- LEGO’s advent calendars are now available for pre-order.
- Pre-ordered calendars will ship on September 1.
- There are five themes available.
I am not one to celebrate holidays out of season. I’ve not yet succumbed to a Summerween or a Christmas in July. To me, what makes the holidays special is that they come only for a brief sprint of time each year and then are gone until the next. Trying to spread them out feels like cheating.
Where I do allow a little leeway, though, is when it comes to advent calendars. In my home, we lock them down early. And yes, it’s “them,” plural—each member of my family gets their own calendar to open each day, and then maybe there are a couple of extras that we open together. I admit, this may be overkill. But this is all just to say that we take our advent calendars very seriously, and we know that it’s better to buy them in back-to-school season and stick them in a closet than go scrambling to see what’s left over in November.
Every summer, we look forward to the announcement of the LEGO advent calendars. This year, LEGO is offering five different varieties: Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Princesses, City, and Friends. They retail for between $35 and $45, depending on which one you get. Some are for builders ages 5+, but most are for 6 and up.
To me, the most exciting one is the Marvel advent calendar. It’s the most perfectly timed: Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, so fans will still be opening the doors to the calendar throughout the movie’s opening weekend. It also comes with minifigures from across the Marvel universe, including Spider-Man (who has a new film out right now that Marvel fans are excited about), Iron Man, Dr. Doom, Ghost Spider, Captain America, and Wolverine.
For non-Marvel fans, though, there are still plenty of LEGO advent calendar options. The Star Wars one is perfect for families that went to see The Mandalorian and Grogu this year, since it has Mando’s iconic ships like the N-1 Starfighter and the Razor Crest. But it also has little Grogu in a holiday sweater, which might be the best minifig of them all.
The Disney Princess advent calendar is similarly loaded up with favorite characters, both human and animal. It comes with Ariel, Sebastian, Cinderella, Gus, Moana, Pua, Mulan, and Mushu. But in addition to opening the doors and completing the mini builds each day, this one’s box also functions as the board for a playable board game—hopefully one that’ll keep kids entertained as they wait for the big day to arrive.
And then for families looking for LEGO calendars that don’t have a big-screen tie-in, the LEGO City and LEGO Friends sets are full of wintry goodness. The City set is a Santa’s workshop scene with Santa, Mrs. Claus, and three elves, while Friends focuses on fun cold-weather activities like sleigh rides and snowball fights.
My one piece of advice as an advent-calendar aficionado would be to take a page from my family’s book and buy as early as possible, since these tend to sell out! They’re available for pre-order now, and will ship out on September 1. That seems soon, but Christmas will be here before you know it!
