Count down to Christmas in style by the Coupon Detective!
For many years we have all enjoyed the advent calendar count down to Christmas. I am still old enough to remember when there were advent calendars without chocolate in them….I know, what were we thinking?
Nowadays the shelves are crammed with various chocolate filled advent calendars before the trick or treaters have even knocked on the door. Then the luxury ones come out, Thornton’s and Lindt cottoned onto the idea and now we have calendars that adults can enjoy (secretly we had been dipping into the kids ones for years) but now it seems the other industries have turned round and said, why not us? Hence this year the market is flooded with everything from: cosmetics to Lego, nail varnish to candles all with 24 little surprises on the build up to Christmas.
So how extravagant are we talking here?
Well the most expensive beauty calendar I have found so far that’s available to the public (and I’m not saying It’s the most expensive but I can’t find dearer one) is this DIPTYQUE advent calendar which is an eye-watering .. £250, no I haven’t missed a decimal point that’s right £250, from Diptyque (I had never heard of them) and sold in Miss Selfridge, this box of candles, lotions and fragrances from what is apparently a really well-known brand!! Will set you back more than some people spend on their whole Christmas. I need a sit down and a shot of something after the very thought of spending that in something designed to lead up to Christmas.
That leads me on to the next calendar, the Drinks by the dram Whiskey advent calendar, a different shot of whiskey every day, a whole 3cl of it, and it’s not even all single malt!!! At a whole £175 it’s a bargain compared to the one above. They do say it’s a well presented case so you can fill them up again, for that price I could get a few bottles of really nice single malt and have a proper drink every night till new year. And where can this miniature wonder to be found, here at Harvey Nichols. If you’re not a scotch fan, other alcohols are available.
The next most elaborate calendar is at Fortnum and Mason with a whopping £125, what’s it full of? Gold, diamonds? No sweets! But apparently as it’s a really nice box that you can use again and again then it’s well worth the money. I’ll let you decide, take a look here!
A little below the giddy £100 mark now, how about a spot of tea, that’s right tea. Again we’re back to Fortnum and mason for £90, so posh tea every morning is what you’re thinking…nope. The last word just at the end after your still reeling from the £90 price tag for this nicely painted box is the word, unfilled. That’s right it’s just the box, you have to buy the tea separately and stuff it in there yourself. You can buy the filled version too, but then were back up to £125…for tea!!! I can get an 80 pack of pg tips extra strong for £1, or if I am feeling posh, Twinning’s for £2.30.
Back to reality a bit more now with some calendars that are a little bit more within most peoples price range, one of the most popular ones this year, and we know this because it’s sold out again online ( I think it’s the 3rd time now) is the marks and spencer beauty calendar. This has £200 worth of full size beauty products in it and costs only £25. The small catch is you have to spend £25 on other things in order to qualify for that price, but even with the £50 you would have to spend you get a hell of a bang for your buck. Although once again sold out online there are still some in store you can snap up if you want to.
Sticking with the pampering theme the body shop, a popular name in many households has a very popular calendar out at the moment. It retails at £60 but with some of the on-line codes that they promote there are ways and means of getting it for £36 (enter the code they show you when you go to the site). With a wide selection of goods, including body butters and shower gels the cost of the goods of the individually would be vastly in excess of this so if you are a regular customer or just fancy a nice treat then this is great, again in and out of stock you will be lucky if you ca grab one to order.
A smidge below this and with a nice twist on the beauty theme is from Boots. One of the first to do the beauty calendar this number 7 collection is proving popular again. If bought individually the items would put you back £148 so over £100 in savings here, your best bet is to grab one in store as you have guessed it they are in and out of stock online.
Another firm favourite is the Yankee candle advent calendar there are several different ones available from carousels to houses, each has a small tea light in for one of 7 different scents. These do smell amazing and it’s great for those who aren’t in to cosmetics or lotions and potions. This one for example is only £20 in Boots, so for Yankee that’s not a bad deal at all plus you can either earn or spend your Boots points.
Coming down to the other end of the scale for grown up advent colanders is the last of my selection £5 from Wilko it’s a nice treat that won’t break the bank proving popular with it’s cheap and cheerful selection aimed at everything you need for lovely nails this Christmas.
Of course there is nothing wrong with a nice square of chocolate with your morning coffee and for £1 in most stores these are a nice way of counting down, as if we need any help to remind us how little time we still have left before the big day.
