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To recommend the best Advent calendars, I researched highly rated options across major categories like chocolate and candy, coffee and tea, food, wine, beauty and skin care. Every option on my final list comes from a brand we’ve covered before or have personally tried. Many of the calendars were also sent to us as courtesy samples from brands. To evaluate each one, I assessed its contents, price and packaging. Our list includes options that countdown the 12, 24 and 25 days before a holiday.
I’m loyal to Bonne Maman jam, and every year, I look forward to its Advent calendar, which is filled with the brand’s new limited-edition spreads. There’s a mini glass jar hidden inside each of the 24 boxes, and the festively decorated calendar opens like a book, which lets me stand it up on a shelf, doubling as holiday decor. This year, you’ll get to try spreads like caramel with vanilla, strawberry and passion fruit, wild blueberry and maple syrup and more. And don’t worry if you can’t finish every jar before the end of the season — the spreads will last through June 2026, according to the brand.
You can’t go wrong with a chocolate Advent calendar whether you’re buying it for yourself or gifting it to a loved one. It’s a classic for a reason, and getting to unwrap a new piece of chocolate every day is a small joy that anyone can appreciate. Godiva’s Advent calendar has been one of our team’s favorites for years. It comes with 24 pieces of dark, milk and white chocolate, including milk chocolate praline hearts, dark chocolate caramels and white chocolate almonds.
After opening this Advent calendar, you or your loved one will have an entire Lego Minecraft village to display or play with. The 24 individual packs of Legos inside it come with blocks to construct scenes and characters, including eight mini figures like Alex, Steve, a creeper and Santa villager. You also get a fold-out playmat to use as a backdrop.
This is the ideal Advent calendar for those looking to adorn the Christmas tree with new ornaments. There’s 12 pop-up cards inside, each of which have a paper ornament you can remove and hang up. The ornaments are shaped like different animals, and they’re decorated with gold foiled details and beads.
Papier’s Advent calendar is as beautiful as it is useful. There’s 24 days worth of desk accessories inside, all of which are items you likely use every day at the office, home or school, like pens, journals, planners, sticky notes, stamps, highlighters, agenda pads and stationary sets. Each item is individually wrapped in a paper box, which really makes it feel like you’re opening a gift every day. The Advent calendar, which folds open on the top and has three drawers, is designed to be a reusable organizer.
There’s 12 of Voluspa’s mini coconut wax candles inside this Advent calendar, each of which comes in a decorative glass votive. You’ll collect candles in a few of the brand’s bestselling scents, like french lavender, forbidden fig and santal vanille, as well as some holiday-specific fragrances, like crushed candy cane and noble fir garland. The Advent calendar comes with a gold-plated wick trimmer, too. Volupsa sent our team one of its calendars to experience it in-person, and I could smell the candles before I even opened the box. I put one in each room of my apartment under candle warmers, and I love that the fragrances linger in my home for a while after I blow the flame out.
Toblerone takes the simple chocolate Advent calendar up a notch by filling it with mini versions of the brand’s peak-shaped European confections. You get 24 individually-wrapped milk, white and dark chocolates that have honey and almond nougat inside.
The NBC Select team (myself included) ate our way through Compartés’ Advent calendar last year, so I can say without a doubt that it’s delicious. There’s 24 chocolates inside, each of which has a printed illustration of a winter animal on top — you don’t know which character you’ll get until you open the little door, which adds to the surprise. The chocolates have different fillings, including pecan pie, spiced gingerbread, salted caramel, cinnamon bun and cookies and cream.
There’s plenty of candy-filled Advent calendars to choose from if you or your loved one aren’t a fan of chocolate. Sugarfina’s is packed with the brand’s gummies, like sugared cranberries, rainbow bears, heavenly sours and magic mangos, plus there’s caramel and cereal balls. You get four pieces of candy per drawer for 24 days.
This is the most luxe chocolate Advent calendar on our list, and while it’s pricey, it’s a long-term investment. The 25-day calendar is reusable, so after buying it packed with limited-edition confections year one, you can buy refill packs in the future and fill the drawers yourself. The selection of chocolates, toffee, bonbons, caramels and truffles also rotates each season, so whether you’re buying Vosges Advent calendar for the first time or refilling it, you’ll get to try new sweet treats. Additionally, the calendar is shaped like a greenhouse, and it stands up by itself, letting you display it at home. It has a switch to turn an interior light on and off.
L’Occitane’s Advent calendar is filled with 24 of the brand’s bestselling skin and body care products, many of which come highly recommended by NBC Select commerce editor Cory Fernandez. “I love just about everything from L’Occitane, and it’s not only because everything smells amazing,” he says. “The products are also effective — they don’t have a greasy residue and don’t dry my skin or hair. Also, I love the Advent calendar because everything is the perfect sample size.” This holiday season, you’ll get to unbox L’Occitane’s popular hand creams, skin oil, shower gel, cleansing milk and more, some of which are scented with the brand’s signature almond fragrance.
Try 24 Sephora-brand hair care, skin care, makeup and bath products leading up to the holidays with this Advent calendar. It comes with 12 full-size and six travel-size items, plus six exclusive accessories. Each product is individually wrapped in its own numbered box, including a makeup sponge, hair clips, blush, body lotion and a face mask.
The Advent calendar from Glow Recipe is filled with 12 skin care finds, including the brand’s popular watermelon glow products (niacinamide drops, face mist, BHA toner and more). A great gift for yourself or your closest skin care enthusiast friend, the calendar also comes with a cleanser and other products to help brighten and moisturize the skin, which is key heading into the winter months ahead.
Some of Charlotte Tilbury’s most beloved makeup and skin care products are hidden inside this treasure chest-shaped Advent calendar’s drawers. You get 12 items in total, five of which are full-size, including the brand’s Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray, lipstick, mascara, cleaner, serum and lip liner.
Kitsch’s 12-day Advent calendar helps you refresh your collection of hair care and styling products. You get full-size items, most notable of which is the brand’s top-rated silk pillowcase — I own about six of them and sleep on one every night to protect my curls. The Advent calendar also includes clips, scrunches, a hair oil applicator, hair oil and shampoo bars.
Anthropologie’s beauty Advent calendar is highly coveted and sells out every year. It’s filled with 24 mini versions of the retailer’s most sought-after makeup and skin care products, like Supergoop sunscreen, Caudalie eye cream, Phlur perfume and Peter Thomas Roth moisturizer.
You’ll get everything you need to do professional-level manicure at home with Olive & June’s 25-day Advent calendar. It comes with mini bottles of quick dry and long lasting polishes and top coats, a file, art sticker sheets and a buffer, plus care products like hand serum and nail hardener. There’s also two bonus surprises inside. Olive & June makes an 8 Nights of Mani Magic calendar, too.
Have a wine tasting at home leading up to the holidays with VineBox’s Advent calendars. Each one comes with 3.4-ounce sampler bottles of wine from across the world, letting you try a new glass each night. You also get an insert with tasting notes and food pairing recommendations, a limited-edition art print and access to sommelier-led virtual tasting videos. Vinebox sells three Advent calendars: the 12 Nights Bright Collection, which comes with whites, rossé and reds; the 12 Nights Bold Collection, which comes with whites and reds; and the 24 Nights of Wine, which comes with all the wines in the Bright and Bold collections.
The 12 dry, canned wines in this Advent calendar come from small-batch female- and minority-led winteries, and they have 0 grams of sugar, according to the brand. The cans are each equivalent to about one-third of a bottle, giving you about two glasses to share with someone or enjoy yourself. You get a mix of red, white, rosé and sparkling wines, plus a guide that provides links with in-depth information about each type.
Pukkah’s Advent calendar folds out vertically, letting you hang it up and easily remove one tea sachet each day. You get 24 total sachets filled with organic herbal tea in flavors like night time, after dinner, mint, ginger, peppermint and licorice, and turmeric, ginger and orange.
Tea Forte is known for its pyramid-shaped tea sachets, which lets the tea leaves unfurl and steep properly, making your beverage more flavorful and aromatic, according to the brand. There’s 12 sachets in this Advent calendar, including varieties like harvest apple spice, English breakfast, Moroccan mint and chocolate fondue. Beyond the Winter Chalet Advent calendar, Tea Forte also offers Demoiselle and Mariposa versions, which come with different types of tea.
Instead of drinking the same type of coffee every morning, mix it up around the holidays with this Advent calendar. It comes with 24 K-Cups from brands like La Colombe, Philz Coffee, Caribou Coffee, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and The Original Donut Shop, which you can pop into any compatible single-serve machine. In addition to standard, flavored and seasonal coffee pods, you also get hot cocoa, latte and iced refresher pods.
Cometeer works with brands across the country to flash-freeze their coffee into single-serve pods at peak flavor, so it tastes as fresh as possible when you use it at home. This Advent calendar comes with 24 pods, including seasonal blends, festive varieties and rare single origins, letting you try the best of the best before the holidays. You can use the coffee concentrate pods to make hot, iced or latte-style beverages by melting them in the refrigerator or with hot water.
There’s 24 all-butter shortbread cookies inside Walker’s Advent calendar, which takes care of dessert (at least somewhat) prior to the holidays. They come in six shapes and flavors, like shortbread fingers, rounds, hearts and stars, as well as chocolate chip and salted caramel square cookies.
Ditch the bagged stuff this holiday season and make your own popcorn using the kernels and seasonings inside Williams Sonoma’s Advent calendar. You’ll get to try different types of kernels, like big and yellow, tiny and tender, purple and red, which you can pop over the stove or in the microwave. The Advent calendar also has seasonings like white cheddar, movie theater, sweet caramel and dill pickle.
Fly by Jing’s Advent calendar comes with 12 mini sauce bottles, including its bestselling Sichuan Chili Crisp, other returning favorites and new flavors. Adding a little of Fly by Jing’s sauces to any dish, be it eggs, fish, vegetables or grains, enhances its taste, in my experience.
Baking cookies around the holidays is a tradition for many, and Williams Sonoma’s Advent calendar comes with lots of the supplies you need to whip up and package a batch. There’s 24 items inside, including cookie and biscuit cutters, piping bags, stencils, decorating tips, gift bags and spatulas.
If the child (or adult) in your life is obsessed with Star Wars, they’ll love adding these mini Funko Pop figures to their collection. The Advent calendar comes with 24 figures dressed in their winter gear, including Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Stormtroopers.
KiwiCo’s Advent calendar comes with 12 kits filled with materials kids can use to make their own ornaments and hang them up on the tree. They build the ornaments using the included directions, and each one uses real machinery like gears, wheels and levers to move in some way. For example, the polar bear throws a snowball and the reindeer falls forward.
Costco members and non-members can shop Bark’s exclusive Advent calendar, which is packed with 24 goodies for your dog. They’ll get 16 treats and eight plush toys, including those with squeakers, crinkle-textured fabric and strong hairs for shredding.
While I’m looking forward to opening my own Advent calendar, I’m even more excited about my puppy’s — it’s her first holiday season, so I’m starting the tradition with her this year. If you want to do the same with a dog in your life, I recommend Himalayan Pet Supply’s calendar. It comes with 12 treats: five yogurt sticks and seven churro-shaped sticks. They come in flavors like bacon, peanut butter, pumpkin, cheese and apple honey.
This calendar has toys and catnip to keep your pets busy throughout the day. It comes with plush options like a feather wand, small plush mice and reindeer, and products with silvervine, a type of catnip that’s common in cat toys. Consider this a fun way to keep your cat(s) distracted from playing with your real or artificial Christmas tree.
Make playtime more exciting for your cat during the holidays with Chewy’s Frisco Advent calendar, which gives them 12 new toys to swat, kick, scratch and chase. They’ll get plush toys stuffed with silvervine and catnip, springs, plastic balls with bells, crinkle balls, feather teasers and more.
I’m a reporter at NBC Select, where I’ve been writing gift guides for over five years. I’ve specifically covered Advent calendars for the past three years. For this article, I compiled a list of the best Advent calendars of 2025, including highly rated options, reader favorites from 2024 and those the NBC Select staff tested. Most Advent calendars are from brands we’ve previously covered.
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