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Be sure to keep scrolling past our picks of the best and most beloved advent calendars for kids to our picks for teens, advent calendars for adults, and my favorite advent of all, which is one every family should have!

Best Advent Calendars 2024 for Kids

1. Lego Advent Calendars

Lego advent calendars never go out of style; my kids have loved them since they were toddlers, and my parents still get them for my adult brothers! If your little master builder has a specific Lego love, Lego has lots of great themed advent calendars featuring characters from Star Wars, Spider-Man, Harry Potter, and more. For a good basic one for kids to share, start with the City Lego Advent Calendar.

This Funko Pop! Harry Potter Advent Calendar is a hit with kids of all ages.

2. Harry Potter Advent Calendar by Funko Pop!

Accio advent! Each year, more kids discover the Harry Potter books and movies and fall in love with the young wizards. While there are many Harry Potter-themed advent calendars, our favorite is the Funko Pop! version. These familiar Harry Potter figurines are super cute and high quality so your kids will want to play with them year-round. Some years, the box folds out into a background to spur imaginative play. Pre-order now for a November release. If your kids are more Pokemon or Star Wars fans, Funko Pop! makes advent calendars with those characters, as well.

3. Santa’s Railroad Advent Calendar by Kiwi Company

Kiwi Crates are one of the most popular subscription boxes around, so it makes sense that they would have come up with one of the best advent calendars for kids. Each day kids open a new envelope, and follow the step-by-step instructions inside to build a new piece of a North Pole railroad wonderland. The completed little scene becomes a keepsake, and part of next year’s holiday decorations! The Winter Wonderland Advent Calendar is a little more pricey, but even more spectacular.

4. Playmobil Advent Calendar — Santa’s Workshop

This is great for toddlers on up; you might think bigger kids are too old for Playmobil, but the delightfully detailed plastic toys are fun for big kids to turn into creative dioramas, too. Our family loves the classic Santa’s Workshop set, but Playmobil makes a range of great advent calendars, and your kids might prefer the Christmas Toy Store, Christmas Baking, or other scenes.

3. The Purple Cow Advent Calendars: Arts & Crafts and More

This one’s great for kids ages six and up who love arts & crafts. Every day, kids can open up a little box filled with the main supplies needed to create a small Christmas tree ornament or decoration. The set includes a book with pictures and step-by-step instructions. Purple Cow makes other fabulous advent calendars, including ones with Science Tricks, Family Games, and more.

He's just Ken, so he's not here. Barbie Advent Calendar from the Mattel store via Amazon

6. Barbie Advent Calendar

For little ones who love their dress-up dolls to tweens and teens who dressed themselves up for the movie this summer, this advent calendar comes with a doll and surprise accessories each day.

7. Fluffy Slime Advent Calendar

All the popular slimes are here plus tons of accessories for playing with the slime. Because we all know, there are tactile kids that just can’t get enough slime, and this slime-a-day will surprise and delight them.

8. The Nightmare Before Christmas Advent Calendar

Yes, the Nightmare Before Christmas is about Halloween, but for fans of the movie, why not keep the fun going through Christmas? One of the things I love about this advent is that you get stickers, ornaments, fun film facts, and more entertaining surprises in mini-books, not just toys and trinkets.

9. Christmas Advent Calendar Bags

This less expensive refillable advent is simply a series of little bags that can be filled with candy, notes, ornaments to hang, gifts - whatever you like. One of the best things about this advent is that not only can you put anything in it, you can put it wherever you want. String it along the fireplace, up the stairs, or just on a wall. If your home doesn’t have the space for freestanding scenes and setups, this customizable advent can fit in just about anywhere!

10. Puppy Puzzle Advent

Christmas is coming. There will be toys a-plenty in a few short weeks. There will be Legos to step on, and tiny plastic figures to lose in the car. Those can wait. This puzzle gives the whole family something fun to do each day, completing a little section of a puzzle that all fits together by Christmas to make a whole.

11.  Bluey Advent Calendar

Bluey and Bingo toys are both dressed in their favorite Christmas jumpers, plus accessories to dress them up, and stickers for your little one. If they're into all things Bluey, don't forget to check out our Bluey Birthday Party Ideas.

RELATED: 50 Fun Elf on the Shelf Ideas

Fisher-Price Little People Advent Calendar is a hit with the preschool crowd.

12. Fisher-Price Little People Advent Calendar

Every day, open a new door to find a new Little People friend or holiday accessory.

13. National Geographics Rocks & Minerals Advent Calendar

Perfect for your little geologist and older kids, this advent calendar delivers a new treasure for rocks, gems, or minerals to collect every day throughout the holiday season. This calendar really rocks. (Yup, that was a terrible Dad joke, and we've got more here.)

RELATED: Christmas Towns and Santa's Villages That Absolutely Sparkle

The Hot Wheels Advent Calendar has a track for kids to use to race their new cars.

14. Hot Wheels Advent Calendar

Burn rubber with this one as you find cars and holiday-themed props for kids to race around the track.

15. Play-Doh Advent Calendar

While we're generally bigger fans of making homemade playdough, these tiny cans in bright colors are crazy fun, and it comes with accessories and creation cards. So much creative fun every day.

16. Disney: Storybook Collection Advent Calendar

Stories are the best treats, especially when they feature favorite friends. Read a brand new holiday-themed short story every night that stars favorite Disney and Pixar characters.

RELATED: Best Board Games for All Ages

Dinosaur Advent Calendar from the D-FantiX store on Amazon

17. D-FantiX Dinosaur Advent Calendar

Got a dino lover in the family? This advent calendar has big dinosaurs, small dinosaurs, dino eggs, and even fossils.

18. Brain Teaser Puzzles Advent Calendar

A different puzzle will occupy their brains every day, and keep kids distracted until Christmas. The first half of the month is metal puzzles and comes with instructions if kids get stuck. The second half is plastic puzzles which come assembled, so take a picture before disassembling for kids to put together, so if they run into trouble they can see how it looks when finished.

19. Online Advent Calendar from Jacquie Lawson

This is something a little different; an online calendar that features a whole world for kids to explore and each day unlocks a new game to play. The puzzles are easy, yet addictive, and entertain kids from age 5 up through tweens.

Fun tip: If you see postseason sales on advent calendars, grab one! You don’t have to reserve them strictly for the holiday season. I’ve bought them to use as incentives for when my kids hit a monthly goal like instrument practice time or reading minutes. It works especially well for calendars with evergreen surprises that are exciting year-round!

Advent Calendars for the Teenagers in Your Life

As I said, even the teens and adults in my family still love their Lego advent calendars. But if your teenager has deemed themselves too cool for toys, these should still get a thumbs up.

20. 13 Days of Swiftmas Advent Calendar

If the concert, concert movie, and a Taylor Swift party weren't enough for your little Swiftie, this Swiftmas advent calendar should do the trick.

21. Advent Shower Steamer Set

The only things teens love as much as sleeping in and eating everything in the fridge is taking long, hot showers. This set is a bit of an indulgence, but they’ll love it.

22. 25 Days of Mani Magic from Olive and June

New mini-mani surprises await each day, and they’re so gorgeous and high quality, you might find yourself borrowing them.

23. Candle Advent Calendar

These tea-light candles smell divine and burn for a few hours each night. It’s something unique and makes for a relaxing evening ritual for your stressed-out teen.

The One Advent Every Family Needs: A Kindness Advent

In the season of giving, there’s a lot of focus on getting. Kindness advent calendars seek to remind kids to give, and not just gifts. Each day has a random act of kindness to find the time to perform. I love these, and we create our own every year based on what kinds of things my kids are old enough to do. You can use this free printable one for inspiration. I also love this inexpensive one that has two different missions for kids to pick from every day, and a little story behind how these acts make the world a better place.

Don't forget a little something fun for parents. Perhaps some wine and cheese?

Wine Advent Calendars and More Advent Calendars for Adults

Advent calendars aren’t just for kids! Adults can get in on the fun with grown-up options like these:

• Wine advent calendars are a parenting staple. While there are many varieties, as well as beer advents and whiskey advents, my favorite is the Wines of the World Advent Calendar NV from Wall Street Journal, which has 24 unique mini wine varietals from across the world in adorable mini bottles.
• DavidsTea Advent Calendar features a delicious daily tea and is hands down my favorite of all the tea advents. A friend gave this to me last year, and this year I'm buying it for my other friends!
• Bonne Maman Advent Calendar has adorable mini jars of jam and honey, and I may have already ordered this for myself this year, just so I can try the limited edition Raspberry Chocolate and Caramel with Cinnamon. I love having these tiny jars to reuse and pack in lunches, too.
• A great place to get adult advent calendars is Aldi! The grocery chain stocks wine, cheese, beer, coffee, and chocolate advent calendars starting on October 25 that sell out each year.

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