From beauty and gaming to chocolate and refillable options, these are the teen advent calendars worth buying in 2025. UK-only picks, current prices: last updated September 2025
Teenagers can be notoriously hard to please, and finding the right advent calendar for teen boys or teen girls is even trickier. Don’t panic – we’ve done the hard work. This post is freshly updated for 2025 with the very best advent calendars for teenagers in the UK. We’ve raised four teens and test calendars each year: we buy many ourselves and only recommend calendars we’d give to our own kids.
Finding the best advent calendars for teenagers is literally what we’re famous for (well, that and our school dinners recipes…).
Because obviously teenagers want an advent calendar just like everyone else in the house (we all know that teens are 50 per cent 30-year-olds olds and 50 per cent 6-year-olds, yes?).
They’re too old for the traditional ‘open the door to find the cute picture or chocolate’ option (although the 50 per cent 6-year-old part secretly yearns for such things… ). And of course they’re too young for the more adult alcohol-fuelled offerings – no matter what your 15-year-old is telling you.
The best advent calendars for teens go beyond a grunt of approval: it not only helps to make them feel appreciated, but also that yes, they might be growing, but they’re just as much a part of the season’s little traditions as they always have been.
Growing up and getting adulty is tough.
(ALSO – it’s always a good idea to keep a few spare chocolates aside, just in case…)
We’ve raised four teenagers – and still have one at home – so this is a personal, parent-tested edit of the top advent calendars for teenagers 2025. If you find a brilliant one we’ve missed, drop it in the comments.
My personal favourite Advent Calendars for Teenagers 2025
This post contains affiliate links – you don’t pay any more, but I may earn a teensy smidge of commission (which frankly just helps my coffee habit). But I never recommend something to you I wouldn’t recommend to my sister. And yes, I do love my sister.
Bonne Maman Limited Edition Spreads Advent Calendar 2025
Since they launched it, I have never known the Bonne Maman Advent to not sell out. Never mind the beauty products – let’s hit the toaster.
What’s Inside: Inside there are 23 mini jars of fruity jam or sweet spread – plenty to enjoy over the festive period. Plus there’s an extra surprise gift on Christmas Eve. Best of all, each jar is an unusual Christmas flavour combination – available only at this time of year, created especially for this Christmas advent calendar. Try out Apricot with Honey, Apple with Caramel and Cinnamon, Pineapple with Rum and Vanilla, Pear and Mandarin or Cherry with pink berries, just to pick out a few.
Cons: The ‘Orange, Yuzu and Grapefruit’ day? I remain to be convinced …
Our verdict: My personal favourite advent, I find they are AMAZING to add to a Christmas cheese board to enjoy with some sharp cheddar.
Tony’s Chocolonely Advent Calendar
If you’re going to do a chocolate advent, let’s do it right. Tony’s Chocolonely is the brand to please all enviro-conscious, ethical-shopping Gen Z teens: it’s 100% slave-free, fair trade chocolate, with the added bonus that the chocolate itself is AMAZING.
What’s Inside: 24 individually-packed Belgian Fairtrade dark, milk and white chocolates, infused with almond, hazelnut, nougat, seasalt, caramel, pretzel, freeze-dried raspberry and popping candy …
Cons: Just one square of each delicious bite a day.
Our verdict: It’s a firm favourite in this house.
Tony’s Chocolonely Big Advent Calendar – Christmas Countdown is £15 on Amazon
Benefit Advent Calendar 2025 – the Glam Cube
I know, it’s a spendy one. BUT … for me, this is the pick of this year’s beauty advents. If your teen is a fan of make up, they’ll be a fan of Benefit. And what’s not to love here?
What’s inside: Plenty of full size products – including my absolute fave BADgal BANG! BIGGER, BADDER volumising mascara – plus loads of products to try and play around with.
Cons: The hair scrunchie and make-up removing pads are obvious cheap filler days
Our verdict: The packaging is a brilliant Rubik’s Cube-esque puzzle box that you have to twist or flip each day. Yes, pleasethankyou.
The Benefit Glam Cube Advent Calendar is £135 at LookFantastic
LOOKFANTASTIC Grooming Advent Calendar 2025 2025 (just the best for teen boys!)
I have three boys, and I can tell you now my wallet is groaning as I rush to buy THREE of these before they sell out. Worth over £425, this is an absolute GEM, crammed with amazing brands and products.
What’s inside: From a full size Rituals L’Essentiel eau de parfum worth over £50 to a full size Avant 8-Hour Antioxidizing & Retexturing Hyaluronic Facial Serum worth £90, via Vichy, Bulldog, Dr. PAWPAW, Molton Brown and the LF Grooming Kit, there’s a brilliant treat in every drawer.
Cons: Some of the trial sizes are very mini, and *just* enough to make you fall in love with the product (see the Cetaphil Salicylic Acid Cleanser…)
Our verdict: Brilliant. Just yes, for any product-loving boy teen.
Disney’s Twisted Tales Advent Calendar 2025
The absolute perfect advent calendar for all Disney fans, but also those who love the Twisted Tales series who are still wondering what if…?
What’s inside: Open up a new twisted adventure every day in the lead up to Christmas! There’s exclusive content, including TEN brand-new short stories, writing prompt journals, and much more.
Cons: We could have done with more stories rather than the posters and quiz …
Our verdict: A must-get for Disney fans
Disney’s Twisted Tales Advent Calendar 2025 is on Amazon for £23
LEGO Minecraft Advent Calendar 2025
Are they EVER too old or too cool for LEGO? No. No they are not.
Does Minecraft ever become not cool?
Again, no.
Can a LEGO Minecraft advent calendar ever be anything but a total hit, then?
And thrice I say NO, silly!
I rest my case.
What’s inside: The 24 gifts include LEGO Minecraft minifigures of Alex, Steve, Creeper, drowned, stray, snow golem, zombie and a Santa villager, all with accessories and festive touches.
Cons: Some days the figure-less LEGO reward is a bit less enticing.
Our verdict: OBVIOUSLY yes.
Book lover’s dream advent calendar: the Cranford Edition Ultimate Classics Collection
OK, this one’s not actually an advent calendar per se … but LOOOOKKKK at it!
What’s inside: This is the Cranford Edition Ultimate Classics Collection. You get 19 beautifully-bound hardcover books by Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, Emily & Charlotte Brontë, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edith Wharton, as well as four beautifully-bound matching journals
Cons: That’s only 23: you’ll need to go shopping for another book. Oh. Sadness …
Our verdict: YES. PLEASE.
This book lover’s dream advent calendar of the Cranford Edition Ultimate Classics Collection is on Amazon for £150
Popcorn Shed Gourmet Popcorn Advent Calendar 2025
Popcorn … come on now. It’s delicious, but it’s also the healthy treat option – handcrafted in the UK using high quality, all-natural ingredients and it’s completely vegan and gluten free too.
What’s inside: You get a small bag of six different flavours randomly shared through the calendar – 4 x Butterscotch, 4 x Cocoa Caramel, 4 x Cherry Pie, 4 x Christmas Pudding, 4 x Chocolate Orange and 4 x Gingerbread Popcorn.
Cons: What, just six flavours? MORE IS NEEDED!
Our verdict: Perfect light daily treat.
Find the Popcorn Shed Gourmet popcorn Advent Calendar on Amazon for £28
The Yankee Candle Apres Ski Advent Calendar Book 2025!
Because when all else fails them, the scented candles will never let them down. It’s a truth universally acknowledged that EVERY teen loves a scented candle. And if you’re going to do it, do it right with The Yankee Candle Collection. this year the book design is back – which is hands down the best advent YC do: I don’t know why stopped for a few years but I’m happy it’s back!
What’s inside:
You’ll get 12 Scented Tea Light Candles, 12 Mini Votives and one Tea Light Candle Holder. This year’s scent selection includes: Silver Sage & Pine, Slope side Spritz, Christmas Eve, White Spruce and Grapefruit and Holiday Winter Fest.
Cons: The tea lights only have a few hours burn time, so don’t light them til mid afternoon to enjoy their scent all evening
Our verdict: a month of a delicious-smelling house: this calendar has become a tradition in itself for us
The Yankee Candle Apres Ski Advent Calendar Book is currently £3 off at Candles Direct, for £47
Candy Kittens Advent Calendar 2025
If you’ve got a sweet-toothed teen who’s not necessarily a chocolate fan, then Candy Kittens are The Thing. They’re perfect for the fussiest conscious eater: vegan, no palm oil, no artificial flavours or colours … and absolutely the most delicious plant-powered treat. There are no artificial ingredients in candy kitten sweets – just the wholesome, wholesomeness of the very fruit juicy juiciness.
What’s inside: A cat-shaped sweet a day in eight random flavours: Wild Strawberry, Disco Dreams, Sour Watermelon, Wanderlust, Very Cherry, Eton Mess, Shox and Loves
Cons: The packaging. Come on now, we expect better!
Our verdict: Utterly unspeakably perfect for our own brand of sweet-loving, chocolate-hating cat fan in the house
The Candy Kittens Advent Calendar is a bargain on Amazon for just £12
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2025 Gemstone Advent Calendar
This one’s advertised for ‘kids’, but if you happen to own a specific type of rock-loving teen (and yes, I had one), they’ll be giddy with glee at this over a chocolate advent any day.
What’s inside: Each day reveals a different polished gemstone, including Agate, Green Aventurine, Turquenite, Tiger’s Eye, Pyrite (Fool’s Gold), Geode, Carnelian, Chevron Amethyst, Red Stripe, Black Obsidian and Rose Quartz (in a mini dig brick). And it also includes five jewellery settings so they can create their own jewellery with their new gemstones.
Cons: You’ll have to exclaim daily over yet another hunk of pretty-looking rock.
Our verdict: If you have the right teen, you’ll know.
The NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2025 Gemstone Advent Calendar is £25 on Amazon
Eight Innovation Electronic Games Advent Calendar
This one is ALWAYS popular, it’s selling like the proverbial cakes from the oven.
What’s inside: I challenge your gaming teen not to be fully captured by this cool advent, all about creating and building 24 classic video games. Behind each window is an electronic component: on Christmas Day you can play Whack A Mole, Ping Pong, Code Breaker among many others.
Cons: you have to wait til you have enough components to start playing
Our verdict: Fun, retro, cool – and sneaking in a wee bit of education in there too when they’re not looking.
The Eight Innovation Electronic Games Advent Calendar is £23 from Amazon
The Reusable Wooden Christmas Advent Calendar House with LED-lit Winter Forest Scene
I LOVE this one. You get a pretty Scandi-inspired village scene, backlit by effective LED lighting.
What’s inside: Actually nothing, that’s the point. You get a set of 24 empty drawers, which you then fill with an assortment of things for your teenager – a scented tealight, some sweets, a bracelet, some seeds, herbal tea bags, aftershave samples … whatever they like. It’s totally bespoke and unique to you. And, of course, reusable every year.
Cons: You still need to fill it
Our verdict: To make your life EASY, just combine this with another advent calendar: empty one to fill the other! Alternatively, for years we simply bought bags of chocolate treats (which are cheaper by the bag) and then divided them up to fill the drawers.
The Wooden Christmas Advent Calendar House with LED-lit Winter Forest Scene is £50 on Amazon (but your choices for wooden re-usable advent calendars are huge and vary wildly in price)
Jeasona Sock Advent Calendar 2025
OK, hear me out here. It’s socks. I know. But also … SOCKS!
What’s inside: Open one window each day to reveal a single festive sock – you get to wait and match them up for 12 joyful pairs.
Cons: Odd socks is soon the norm …
Our verdict: Who DOESN’T need 12 pairs of Christmas socks?
The Jeasona Sock Advent Calendar 2025 is on Amazon for £27 (and that’s just over £2 a pair!)
EXIT Escape Room Advent Calendar – The Intergalactic Race
The advent calendar that is an Exit game and an adventure story in one. If they love escape rooms, they’ll love this!
What’s inside: Behind each door is a tiny 3D room containing a puzzle, the solution of which – day by day – brings you closer to rescue. Only by finding the solution can you move on to the next room, and only if you solve all 24 riddles will you make it onto the winner’s podium!
Cons: Brain games at 7am …
Our verdict: More engaging and interactive than most, this is a fun one to enjoy together
(And when you’re done sorting the teens, be sure to click HERE to go and see our similarly hand-selected best Advent Calendars for Grown Ups. Because YES, you deserve one too, dammit. And why shouldn’t yours contain gin, wine, posh chocolates or expensive beauty treats? It’s December, you’ll be earning it.)
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