Advent calendars typically count down the 24 or 12 days until the holidays — that means you need to get your hands on one before December 1 or 12 to stay on schedule. If you’re in a time crunch, Amazon is one of the best retailers to shop from. Orders ship fast, especially if you’re a Prime member, giving you confidence that your Advent calendar will arrive in time to start celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. The retailer also offers a variety of calendars across categories, so there’s options for adults, kids and even pets.
Below, I rounded up the best Advent calendars to shop on Amazon. If you see one you’re interested in gifting yourself or a loved one, I recommend buying it now — as we get closer to December, they’ll start selling out.
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To recommend the best Advent calendars on Amazon, I researched options across popular categories like chocolate, food and beverages, beauty, adults, kids and pets. All the Advent calendars on my list are highly rated and/or from brands NBC Select staffers recommend. We even tried a few Advent calendars that brands sent as courtesy samples, evaluating their packaging, contents and price. I included Advent calendars that countdown the 12, 24 and 25 days before a holiday.
Lindt’s 24-day calendar has a piece of chocolate hidden behind each door. You’ll get to try confections like milk and dark chocolate bears, hazelnut chocolate balls and chocolate neapolitans, all of which come wrapped in festive foil.
Indulge in Ferrero’s beloved truffles this holiday season with the brand’s Advent calendar. It comes filled with three types of chocolates: Ferrero Rocher, a hazelnut milk chocolate, Raffaello, a white chocolate with almonds, cream and coconut, and Rondnoir, a dark chocolate. All truffles are wrapped in foil to preserve their freshness.
Godiva’s Advent calendar lets you enjoy milk, dark and white chocolate confections. It comes with 24 sweets, including dark chocolate ganache hearts, almond crunch, chocolate-covered caramels, and hazelnut and milk chocolate pralines.
The chocolate treats inside Kinder Joy’s Advent calendar have crispy wafers and/or cream on the inside. Over 24 days, you’ll eat some of the brand’s classic confections, like Happy Hippos, Bueno Minis, Chocolate Minis, Schokobons, Cards and Chocolate Mini Eggs. The Advent calendar itself is shaped like a gingerbread house, so you can use it as festive decor, too.
The L’Occitane Advent calendar is filled with skin, body and hair care essentials, like hand cream, body wash, conditioner and moisturizer. “It’s truly like opening a treasure chest,” says Cory Fernandez, NBC Select commerce editor. “I love that you can small all of the delightful items hiding inside before you even uncover them.” Fernandez also appreciates that the products are decently sized, not just mini travel-sized containers.
You can never have enough lip balm, especially during the cold months when the chilly air tends to dry out skin. Burt’s Bees Advent calendar comes with 12 lip balms in different flavors, like cranberry spritz, vanilla bean, salted caramel and mint cocoa. The lip balms are clear and made from beeswax, fruit extracts and moisturizing butters and oils.
Consider this Advent calendar a reminder to prioritize self care during the holiday season. It’s filled with 24 goodies for at-home spa days, like bath bombs, bath salts, body scrubs and lotions. All of the products come in festive holiday scents, like candy cane, sugar cookie and winter berry.
The contents of this Advent calendar help you refresh your makeup collection. There’s 24 mini, travel-size and full-size products inside, including lip liner, bronzing drops, eyeliners, blushes, mascara and lipgloss. You also get a travel mirror and hair clip.
Mix up your coffee routine this season with Door Country’s Advent calendar. There’s 12 bags of ground beans inside it, each of which can make a full pot of coffee. You’ll get to try a variety of flavored coffees across 12 days, like cinnamon hazelnut, black & tan, breakfast blend and candy cane.
Walker’s Advent calendar is filled with six types of the brand’s buttery shortbread cookies: shortbread fingers, rounds, stars, hearts, chocolate chip rounds and salted caramel squares. You can eat them directly after opening a package, or dip them in a glass of milk.
Vahdam designed this Advent calendar for tea lovers who are open to trying 24 varieties around the holidays. There’s one biodegradable tea bag in each numbered pocket, and every day, you’ll uncover a different flavor, like turmeric ginger, pumpkin spice, hibiscus rose and sweet cinnamon. The Advent calendar unfolds so you can hang it up on a wall or on your refrigerator.
There are 24 bags of popcorn packed inside this Advent calendar, and jokes printed on the inside of each door. The crunchy snack comes in six flavors: salted caramel, berry-licious, pop n’ choc, pecan pie, cookies & cream and peanut butter.
“I’m a puzzle fiend, but sometimes I don’t want to spend time doing a 1,000 piece puzzle,” says Rebecca Rodriguez, NBC Select editorial projects manager. “This advent calendar is great because I can tackle one mini puzzle a day within thirty minutes, so I get the challenge of doing a puzzle along with the satisfaction of completing it.” Each puzzle inside Galison’s Advent calendar has 80 pieces and, once completed, measures 5-by-7 inches.
Freshcut Paper’s Advent calendar is one of the most unique options I’ve tried this year. It comes with two components: a sticker book and a 3D card of a snowy woodland scene. Each day, you open one of the doors in the book, revealing a sticker that you add to the 3D card on the corresponding number — some of the stickers include bears, birds and presents. At the end of the 24 days, you’ll have a fully decorated scene. I love that this Advent calendar helps you count down to the holidays with a fun activity, and that it doubles as a piece of decor.
There’s a crossword puzzle behind each of this Advent calendar’s doors, giving you 24 days of brain games to solve. The puzzles come in different sizes and shapes, and the brand includes solutions to each one on a separate cheat sheet. Crosswords also vary by difficulty.
If you don’t like the pre-filled Advent calendars on the market, buy a reusable option and make your own. This one has 25 pockets sewn onto its front. You can either fill the cloth calendar’s pockets with sweets and knick knacks, or move a candy cane into a new pocket each day to mark it off. The reusable Advent calendar has a loop on the top, which you can hang it from.
Lego’s Advent calendar is filled with packets of blocks, which, when put together, form characters and pets. Some also prompt kids to build figurines that lead to interactive activities, like launching snowballs with a catapult and baking cookies. Lego recommends this Advent calendar for those ages 6 and up.
Thanks to this Advent calendar, the little geologist in your life can open a new gemstone each day leading up to Christmas or Hanukkah. It’s packed with stones like agate, green aventurine, hematite, sodalite, turquenite, tiger’s eye and blue calcite. On day 24, kids uncover a rose quartz gem they have to unearth out from a dig brick. National Geographic recommends this Advent calendar for those ages 8 and up.
The youngest kids in your life may not understand what Advent calendars are, but you can still get them in on the fun with options like this one. It comes with a magnetic wooden tree and a shining star on top. There’s magnetic wooden elements you add to the tree, which crosses off each day before the holidays.
Himalayan Pet Supply’s Advent calendar gets your dog involved in the holiday festivities. It’s packed with treats in different shapes and flavors, including peanut butter bears, bacon cubes, chicken bites, cheese puffs and bacon bites cookies.
The treats inside this Advent calendar have an apple cinnamon flavor and a yogurt coating. They’re hand-decorated and come in festive shapes like candy canes, bones and wreaths.
I’m a reporter at NBC Select where I’ve been writing gift guides since 2020, including the best gifts from small businesses, the best gifts for pets and the best Advent calendars. For this article, I compiled a list of the best Advent calendars to shop Amazon, including highly rated options across popular categories and staff picks.
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