Advent Calendar Tradition in the UK

Published October 24, 2026 · GiveOwl

An advent calendar counts down the days to Christmas, usually with 24 doors, bags or boxes. The idea is older than the cardboard calendar in the shops. This is what the sources can back up, and how to make a calendar of your own.

From chalk marks to chocolate

• 19th century: BBC News describes the calendar's "austere origins" in 19th-century Germany, where 24 chalk lines were rubbed off doors, one a day. In some Christian traditions, people have also marked the days of Advent by lighting candles.
• Chocolate was slow to arrive: A Nestlé archivist told the BBC that chocolate only became an affordable grocery item after the Second World War and rationing, and that linking chocolate to Advent would still have felt "a bit sacrilegious" in the 1960s.
• Cadbury: Cadbury says it launched its first advent calendar in 1971, made them the following year and again from 1978 to 1980, and has produced them every year since 1993.
• 1990s: The BBC reports that chocolate behind a door in a pretty picture was a style popularised in the 1990s. Since then the shelves have filled with calendars of every kind, from toys to beauty products.

Advent calendars 2026

• Advent begins on Sunday 29 November, but most calendars start on Tuesday 1 December and end on Thursday 24 December.
• Christmas Day is Friday 25 December.

Make your own advent calendar

Many families still make their own, with small treats chosen for the person who will open them. A simple way to do it:

1. Number 24 matching envelopes, paper bags or small boxes.
2. Put something small in each: a handwritten note, a puzzle, a family task, or a homemade treat (see Mince pies: history and a simple recipe for a recipe).
3. Peg them to string, tuck them in a drawer unit, or stack them in a box.

If you are including food, think about allergies and use-by dates. Anything with nuts needs to be clearly labelled for other people.

Online calendars and prize draws

Many brands open online advent calendars with a prize behind each door. We list the ones we have checked in Best advent calendar competitions 2026 (UK), and the wider list in Christmas competitions UK 2026: by prize type. We link to the organiser's own page, and you always enter there, never on GiveOwl.

Prefer to give one?

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🍫 Venchi UK (ad): chocolate advent calendars, gift boxes and panettone. We compare the calendars in chocolate advent calendars UK 2026 and chocolate gifts and advent calendars.