advent calendars

In the past few years, the popularity of the Advent calendar has grown enormously, not just for children either. Alcoholic and various edible calendars now seem to be everywhere we shop. 

Those with deeper pockets can get ones with expensive toiletries and even jewelry. Children’s advent calendars have also seen a huge amount of variation and are often as hotly in demand as Christmas presents themselves. 

The first Lego Advent Calendar is the perfect example. 

But most people think of Advent calendars as printed versions, showing religious or wintery scenes. Each has 24 windows - you open, one each day, on the run up to Christmas. Behind each window is an illustration. 

Using an Advent calendar to count the days until Christmas is a cherished family tradition in many homes, but where did Advent calendars come from? Like so many Christmas traditions embraced in the west, the Advent calendar dates back to Victorian times and originates in Germany. 

Early example of an Advent calendar.

The first known advent calendar was created in the late 1800’s for a child named Gerhard Lang by his German, Protestant mother. Inspired by his memories of the squares of cardboard with pinned tiny sweets she made to eat over the Advent period. 

Gerhard then went on to form a printing company that produced the first ever commercially available Advent calendars - featuring 24 little windows that could be opened, one for each day of Advent, where behind each window was a picture or poem related to the Nativity story.

Christmas in the Village Advent Calendar

As with many things the World Wars stopped this tradition - paper shortages meant restrictions and rationing. Then it restarted in 1946 and even as early as 1958 there were chocolate filled advent calendars on sale. Chocolate was added as a way to get children interested in the true meaning of Christmas. 

Why such a growth in the humble advent calendar? Christmas has always been a time when families get together, and advent calendars are a wonderful way of extending that Christmas feeling of good will. 

Filipino Holiday Advent Calendar by Auro

A small treat each day on the run up to Christmas has become an almost essential part of Christmas these days. In times when we’re all pressured into buying more and more at Christmas, Advent calendars are generally an inexpensive way to build the excitement as the big day approaches.

A few more facts and figures about Advent Calendars:

The largest Advent Calendar is 71m high and 23m wide and was built at Saint Pancras Station in London to commemorate the refurbishment in December 2007.

The most valuable advent calendar was valued at a staggering £2,100,000 and was created by Octagon Blue GVC from Belgium and valued on 30th November 2010. 

The calendar was made up of 24 glass tubes each containing a diamond wrapped in silver. The glass tubes each featured an angel - in total the calendar contained 124 diamonds. 

Even with the explosion of Advent calendars on the market, the interest in traditional printed calendars, especially homemade ones still remain. 

Museum of History Advent Calendar 

Germany, the source of these wonderful products, still creates the most amazing ones. In towns all over Germany they take the humble Advent calendar to new heights. Sometimes even turning whole buildings into an Advent calendar. 

If you have an Advent calendar at home, we hope you enjoyed learning a little about the history behind them and are looking forward to opening your Advent calendar each day as we countdown to Christmas!