Family / advent calendars
Advent Calendars
DIY craft projects, candles and chocolate – here’s our pick of advent calendars this year
Advent marks the (less absurdly early) start of the holiday season. Prior to advent calendars, Protestant Christians would mark off the days before Christmas with chalk, or a candle. Germany created the very first advent calendars in the 19th century. Once simply flat paper with the days to tick as they passed, they went on to have doors behind which were religious pictures or Bible extracts, and then to pouches holding sweets. Paper and cardboard rationing stopped advent calendar production for a while, during World War Two. By the 1950s, chocolate advent calendars had appeared.
There are obviously hundreds of advent calendars to choose from. But here is a small selection of our favourites. I particularly like the Belle & Boo calendar. A DIY craft project, it’s a printable PDF calendar at a cost of £5, with a packet for each day. These are decorated in a Christmas design with boys, girls, bunnies and toys and ready to fill with treats of your choice. Strung across the mantlepiece, it will look very pretty. 100% of the sales are to be sent to Kids Company, a charity that provides practical, emotional and educational support to 36,000 inner-city children in the UK.
Advent calendar selection: 1. Belle & Boo advent calendar £5 (available online) 2. Liberty £9.95, 3. Light Up Calendar House, by The Christmas Home £65, 4. Advent Calendar Envelopes, by The Wedding of my Dreams (3 and 4 both available at Not on the High Street), 5. Divine chocolate Advent Calendar £4, Traid craft shop candle £9, Anorak Festive Colouring Advent Calendar £5
is needed now More than ever
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