com
Lloyds Pharmacy Skin Treats Advent Calendar
A facemask a day keeps the pimples away. That’s the philosophy behind Lloyds Pharmacy’s £8 skin treats advent calendar which contains 24 pampering skin-nourishing face masks designed to hydrate, renew and rejuvenate your skin, leaving it feeling radiant. £8; lloydspharmacy.com
12 Days of 111SKIN
At £450 111SKIN’s 12-day calendar certainly doesn’t come cheap, but it does promise to “unlock the secrets of skin confidence” – a tantalising promise to the acne-prone. Behind each door is a skin-enriching gift from the leading skincare brand’s surgically-inspired skincare range, including a Rose Quartz Exfoliating Mask, a Celestial Black Diamond Eye Mask and a Gold Brightening Facial Treatment Mask. The collection is curated by skin repair expert Dr. Yannis Alexandrides, so you know you’re in good hands. £450; 111skin.com
invisibobble 2022 Advent Calendar
Any long-haired reader will relate to that frustrating feeling of being hair-tie-less, particularly during essential moments such as before stepping into the shower or when feeling stressed and anxious. Thankfully, invisibobble, the original spiral hair ring brand, has come up with an innovative hair tie calendar, containing 24 products from hair clips to “sprunchies”. The range is made with something called “Hairlovetech” – a material which damages hair 31% less than ordinary elastic hair ties, apparently. £25.49; adventcalendar.co.uk/invisibobble
Lovehoney 7 Nights of Temptation Calendar
The least child-friendly advent calendar ever created is now available to help adults spice up the Christmas countdown. Sex toy and lingerie brand Lovehoney has released the “size inclusive” 7 Nights of Temptation Calendar which features sexy sheer mesh lingerie (worth more than £100) and accessories, including a matching bra set and an eye mask. If lingerie isn’t your bag, Lovehoney also has the Lovehoney x Blowmotion Calendar (£95) which is “designed for penis owners” and features various sex toys, guaranteeing a “not-so-silent night”. £50; lovehoney.co.uk
Fabulosa Scented Tea Light Advent Calendar
It wouldn’t be Christmas without the smell of “coconut snowball” wafting through the house, would it? The fragrance-led brand Fabulosa has launched a scented tea light calendar containing 24 tea lights in four festive (and not-so-subtle) fragrances: festive wreath, winter garden, mistletoe kisses and the aforementioned coconut snowball. At less than a fiver, this calendar is a stinking steal. £3.99; myfabulosa.co.uk
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