A dvent calendars filled with everything from beauty products to chocolate, Lego to tea, are as much a staple in the run-up to Christmas as drinking too much and listening to Last Christmas for the 1,237th time. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.
Learn more. So, we’ve sniffed, tasted and drunk our way through 12 of them, rating them by their contents, value for money, sustainability and festive factor. And for those who want to swerve products altogether, we’ve rounded up the most beautiful, feelgood paper Advent calendars we could find.
Halfords Advent calendar, £29.99 halfords.com First impression It’s a box – like a chocolate box, but deeper – featuring an illustration of Santa handling some spare parts.
What’s in it? The box says “includes 40-piece socket set”. In fact, that’s all it includes – one 40-piece 1/4in metric socket wrench set. On 1 December you open an enormous door to find a blow-moulded plastic case in which to keep your new socket set.
Day 2 brings a rather smart socket ratchet handle. Thereafter, it’s mostly wrench sockets of varying sizes – 9mm, 4mm, 13mm, 5.5mm.
By mid-month the sense of anticipation will have pretty much worn off. How useful are the products ? There is nothing in this world more useful than a 40-piece socket wrench set, excepting perhaps a 50-piece socket wrench set. I have often wondered if a decent socket collection would change.