18 best advent calendars for kids 2023: Uncover toys, chocolate treats and more

The hoots of joy our tester unleashed on our house as they opened this advent calendar were quite something. “This. Is. The. Best. Calendar. EVER!” was yelled more than once. We’ve got to admit, it’s pretty amazing – Smiggle, if you’re reading this, we’re keen for an adults’ version. Day one was a pink highlighter pen: “I’ve always wanted one of these” beamed our tester, and the goods just kept on coming. A rainbow lanyard was another highlight (presumably for our six-year-old’s work pass…?), as were scratch-and-sniff stickers, glitter glues, and a Christmas-tree-shaped pen.

The doors are muddled, and of irregular size, which delighted our tester further, as they searched for the number and then pondered what would be behind the door. It was all absolutely delightful. If you aren’t into plastic or stationery, move along, but if you want parent points and a slice of Christmas joy every morning, look no further than this advent calendar.

Our six-year-old tester made a beeline for this advent calendar. The Father Christmas pirate became their favourite toy, and they got so much out of playing with the figures. As with most advent calendars, some days were more exciting than others. The trebuchet was a huge hit, for instance. They also loved the little gift boxes, which you can open up and put treasures in.

The cardboard scene that came with the advent calendar was a slight faff to put together but if we can do it, anyone can. Certainly children of around eight years old and above would get a lot out of it. You end up with a snowy exterior of a castle, with a ramp and a little two-storey castle with doors. Perfect for re-enacting that famous battle pirate Father Christmas had with a snowman…

It was a joy to watch our team of three-year-old testers open this calendar. Every day was “another train” – but said with such excitement it made our hearts burst. There are different Thomas characters to collect, and we actually loved that every day was a train, as it meant there were no disappointing days for our testers. However, they especially loved the days when there was a Christmas-themed train. Rather brilliantly, the box folds out to create a train track, and all the trains link together. Our testers played with these trains for weeks, and they’re the perfect size to fit in pockets to take out and about too.

Potterheads are going to delight in this calendar, which is updated yearly by the good folks at Lego. The 2023 offering doesn’t miss. Each day has something Harry Potter-related to build, which all combines together to create a Hogsmeade scene. There’s Zonko’s joke shop, The Hog’s Head Inn and Honeyduke’s sweet shop. As well as this, you get a Harry Potter minifigure on day one, which hooked our tester straightaway. Later on, you collect Ron, Hermione, Malfoy, Dumbledore, and others. As an intermediate Lego builder, our tester found all the builds easy to do, and the instructions were fairly self explanatory. Our tester was also delighted to be left with plenty of Harry Potter Lego to play with after all the opening had finished.

Fidget toys are like catnip for kids. Love or loathe them, they’re almost endlessly entertaining for kids. So, our six-year-old tester was thrilled to find out there’s an advent calendar with 24 fidget toys inside. We found there are doubles or triples of some toys, but in different colours. This works out well if you have multiple kids all opening the calendar – although, beware, not everything comes in multiples. Our tester was particularly thrilled with the articulated caterpillar, while their three-year-old siblings loved the pop tubes. The fidget toy advent calendar isn’t going to help with the tidal wave of plastic that seems to flood houses every Christmas, but it did delight our mini testers. If your child finds fidget toys particularly calming, or just loves playing with them, this is a fun and novel advent calendar to go for.

On 1 December, this advent calendar delivers a full-size Barbie, and our three-year-old tester was instantly hooked. From there, our tester loved collecting accessories: tiaras, shoes and necklaces figure heavily. There’s also a new outfit, fairy wings and a mermaid’s tail scattered throughout the countdown. Fair warning: there are a lot of small parts in this advent calendar. We found we needed a box to store all the bits and pieces together. There were a few items our tester found a bit “meh” – a day when they got a pink table, for example. However, they loved the pets and pet-bed element and the unicorn was a real highlight. For kids who love Barbie play, or who you think might enjoy this small-world play, this is a fab way to build their Barbie collection. And surely it’s the advent calendar for 2023: the unofficial year of Barbie?

When we showed this advent calendar to a range of children, their eyes lit up – it’s got animals, horses and accessories aplenty. Our animal-crazy tester absolutely loved the days they got animals or animal-based accessories. They played with this set for ages, and kept going back to it after a week to play with it more. This, in our humble opinion, is the sign of a great toy.

“Mum, I actually love this advent calendar soooo much,” were words that came out of their mouths during testing. Although, our tester was less enchanted with the decorations for the tree you can create from the box wrap – they’re quite fiddly for young children, but a good way to hone their fine-motor skills. Overall, this set was just the right side of Christmassy while offering gifts that are going to make great toys that are actually played with year-round.

Christmas and Marvel are perhaps not traditional bedfellows, but you’ve got to give it to Lego – its made this Avengers advent calendar as Christmassy as possible, while still scratching that superhero itch. Our Spidey-obsessed tester was delighted to get this advent calendar – on the box there’s an exciting festive scene depicting Spider-Man, Iron Man and Captain America, which appealed immediately.

Our tester loved the days they got minifigures – there are a generous seven of them spread over the 24 days. There are also plenty of buildable sets on other days. The Christmas tree was a highlight, but keener Avengers fans would perhaps be delighted by the Quinjet or Hydra Train, which went slightly over our younger tester’s head. However, they did enjoy setting up scenes and re-enacting battles. All thoroughly festive, of course.

Our tester loved the cute scene on this advent calendar, which shows adorable penguins playing in the snow. From an adult’s perspective, we loved that it wasn’t too garish, nor enormous. We also liked the foil detail on the calendar, which made it feel more premium than some others. Inside, there are 24 different chocolates, moulded into different shapes. On the days our tester paused before wolfing down the treat, they loved seeing what they got. Plus, printed inside each door is a different picture or phrase – such as “Five more sleeps to go!”

On Christmas Eve, the advent calendar delivers a moulded chocolate bar with penguins on it. The chocolate in this calendar is clearly high quality – delicious, sweet and cocoa-y.

A dairy-free, plastic-free advent calendar that’s still fun... Happi has proved it’s possible. This kid-friendly advent calendar is bright and fun, with colourful Happi characters on the front. Open it out and there are 24 doors with a selection of plain, salted-caramel and orange chocolates behind each. Our tester loved that each chocolate comes individually wrapped – although they all look the same, and fairly ‘grown up’, too (think the kind of chocolates you get with your bill at a mid-level local restaurant). The chocolate itself is decent – still sweet and not at all dusty or waxy like some vegan chocolate can be.

Beauty advent calendars for adults are very much a staple in 2023, but why should the grown-ups get all the fun (and pampering)? Smiggle to the rescue. This bath and body advent calendar is everything a tween girl dreams of. On day one, they get a pink glittery nail polish with love hearts in it. From there on, it’s a glittery rainbow highway straight to 25 December (it includes a window for Christmas Day, too).

There’s hair glitter, hair chalk, more nail varnishes, a particularly cute vanilla lip balm with a koala lid, glittery hair bands, eyeshadows, nail stickers, and loads more. We’d recommend this one is opened with supervision of an adult, so they don’t end up chalking their hair on a school day or tipping nail varnish all over their bed covers. But honestly, the kudos you’ll get from any sassy, powerful tweens is going to make this advent calendar worthwhile.

The Brio advent calendar is ideal for established Brio fans looking to build up their set a bit more. “Big” days on the Brio advent calendar are doors that reveal people (there’s two in the advent calendar – one of which is Father Christmas on the 24 December). However, there were other days when our tester didn’t really engage so well with the gift – there are three days where you get a white fence, for example. But, as we say, it’s a great advent calendar for adding to your Brio collection, and you end up with a train engine, carriage, a horse and bridle that has the Brio metal couplings, three signs, two pieces of luggage and a Christmas tree. We think this is a lovely set for kids, and our three-year-old train fan really enjoyed it.

Although the age suitability on this says eight and up, we tested (under close, careful supervision) with a younger child who absolutely loved this advent calendar. We mean, what’s not to love: you get a new hair clip or hair band every day of advent. Almost all of them are sparkly and glittery, too. Plus, it all comes in a pretty blush-pink suitcase with two layers of doors to open. These lift out and then you’re left with a gorgeous suitcase in which to store your snazzy hair fixings, and other treasures, too. Honestly, it’s a little girl’s dream and our inner child couldn’t help but be a little envious of it. It’s really very well made, but that does mean it comes with a hefty price tag. As a splurge, we’d go for it.

Although this advent calendar says three and up, really, it’s more suitable for older children. Essentially, every day, you get a little piece of a very sophisticated marble run. There are tunnels and turnstiles and long luges. The idea is you can use it as a starter set if you’re fresh to GraviTrax, or add to your existing kit. Our six-year-old tester loved it, but needed support initially, and we were new to GraviTrax, so we couldn’t actually play with it until the last day, when you get a golden ball that works with the set. But that was high excitement.

Once you’ve opened all the doors, you can then open the back of the advent calendar to reveal a base plate on which to create your track. Would it have been better to get the ball and base plate up front? Potentially. But at the end of opening the advent calendar, we had a GraviTrax fan, who was more than happy creating lots of different “obstacle courses” – and we suspect learning while they were playing too.

Our three-year-old testers absolutely loved this charming advent calendar. The wooden set includes a freestanding Christmas tree and 24 decorations. Each day, you add a decoration to the tree on the assigned number to help your little one see how many days there are left until Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve, you have a large star to pop on the top of the tree. The decorations are magnetic, and there’s a little storage tray at the base of the tree to store all the tree decorations. Our little testers loved picking out which decoration they were going to use on each day (they’re all different) and we loved that we had a wholesome decoration for our house. As it’s reusable and made from wood, it feels fairly eco-friendly (although it does come with a lot of plastic packaging). We look forward to this advent calendar becoming a new Christmas tradition in our family.

One of our testers is big into Hot Wheels, so was delighted when this advent calendar landed in their lap. Inside, there are Hot Wheels vehicles on eight of the days. You get a car on 1 December and on Christmas Eve, as you’d hope. On the other days, you get Hot Wheels accessories. Some of these are great – a trick ramp was a hit, as was the attachable snowplough. Other days, the snowman and the sleigh were slightly less exciting for our tester. However, the eight cars for their collection seemed to more than make up for it, and our tester happily played with the swag for ages afterwards, and will do for years to come.

Topping the £40 mark, this Pokemon advent calendar is targeted at those die-hard Pokemon-card collectors. Fortune favours the brave, as, inside, there are plenty of cards. We’re told by our resident Pokemon expert that some of them are highly sought after. There are eight Christmas-themed foil cards, five booster packs and seven three-card packs. Obviously, you don’t know what you’re going to get, but as single cards can be worth mega money, perhaps this is an investment.

As well as cards, you will be rewarded with two coins, two sticker sheets and a sidekick dangler. The advent calendar itself is high quality – the rectangular box folds out to a full-sized advent calendar, with a cute festive Pokemon scene. As we say, if you’re buying for a big Pokemon fan, this is going to go down an absolute storm but, if not, there are more affordable ways to start a Pokemon card collection.

We tested this advent calendar on two three-year-olds, both of whom really enjoyed it. The slimline advent calendar folds out to reveal 24 large doors, all of which hide a different mini Christmas book. This is great if you love the idea of a Christmas book advent calendar but can’t face wrapping 24 Christmas books (or, indeed, forking out for them).

All the books are full colour and, although small in size, tell some cute Christmas tales. There are spins on classics such as Puss in Boots, as well as new stories such as The Dinosaurs Who Met Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve, you get an age-appropriate telling of The Christmas Carol. Although we’ve said this calendar isn’t reusable, because you have to open the doors, we plan to wrap the books up individually for future Christmas countdowns and enjoy this new tradition at bedtime.