Advent Calendars....What a Choice!

Christmas Time is upon us…

and the Advent Calendars can now be opened!

Hello December! 

The weather is officially freezing, fur coats are on, Christmas shopping has begun and its finally acceptable to put up your festive decorations. Of course, this also means we can finally open our Advent Calendars... And what a choice there is.

I wouldn't quite say gone are the days of the chocolate advent calendars (be it store bought or those beautiful fabric re-usable hanging pocket pouches that your parents would fill each year) but in keeping with the times there are now far more options out there and even if you decided to stick with what you know... it's interesting to hear what else it available! 

So, we’ve all heard (well most of us) about this new advent calendar idea from Annem Hobson who has introduced the world to cheese heaven with her homemade calendar step by step plan for all you cheese lovers out there. Unfortunately these aren't available in store yet, although she does state on her blog So Wrong Its Nom that she hopes they will be available by next Christmas. (Something to look forward to if you haven't got the patience  to make your own.).

With a price range from £10 - £200 you could spend more on a couple of advent calendars than on all your Christmas presents put together! So what exactly are you getting for your money?

Well, lets be clear on one thing, these choices aren't particularly for your little ones - they will still be happy with a daily dose of chocolate before school, for the rest of us, all the grownups out there, where do I begin!

Ok, so on the less extreme side of things and still keeping with traditional chocolate we have couples calendars from stores such as Hotel Chocolate with a not so ridiculous price of £26, its a lovely idea, romantic even. However, I'm pretty sure I know many people (myself included) who would just eat both… not that that's a serious issue!

It doesn't even have to be food related these days. River Island have brought out their ‘Johnny loves Rosie’  advent, priced at £40 and behind each door you have gold plated jewellery from bracelet charms, necklaces, rings to earrings so quite the beautiful gift for that special someone.

Yet another girly treat could be one of the many makeup and nail varnish options out at the moment Boots offer a NYX Professional makeup with 12 different eye shadows and 12 mini Soft Matte Lip Cream. Alternatively, if you want to splash the cash and really treat yourself, Just My Look have the O.P.I Breakfast at Tiffany’s Nail Polish Collection with a wide range of beautiful colours to go with all your outfits. 

Lets move onto what would be my advent of choice...

Alcohol. 

Yes, we all knew this one existed (or hoped!). We are responsible adults and sweet treats just don't cut it anymore, so here are a couple of options out at the moment.

You can find them online, on sites such as firebox there is a Gin special with 24 different gins from all over the place! Or if you want a larger variety of spirits you can even go in store to John Lewis who offer a 24 day advent calendar with a festive mix of Vodkas, Liqueurs and Gins. The difficulty with this one will be sticking to your one shot a day and not letting that bad day at work result in you finishing your 24 treats by the 5th December…but hey…if this does happen.. ’tis the season’.

Now this probably surprised me more than the cheese idea, but nevertheless - still very ok with it. 

Pork scratchings…in a calendar. You may have seen ITV’s This Morning featured them last month resulting in the The Snaffling Pig co this year to Sell OUT of their supply of Pork scratching advent calendars so you will have to get in there early to ensure you get one for Christmas 2017. These fabulous calendars have a 24 mini bag variety of pork scratchings from pigs in blankets, BBQ, Maple to a classic Salt and Pepper. What food lover wouldn't want  pieces of this every day of December!  

Such a huge variety of calendar options are out there this year. it will be interesting to see what gets added to Christmas 2017 and how many of us give up the chocolate for a yummy slice of cheese. 

What type of advent will you be opening today?