Best kids' Advent calendar 2023: toys, treats and traditional buys

Playmobil has been a trusted toy brand in children’s homes since the 1970s and for good reason. it’s detailed playsets often include distinctive characters and accessories, encouraging hours of imaginative play and the Playmobil Christmas Baking Advent Calendar does all this and more.

The Advent calendar features 24 good-quality festive surprises from Santa's bakery, including Santa himself, his helpers and a fully-stocked bakery kitchen to create a fun and seasonal scene that your little one will adore putting together over the month of December. They will also make cute decorations you’ll love reminiscing with, in the future.

Each figure and accessory are robust and beautifully detailed and can be placed against the colourful cardboard background. There are even real baking accessories included: three biscuit cutters and a Playmobil biscuit stamp. Not bad for £20!

For some, chocolate for breakfast is an essential part of Christmas, and the Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate Advent Calendar delivers a tasty morsel every day – at a really great price!

Unlike some brands, the chocolate is scrumptious and satisfying, and you get a bigger treat on Christmas Eve. The picture on the front is bright and cheerful and will look great when on display. Happily, it is also fully recyclable and suitable for vegetarians too.

If you’re looking for high-quality Swiss chocolate that not only tastes creamy and delicious, but is colourful, fun and enticing for little ones to open each day, then you can’t go wrong with the Lindt Milk Chocolate Teddy Advent Calendar.  

This calendar contains 24 little windows, each hiding a delightful Lindt chocolate treat including creamy milk and white chocolate snowdrops, mini gold reindeer, the classic melt-in-the mouth truffles and the iconic teddy – which is the main surprise on day 25.

In addition, buying one of these fantastic calendars will help support the sustainability and ethical sourcing of cocoa beans. Lindt and its master chocolatiers are members of the World Cocoa Foundation and work towards responsible cocoa farming practices.

The Schleich Horse Club Calendar is an excellent toy advent calendar for children who love horses. It tells the story of Sofia who has a delightful idea for Christmas Eve - to spend it in the hayloft with her Icelandic mare, its foal, her faithful dog, and a little squirrel. She's been preparing for this special night by secretly stashing surprises in the hayloft each day for 24 days.

In addition to the horse and it’s foul, the doll (Sofia herself) and the cute dog and squirrel, this advent calendar is packed with toy food items and a tiny sleeping bag, all of which are beautifully designed and durable. Plus, we love the overall design of the calendar, which is not only festive and bright, but also showcases a beautiful animal theme.

Although it’s not a cheap option, this toy advent calendar doubles up as a perfect Christmas gift that can be played with year-round and for many years to come. If your child isn’t a fan of horses, the Schleich brand has plenty of other advent calendar options including Farm World and Dinosaurs.

The Tom Gates Totally Brilliant Advent Calendar is a wonderful festive choice for creative kids. It is also fantastic value with 24 hardback mini story books and activity books for your child to enjoy and read daily in the run up to Christmas.

Tom Gates has an irreverent, witty comic book style tween kids will love. Each book also has its own pocket, and the whole thing can be tied securely together with a bright red ribbon.

However, keep in mind that some of the mini books are excerpts from the books themselves, so if your child is an avid Tom Gates fan, they may have come across the stories before.

While it comes with a hefty price tag, there’s no doubt that the VTech Toot-Toot Drivers Advent Calendar will be a source of daily excitement for your child, especially if they're a bit young to appreciate the more traditional Advent calendars.

Each day they will receive a fun play piece that will come together to create an interactive roadway with sound effects including Christmas songs and festive melodies to inspire Christmas cheer. In addition, the decorative box flap can be pulled down to display a track for the cars and accessories like a Toot-Toot Drivers Truck, Christmas decorations, festive animals like reindeer and a mini sleigh that responds to SmartPoint locations with different phrases, sound effects and more.

If you already have Toot-Toot toys, this brilliant Advent calendar will make a great addition to your collection.

Wooden and reusable advent calendars that are large enough to be filled with a variety of goodies, and durable enough to “grow” with your child – and be used every year, are a popular choice amongst Mumsnetters who love the freedom to choose what goes into each little box or container, and we think that the Juegoal Advent Calendar offers this and more.

This top-quality, square wooden frame is made with 25 beautiful little pull-out drawers, each perfectly handcrafted with special words, festive pictures (like Christmas trees and reindeer) and numbers to entice little hands to open them.

Each drawer varies in size, but most are large enough to hold miniature toys, sweets, toy cars, hair clips or mini stationary items like erasers. Measuring at ‎27.94cm x 5.59cm x 30.48cm, this reusable advent calendar is the perfect size for a child’s room or your living room and can be used year-round to store any small items.

The classic Melissa & Doug Countdown to Christmas Advent Calendar is a beautiful keepsake that your little one will look forward to seeing every year, and it’s a good option if you’re steering away from sweet or chocolate advent calendars.

This one offers a great introduction to the concept of an advent calendar as it’s fairly simple for little kids to use and introduces concepts such as counting, colours etc. However, just a note that the magnets could be a potential choking hazard and your child should be monitored whilst playing with it.

Made from robust wood and decorated in festive red and green. Each day your little one can remove a magnetic ornament from the tree to reveal the dates as they countdown towards the big day.

The bottom of the tree is a handy bauble storage box too, so you won’t lose any and we’re big fans of the holiday poem on the back that adds a bit of festive cheer to this delightful first advent calendar.

Little ones with food allergies or a dairy intolerance shouldn’t have to miss out on the fun of Christmas. Happily, more and more brands are making Advent calendars that suit all dietary requirements.

MooFree is one of our favourites, and the delicious white chocolates in this cute calendar are sure to make your dairy-intolerant child smile. Each creamy chocolate in this advent calendar has been created using ethically sourced ingredients and is also vegan-friendly, gluten free and palm oil free.

Kinnerton is also a fantastic brand to look out for if your child has a nut allergy and their Paw Patrol Advent Calendar is bright and cheerful for kids to enjoy.

Fans of Rocky, Everest, Rubble and the rest of the Paw Patrol team will love this themed Advent calendar. Cute characters and festive accessories like Christmas trees will pop out from behind each door to create a delightful seasonal scene and we love the sturdy part of the box that doubles up as a playmat for all the little characters.

Once complete, on Christmas Eve, this fun and durable set of toys will provide the opportunity for imaginative play and storytelling in the magical world of Adventure Bay.

A traditional illustrated Christmas Advent calendar without chocolates or toys can be a source of nostalgia and joy. They are also beautiful for celebrating the festive season without adding extra ‘stuff’ to your home.

This Vermont Christmas Company Advent Calendar features a gorgeous, detailed Christmas eve scene that your child will enjoy looking at, plus behind each window, they’ll find a fun picture and corresponding text from the poem ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

This sturdy advent calendar sits easily on any tabletop or flat surface and the front is beautifully accentuated with glitter. Open the doors carefully, and this excellent value calendar will last for years.

Even though they’re pricey, LEGO toys have long been a family favourite, with everyone from the age of six to 96 able to join in on the fun. This fantastic Star Wars and Mandalorian-themed LEGO Christmas Advent Calendar provides the absorbing task of building a character, vehicle or accessory every day, including Christmas Eve. This fab space-age play set can then be displayed as part of a broader collection or played with.

This set includes a range of minifigures and it's worth noting that all of them are relatively uncommon in Star Wars Lego sets, especially the Tusken Raider and IG-11 figures. Additionally, the Mandalorian (Din Djarin) and the Child (Grogu) with their Christmas-themed prints is a must, especially if you've been collecting every Lego Star Wars calendar for your older kids.

This Eight Innovations Electronic Games Advent Calendar is ideal for gaming enthusiasts, young scientists and kids who adore computers.

Each December day, your child will discover an electronic component that will help them to build various computer games, including Whack-a-Mole, Codebreaker and Ping Pong. This is an excellent choice for teenagers and adults alike who love to discover how electronics work. Plus, we like that this calendar comes with a clear and concise instruction guide to make the building process a breeze.

A new entry for 2023, the Polly Pocket Advent Calendar is perfect for fans of Polly - with two dolls and 27 accessories, kids open a surprise gift on day one, followed by new winter-themed holiday surprises for the next 24 days.

The entire calendar becomes an adorable gingerbread house which can be played with for years to come. Because it's Polly Pocket, the parts and accessories are quite small so take care not to lose them!

Although this Peppa Pig stationary advent calendar was launched in 2021, it still gets a lot of love from parents on our forums as it’s packed with 25 surprises for little girls including stamps, long-lasting coloured pencils, a sharpener and a range of colouring tools to make art fun and appealing for kids aged 3+.

The unique shape of this advent calendar, plus the bright colours and cheerful Peppa Pig illustrations mean that it will look great with the rest of your Christmas decorations and reveal a fun surprise that your child can use to colour in, draw a picture or create some fun stamp artwork.

The only downside? One reviewer said that the box itself was hard to keep sturdy once the doors had been opened, so it might not last for as long as you’d hoped for, but at just under £10, we think it’s decent value for money.

The intricately illustrated puzzles in the Gibsons Jigsaw Christmas Advent Calendar will fascinate kids and adults alike and make a tremendous absorbing task for a quiet breakfast time.

The attractive blue and green box is sturdy and will look great with the rest of your seasonal decorations. Even better, the high-quality festive puzzles are made from strong, sustainable recycled cardboard, FSC-certified paper, vegetable-based inks and biodegradable labels.

In addition, the puzzles come in different shapes and sizes and can be glued together with the adhesive provided and attached to a ribbon so that they can be hung as cute Christmas decorations.

Any parent who wants to share the story of Christmas with their children will appreciate this versatile and excellent value Advent calendar. Each day reveals the gift of a small wooden figure (that’s pulled out of a reusable drawer) like baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, angels and three wise men, plus palm trees and 11 animals to set the scene.

Kids will delight in soaring the angels through the celestial sky and guiding the camels amid the palm trees surrounded by the sturdy stand-alone box that sets the festive tone with its bright colours and nativity theme. Once the festive season is over, simply fold the box neatly, pack it away and enjoy your new tradition again next year.

This DIY Advent calendar kit is a wonderful idea for creative kids who enjoy crafts as it’s pretty robust and simple to assemble with clear instructions. The foldable cardboard makes 24 good-sized boxes that can be decorated with festive stickers and filled with fun gifts like hairpins, keyrings, stationary or gemstones and tasty treats you know your children will love (like chocolates or individually wrapped sweets) and then stacked ready for the 1st of December.

The overall effect has a rustic feel and will look great as part of your overall Christmas theme as the boxes can be arranged in any way.

Fabric Christmas Advent Calendars will become a cherished part of your family’s Christmas traditions. This tall (45cm X 115cm), grey and white felt calendar in the shape of Santa (complete with white beard, hat and red nose) will hang proudly on any wall, window or Christmas tree and comfortably fits 24 pockets on the body, which are each individually numbered and decorated with Christmas trees, reindeers and other festive accessories.

The pockets are large enough to fit chocolate coins, mini toys, sweets or anything your child fancies, and we like that it’s well made, soft and durable. Some reviewers have said that it takes a while to flatten out once unfolded from the packaging it comes in, so be sure to order it in plenty of time so that it can be hung for a bit before it’s filled.

The Body Shop Box of Wonders is possibly the best beauty Advent calendar for 11-year-old girls plus who love richly scented bath stuff and self-care tools such as cute hair bands and body puffs. It’s not cheap, but the fair-trade products included are worth over £150.

This fab box will also educate your child about the countries from which some of the ingredients are sourced and the Ghanaian women you’ll be supporting by buying The Box of Wonders.