During the holiday season, most of us are so focused on buying gifts for other people that we don’t spend enough time treating ourselves. An advent calendar is an especially festive way to surprise yourself with something nice every single day in the month of December, and it’s even better when that treat is a tasty little snack.
Advent calendars have been around since the 19th century, but their popularity has exploded in recent years. With that popularity has come a dizzying array of new advent calendars, stuffed with so much more than just the little morsels of chocolate that many of us remember from our childhood. Instead of settling for a lackluster drugstore option stuffed with waxy chocolates, opt for one of these actually good advent calendars. But note, many of the year’s most popular advent calendars have sold out quickly, which means that you’ll need to act fast if you want to score one.
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| Adagio Teas
Adagio Teas Jubilee advent calendar
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Adagio Teas Jubilee Advent Calendar, $34
The chaos of the holidays is always overwhelming, but Adagio’s advent calendar offers the opportunity to sit down and relax with a new and interesting cup of tea every day in December until Christmas Eve. And at $34, it’s a real bargain for the season.
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| Bonne Maman
Prices taken at time of publishing.
This French jam company’s advent calendar is a perennial favorite, and for good reason. It’s reasonably priced, packed with 24 different flavors of jam and honey, including pineapple-ginger and lemon-yuzu, and you get to reuse all those adorably tiny jars all year long.
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| La Maison du Chocolat
La Maison du Chocolat Snowflake Chocolate advent calendar
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Chocolate remains an iconic advent calendar inclusion, and this snowflake-shaped offering from La Maison du Chocolat is also pretty enough to sit on your counter as a holiday decoration.
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| Compartes
Compartes gourmet chocolate advent calendar
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Los Angeles chocolatier Compartes’s advent calendar is both indulgent and visually stunning. This year’s calendar is “garden-inspired,” and boasts beautifully decorated bonbons in flavors like raspberry-rose and peanut butter banana.
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| Bokksu
Bokksu Japan Wonderland advent calendar
Prices taken at time of publishing.
At $175, Japanese market Bokksu’s advent calendar is definitely on the splurge side, but it’s also packed with 41 different snacks, cakes, and cute trinkets, all imported from Japan, to open throughout the month of December.
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| Williams Sonoma
Williams Sonoma Chuck’s Luxury advent calendar
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Chuck’s Luxury Advent Calendar, $299.95
Williams Sonoma’s luxury advent calendar is an ideal choice for anyone who wants a little splurge every single day leading up to Christmas. In addition to Bonne Maman jams and a tiny tin of Jacobsen flaky sea salt, you’ll find multiple Mauviel holiday ornaments and lots of candy among the treats in this spendy advent calendar.
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| Blackberry Farm
Blackberry Farm advent calendar
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Goodies like pickled ramps, sorghum shortbread, and hand-poured candles in await in this extremely luxe farm-to-table advent calendar from Tennessee’s sprawling Blackberry Farm resort.
