The Best Alternative Advent Calendars, Unusual Advent Calendars & Non-Chocolate Advent Calendars For 2024
The chances are that you grew up with the tradition of a chocolate advent calendar each December. You peeled back the door (or window) each day in the countdown to Christmas. Then, as you got older, the chocolate got smaller and less exciting. Now, as an adult, you’ve discovered a world of luxury chocolate advent calendars that reignite your love for chocolate and Christmas. But you’re also now aware that there’s way more choice these days, and you’re no longer restricted to chocolate.
Welcome to the exciting world of alternative advent calendars for 2024. A playground for adults, these fun, weird and unusual advent calendars scratch and itch for you this festive season. It may have begun in earnest with the best beauty advent calendars but these days you can get all sorts, such as tea advent calendars, beer advent calendars, wine advent calendars, toy advent calendars, and even an advent calendar filled with pieces of a tool kit!
We’ve rounded up the best alternative advent calendars for Christmas 2024, saving you time and hard work. We’ve created essential guides for each theme, such as jewellery advent calendars, and alcohol advent calendars, and peeked inside. We’ll tell you whether each advent calendar contains 24 fun treats or 12 smaller gifts. We’ll look at the luxury advent calendars as well as the more pocket-friendly. And, of course, we’ve included socks advent calendars, too. It wouldn’t be Christmas without a pair of Crimbo socks.
If you are looking for a specific type of calendar, we’d urge you to check out the different themes to find your perfect Christmas countdown. But, if you are looking for a no-nonsense guide to the best unusual advent calendars of 2024, then check out our selection below. These quirky, unusual and novelty calendars stand out for their luxury contents, their ultimate appearance, or their wackiness.
Our Most Favourite Alternative Advent Calendars 2024
Hands down, the best of the best. If you are craving a non-chocolate advent calendar, these are worth considering.
In this article:
- Our Most Favourite Alternative Advent Calendars 2024
- Harrods Beauty Advent Calendar 2023
- Cheesegeek Cheese Advent Calendar
- The Brew Company Coffee Lovers Advent Calendar
- Coppenrath Vintage Musical Gramophone Advent Calendar
- EIGHT Build Your Own Electronic Games Advent Calendar
- Joe & Seph’s Giant Popcorn Advent Calendar
- LEGO City Advent Calendar 2023 (60381)
- Hidden Games Professor Charlie’s World Tour Cryptic Puzzle Advent Calendar
- The Naked Marshmallow Co Gourmet Advent Calendar
Harrods Beauty Advent Calendar 2023
RRP: £250.00 | | 25 doors / windows | Shop now
Best for: Luxury beauty product connoisseurs.
Contains products worth £1,173 according to Harrods | Contains 21 full-size products.
‘Tis the season for beauty bliss, and the Harrods Beauty Advent Calendar 2023 is here to make your festive dreams come true. Unwrap the magic of Christmas one drawer at a time, as each reveals a luxurious surprise from the hallowed halls of the world famous Harrods store in Knightsbridge. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill advent calendar; it’s a treasure trove of top-tier beauty products that will leave you feeling like a star every day of December.
Imagine indulging in the crème de la crème of skincare and haircare heroes from renowned brands like Augustinus Bader, Charlotte Tilbury, Dr. Barbara Sturm, 111SKIN, and Acqua di Parma. But here’s the kicker – many of these treasures are full-sized, ensuring your beauty cabinet is stocked up and glamorous well beyond the holiday season.
This beautifully-decorated calendar features a design of the London store on the front and 25 drawers inside. Once empty, it can be stored away and refilled next year with new treats of your choosing.
Cheesegeek Cheese Advent Calendar
RRP: £150.00 | | 24 doors / windows | Shop now
Best for: Die hard cheese fans. With huge portions of cheeses and plenty of crackers and condiments, there’s enough here for two people.
Not one advent calendar but technically three (or at least three deliveries) ensuring freshness. It’s so fresh, the boxes are prepared on the day of despatch and are speedily shipped. They ship with Cheesegeek’s 48-hour freshness guarantee.
This is the ultimate foodie advent calendar for cheese addicts. Each day you’ll discover a new type of cheese (a super secret selection to increase the suspense). Each of the three delivery boxes contains Peter’s Yard crackers, a honey and a condiment.
The cheese boxes are designed to fit comfortably in your fridge and each contain eight doors / windows, so you still get the thrill of opening an advent calendar, just with cheese instead of chocolate.
The Brew Company Coffee Lovers Advent Calendar
RRP: £44.95 | | 25 doors / windows | Shop now°
Best for: True coffee aficionados who appreciates the flavours of single-origin coffees.
Ideal for next-level coffee lovers, this advent calendar is an excuse to travel the world in the form of speciality single-origin coffees. Hop from Mexico to Zambia, through Kenya and myanmar to Papua New Guinea.
Each day you’ll pull out a new sachet of ground coffee from a different part of the world. Each coffee has its own flavour profile and tasting notes, and each sachet makes two cups, making this a great sharing advent calendar for couples.
Better still, each sachet is designed to brew your own coffee without the need for any other specialist coffee making equipment. All you need is hot water. Become your own barista by choosing what strength you prefer, following the simple instructions on the pack. Nice and simple!
This calendar is created with coffee from a Danish artisan roastery that specialises in slow-crafted coffee, expertly teasing out the unique flavours of each variation of coffee bean. It’s ideal for coffee lovers who know their beans.
Coppenrath Vintage Musical Gramophone Advent Calendar
RRP: £37.99 | | 24 doors / windows | Shop now°
Best for: Nostalgia lovers, parents and grandparents who may have owned a gramophone.
Made in Germany, this alternative advent calendar is a working gramophone, complete with 24 mini discs to see you through the countdown to Christmas Eve.
Designed by Barbara Behr, it’s an interactive “old fashioned” advent calendar that will provide daily treats for your ears. The music is created by Dr. Thomas Gothel. There’s a mixture of soothing German songs along with more traditional tunes, such as Silent Night and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
Powered by 3 replaceable AAA batteries, it’s a lovely piece of nostalgia that can be squirrelled away in the year, and re-loved each winter. It’s a new tradition waiting to happen.
See the Coppenrath Vintage Musical Gramophone Advent Calendar°
EIGHT Build Your Own Electronic Games Advent Calendar
RRP: £25.00 | | 24 doors / windows | Shop now°
Best for: Anyone who wants a sense of achievement from their advent calendar antics
Experience the ultimate countdown to Christmas with the Build Your Own Electronic Games Advent Calendar by EIGHT. It’s time to ditch the chocolate and dive into a world of DIY gaming and electronics excitement!
Behind each of the 24 windows, you’ll find all the components you need to construct iconic electronic games like Code Breaker, Whack a Mole, Wire Maze, and more. Gather the family and experiment with electronics to create a fun and interactive gaming device. Just add 3 x AA batteries to power up your creations.
It’s a gift that combines the joy of gaming with the satisfaction of DIY electronics, and it’s perfect for the young budding creators (recommended age of 14+) and the young-at-heart nostalgics alike!
See the EIGHT Build Your Own Electronic Games Advent Calendar°
Joe & Seph’s Giant Popcorn Advent Calendar
RRP: £25.00 | | 24 doors / windows | Shop now°
Best for: Popcorn-munching addicts.
Unwrap the magic of this indulgent calendar, featuring award-winning popcorn. It’s the perfect alternative to a traditional advent calendar, offering you a scrumptious journey through 24 days of popcorn delights.
Open the calendar like a giant storybook and step into a snowy popcorn kitchen scene, where the real treasures lie. Inside, you’ll discover 24 treat bags (7g) that include unique flavours, ranging from the irresistible milk chocolate popcorn bites to the classic salted caramel and the decadent caramel and white chocolate.
Now, the real challenge: can you resist the temptation to open all the windows at once? Trust us; it’s harder than it sounds!
LEGO City Advent Calendar 2023 (60381)
RRP: £19.99 | | 24 doors / windows | Shop now°
Best for: LEGO fans young and old, as well as families
Unbox 24 LEGO toys, including mini builds and minifigures. The box doubles up as a play mat, allowing kids to use their imaginations, creating make-believe worlds using their 258 new LEGO bricks.
This ever-popular LEGO advent calendar contains a range of items themed around the LEGO City line of products, so will easily integrate with the roads, vehicles, and the police and fire stations you’ve already got in your own city.
24 doors mask items such as a Christmas tree mini build, a fireplace mini build and a grandfather clock mini build. It wouldn’t be Christmas without a Santa minifig and a sleigh mini build.
Hidden Games Professor Charlie’s World Tour Cryptic Puzzle Advent Calendar
RRP: £19.90 | | 24 doors / windows | Shop now°
Best for: Anyone who likes a good brain teaser, as well as amateur sleuths.
How good are you at solving puzzles? Pop your detective hat on and try your hand at Professor Charlie’s World Tour. For 24 days, you’ll receive cryptic clues and puzzles that you’ll need to solve to complete the game.
The beauty of this elegant alternative advent calendar is that it suits solo detectives as well as the whole family, so you can work as a team to crack the clues, decode messages, and ultimately discover Charlie’s big secret.
It’s the perfect way to exercise your brain in the countdown to Christmas, and a fun alternative to chocolate. It also makes a great gift for those working within the Police or Border services, travel agents, and criminology students.
See the Hidden Games Professor Charlie’s World Tour Cryptic Puzzle Advent Calendar°
The Naked Marshmallow Co Gourmet Advent Calendar
RRP: £17.00 | | 25 doors / windows | Shop now°
Best for: Lovers of squishy, pillowy bites of heaven.
Say ‘nom’ to The Naked Marshmallow Co Gourmet Advent Calendar, where every day in December promises a spectacularly gooey surprise. Trade out your cheap advent calendar chocolate for these delectable cubes of pillowy heaven.
This Advent Calendar is a treasure trove of 25 gourmet marshmallows in 12 irresistible flavours. Each day, you’ll unbox a new marshmallow to savour while enjoying the festive joke or fun fact tucked behind the cardboard window.
Sadly not suitable for vegetarians or vegans, each marshmallow weighs approximately 13g.
Note: Prices were correct when last checked but may have since changed. Design and specifications can change without notice, so it’s best to check with the stockist for the latest prices, specifications, and availability.