As the festive season nears, shoppers have an almost endless range of advent calendars to choose from, offering nearly every item imaginable behind the cardboard doors from the classic chocolates to designer perfumes, jewellery and even shoes. While many brands say their calendars hold more valuable items than their price tags, trend expert Nick Drewe is putting these claims to the test.
Scrutinising some of the top calendars, and the value of the items claimed inside, the Wethrift expert highlighted some of the best investments you can make this holiday season – and pointed out the calendars that are stretching their figures. He shared: “Those who enjoy the novelty and experience of advent calendars, beauty, skincare, and fragrance calendars can be worth it. However, doing research on the contents and deciding whether you would buy these products separately is a good way to ensure you are getting true value.”
Selfridges
The iconic department store offers a range of advent calendars usually led by their beauty and skincare calendar going for £250 and claiming to hold £1,000 worth in 38 products including a £45 Beauty Concierge Card. Despite the seemingly absurd values, Nick found the advent calendar is underselling itself and is actually worth £1,067.54 with the most expensive item being the Murad Retinol Youth Renewal Serum, which retails at £69.
No7
The high quality skincare brand offers an advent calendar for £175 claiming to be filled with full-sized products worth £514.39. But once again, the expert’s analysis found the beauty brand was underselling itself with a total value of £524.75. The most expensive product was found to be the No7 Labs Line Correcting Booster Serum, which retails for £44.95.
The Fragrance Shop
The perfumery provides festive calendars for £120, or £96 for Fragrance Shop members, and claims the value of the scents inside is around £514. Nick’s analysis found the total value of both the full-sized and miniature bottles sat at £399.37, still cementing it as an incredible investment but also far lower than the advertised worth,
However, the expert did highlight that it is slightly more difficult to gauge the actual total cost of perfume advent calendars due to the differing sizes. Many brands do not sell their travel or minitiature editions directly to customers, which means they’re exact retail value is unknown and leaves experts looking at estimates rather than factual prices.
Explaining how to really get your money’s worth out of advent calendars, the shopping expert encouraged Brits to seek out calendars labelled “Hero” or “Full-sized” as this will ensure each door holds a full-sized item rather than miniature or travel editions or products
Additionally, if a calendar has “exclusive items” this can become especially desirable or valuable to fans or specific brands. However, Nick noted: “If you’re unlikely to use most of the items, you might consider an alternative or create a DIY advent calendar.”