Last time, I was financially exhausted and spending money on a luxury lifestyle advent calendar. I happily discover a new face serum or silk eye mask or bath oil every day. Naturally, I fell down the rabbit hole and became immersed in the Arrival universe. I strolled the aisles of festive-patterned packages like World Market and enjoyed the online reviews and unboxings that have helped fuel the advent-calendar craze.
It was like looking at the holidays through a looking glass: a way to celebrate I’d never thought about in adulthood, and one that millions of people around the world seemed to be living fast. For those who have adopted the advent-calendar lifestyle, every day starting on December 1 is a celebration.
For nearly a century, children have been visiting numbered doors to find sweets, trinkets or holiday messages reminiscent of December days. But due to a recent surge in popularity and a new fascination for adults, there are now advent calendars for candles, jewelry, fishing tackle, makeup, dog treats, perfume, nail polish and Lego. Some of the world’s most fascinating cuisines may be dedicated to your favorite foods.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Cheese, caviar, hot chocolate, spices, Japanese snacks, wine, hot sauce, coffee and canned cocktails can be found in small drawers and behind paper doors this year. Even Jepson’s Malort, a Chicago native who is often maligned, announced a calendar for “25 days. 25 shots. 25 questionable decisions.”
Competition for them can be fierce, and prices can be high. Some are sold out a few months before Christmas. Reddit threads, social media, and other online message boards dedicated to advent calendars serve as sounding boards for — and reviews of — the best prices and hottest picks each year.
“It’s really exploded,” said Fredrik Nilsson, chief executive of luxury liquorice company Lacrides by Bullo. “It’s unbelievable.”
The Copenhagen-based sweets company claims to have one of the first culinary advent calendars marketed to adults. Year-round, the brand wraps licorice in a series of layered chocolate and candy shells. For the holidays, Lacrides produces two advent calendars. The version found in the US includes 24 days of colorful licorice spheres in a black and gold box inspired by Nordic aesthetics ($69.99); The second, available only in Europe, is shaped like a giant jar.
Their inspiration came from the candy itself: an adult-oriented version on a childhood classic that wraps licorice in delicious flavors like tart strawberry or elderflower.
“When I grew up, everyone had a calendar, but it was definitely for kids,” Nilsson said. “Adults wouldn’t have a Christmas calendar. And when we, in 2011, created our first Christmas calendar, it was – if not the first – one of the first calendars targeted at adults.”
Copenhagen-based Lacrids by Bülow – makers of adult licorice – claims to be one of the first culinary advent calendars marketed to adults.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
In 2011, the company sold 1,000 of them. Now the confectionery shop earns Rs 300,000 every year. This is the advent calendar’s fourth year of availability in the US, and sales have already nearly doubled compared to 2024.
What’s behind the appeal of the trend? One local manufacturer has a theory. Jing Gao is the owner of Fly By Jing, an LA-based chili crisp company that bottles aromatic spices and chilies from Sichuan, China. Gao said the allure for customers lies in the daily dose of the unknown: In a society obsessed with labbuses and other blind-box objects, the thrill of a wrapped, hidden gift each day provides “whimsical surprise and delight.”
This year, Fly By Jing’s mini-jars and other, new products come in a large, hand-packed red box decorated with illustrated pandas and gold embossing ($98). This is the second year of Fly By Jing’s advent calendar. As soon as his team completed production on the 2024 box, they began planning and coordinating this year’s. For 2025, this includes a reiteration of the Mala spice blend along with two new products that would be too expensive to mass-produce: a shallot sauce and a barbecue rub.
Last year’s calendar sold out in just two to three weeks. This year, even after production doubled, it ran out by November 10.
Gao grew up in Europe and, especially during her years in Germany, loved advent calendars over the holidays. Then he did not think about them for 20 years.
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When she started seeing food and beauty brands launching calendars, it only made sense to join in: Gao’s Chili Crisps always see sales spike during the holidays and she already offered gift sets.
The advent calendar is “a kind of playground for us,” Gao said, “where we can still have fun and test different things.”
Local company Fly By Jing released an advent calendar with mini-jars of spices and sauces and packages of noodles. Its production doubled this year, but it ended by November 10.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
They can also be a way to splurge on luxuries that might not fit into the year’s budget. Just as consumers might splurge on couture calendars from fashion brands like Dior ($750) and Christian Louboutin ($720), the extravagance — and eyebrow-raising price tags — might extend to food.
A luxury-branded advent calendar from Williams Sonoma ($350) features copper-bakeware ornaments, aged balsamic, specialty candies and imported spices. The sold-out Dandelion Chocolate Calendar ($198 for one person, or $328 for two) featured an astronomical theme and design, with each of the 25 chocolates relating to the solar system’s moons, complete with a star map.
For those who attend, the holidays are peak caviar season — and a 12-day advent calendar from San Francisco-based Caviar Company costs $945.
The caviar calendar includes two mother-of-pearl spoons, a caviar-tin key, recipe card, and a dozen 1-ounce jars of caviar and roe. Price is $945.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
A red and gold treasure comes in a Styrofoam cooler filled with ice packs; The advent calendar is stored in the refrigerator, filling the shelf space with gold embossing and foil stamping.
“I like to say there’s a different caviar for every day of the week,” said chief executive and co-founder Petra Bergstein Higbee, who runs the company with her sister.
Each caviar calendar includes two mother-of-pearl spoons, a caviar-tin key, recipe card, and a dozen 1-ounce jars of caviar and roe: some smoked, some standard, some ultra-high-end. In 2025, a “wild card” was added: the Beluga-Sarjan hybrid, a variety that is not currently available for sale on the website.
Many customers say they are purchasing as gifts, but others split it among friends for caviar-tasting parties or events such as Friendsgiving, making the price more accessible.
While luxury may indicate celebrations, some of the culinary world’s most popular advent calendars run a fraction of the cost: Walker’s buttery, crispy shortbread cookies ($31.99), Vahdam’s foldable tea collection ($24.99), Tony’s Chocolatenelli’s 24-door chocolate menagerie ($39.99).
But perhaps the most beloved and budget-minded calendar of all comes in the form of two dozen mini-jars of jams and spreads. According to a company representative, the Bonne Maman advent calendar ($54.99) has seen a 400% increase in price since its 2017 debut. Thousands of TikTok and Instagram videos have been unboxed, taste-tested and made their way into the annual box.
The Bon Maman advent calendar debuted in 2017 and saw 400% growth, spurring a social-media trend to unbox, taste-test, and rank mini-jars of the company’s jams.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
To find out the countdown of the most famous French jams in the world, I’ll have to call in an expert: There’s no one more devoted to the Bonne Maman calendar than my longtime friend Michael-Birch Pierce, a visual artist who, every year, turns into a jam influencer as December 1st rolls around.
In 2021, Pierce saw an Instagram post about the calendar and immediately bought one. This was the spread of first love. Being severely allergic to chocolate and caffeine, Pierce has never been able to participate in more traditional advent calendars.
“Really, I never understood the joy of advent calendars,” Pierce said.
Now every December morning, they toast an English muffin or bagel and apply a hearty smear on each side. One year he saw someone using dredges from large jars to make cocktails, so Pierce used mostly ready-made mini-jars for jam-imbued shots. A handful of TikToks and Instagram Reels point fellow jam aficionados to other uses: make fruity cool foam on top of coffee, use them in cookies, fill empty jars with homemade beeswax candles or lip balm.
While traveling for work last year, Pierce took the jars out of festive paper cubby holes, wrapped them in paper towels without looking, and stuffed them into a suitcase to open on the road and enjoy at her hotel’s continental breakfast.
As December approaches, Pierce posts about each day’s flavor; Over the years, thousands of friends have followed it, and dozens have bought the calendar because of it.
“They message me about it all the time,” Pierce said. “People are waiting for my post about it every day like, ‘Have you stopped eating jam?’ No, I will never stop eating jam.
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