Counting Down by Building Up
- What: Lego Advent Calendars
- When: 4 years and up
- Why: Countdown days to Christmas
- Where: Amazon or local toy shop
Have a kid obsessed with Lego? Me, too. We’ve been getting Lego advent calendars for years. If you want to avoid more sweets, or have a kid who can’t handle chocolate for whatever reason, check out these building brick alternatives to traditional candy-filled advent calendars.
Lego puts out a new range of Advent calendars each year. You can start buying them as early as August in the right places, and you want to have it by Halloween to avoid crazy price markups or dwindling supplies. These things sell like hotcakes as far as I can tell. I personally start shopping around October 1st, so we can pay $25 instead of $40 and up.
Lego makes at least three types each season. You can get a Star Wars set, a City set, or a Friends (the girlier pink and purple type where the figures are taller and thinner – don’t get me started on gender stereotypes) set. If you miss the window for this year’s version, you can check on last year’s variations. Amazon sometimes carries the older sets and the price varies according to supply and demand.
Each calendar includes 24 doors to open, with figures or mini sets tucked inside. The door has printed assembly instructions for each tiny creation. Kids can assemble the simple structures in a matter of minutes, then start pestering you about when they can open the next door. All the Lego sets also include a fold out mat for three dimensional play to set the scene. We detach our mats at the end of the season and keep them for year round fun.
If you buy it and forget about it, you can probably sell it as a collectors’ item the following year. Assuming you don’t just use the calendar for yourself. Adults love them, too. My husband has been known to get his own so he doesn’t have to fight the kids.
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