When I was growing up my German grandmother would always purchase a chocolate Advent calendar from the Commissary on the air force base near her home.  It was a German tradition all of her grandchildren looked forward to each year.  We would wake up and run to the kitchen each morning in December to find the date on the printed image and open the perforated cardboard door to see what chocolate shape was waiting for us that day.  It was a fun way to count down the days until Christmas.  My grandmother was excited to continue that tradition with her great-grandchildren.  She bought all of her great-grandchildren Advent calendars and each morning my son with food allergies would trade his chocolate for some Enjoy-Life Chocolate chips.  It was fun to see the different shapes, but he wasn’t able to eat them.  When someone told me that Lego made Advent calendars, I was eager to get one.  Unfortunately that year I started looking in November and all of them were sold out.  I was able to find one the next year because I knew to look in September.  I bought one for each of the kids and it was such a hit that they look forward to it all year.

I found Advent Calendars at our local Costco last week for $22.99.  They had the Lego City and Lego Friends sets (pictured here).  They are usually $29.99 or more at Target, Kohl’s, Walmart or Amazon.  You can often get them on sale at Target near the end of October.  Lego also has a Star Wars set that my boys love, but they are usually a bit more expensive.  Mega Blocks will sometimes have Advent calendars for around $20, but the pieces are much harder to assemble.  We bought a Minions Advent from Mega Blocks one year and I had to help my 5 year old with every set and sometimes my 10 year old struggled too.  If you are willing to spend a little extra for the Lego brand, it is worth it in my opinion.  If you are looking for a fun non-food way to count down to Christmas, these are definitely worth a try!