The WHY behind the Betsy Benn advent calendar

October 04, 2023

If you're sort of the same age as me, or maybe just a little younger, the advent calendars from your childhood were most likely a simple affair. Small, perforated cardboard windows that opened to reveal a wintery picture. A robin perhaps, or children playing in the snow. Chocolate didn't make an appearance in my advent calendar until possibly the last two my parents ever bought me. And then, poof, I was suddenly too old for all that joy?

I didn't give advents a second thought until I had my own child many years later and my oh my have advent calendars been given the reboot of the century! Think about it. Christmas dinner has remained largely the same, though possibly with a Jamie Oliver twist on the brussels sprouts. Christmas Crackers are essentially the same too. I'm pretty sure you COULD find a simple cardboard advent if you wanted one, but the humble advent calendar is now a mini adventure in gifting all on its own.

Boy, did I embrace this new advent(ure). Finding and giving the perfect gift fills us with indescribable joy. An advent calendar that presents the opportunity for 24 pockets of that joy? Sign me up! I'm here for it.

The first of the new world advent calendars I tried was from Hotel Chocolat. The chocolate, of course, was delicious, but after about 8 days I started feeling a little bored. It was just too much chocolate even for my chocoholic tastebuds. My husband had one too, and he's gluten free, so on some days he couldn't enjoy his chocolate at all and I'd end up with double. By the middle of the month I'd stopped opening the windows every day and my advent sat unloved on a shelf until one afternoon in late January when I'd finally had enough of helping the small one build the most complicated set of Lego in the world and polished off the lot in one sitting. Delightful - but not how it should have been.

Over the years I had similar experiences with advent calendars themed around gin, beauty, tea, stationery - it was all just a bit "samey". There were days when I'd open my advent and be delighted with my gift, and others when I'd feel kind of disappointed. Quite frankly, December mornings are already dark and cold, I only want to add things that bring joy and excitement, not a mild sense of "meh".

This started me on my journey to the DIY advent calendar. It became my mission every November to create the most perfect advent calendars for my family. One that reflected their likes and dislikes and not constrained by a theme. So there were mini finger torches, bath bombs, and gingerbread men for the small one. Artisan coffee, joke books, and miniature bottles of rum for the big one. Every day was a YAY.

Over the years we've created four different ways for our customers to create their version of the perfect advent calendar too. From balloons, to flying reindeer, to our oversized wooden letter advent hangers. More than anything we want everyone to experience the December full of YAY days. And we're absolutely still making our two best selling DIY advent calendar kits. 

But in 2023 we wanted to go one better. We've had so many wonderful customers ask us if we would "just make one for me" and we looked around to see if anyone was creating the kind of magic we wanted in our Decembers, and no one was meeting our expectations!

You deserve an advent calendar that is truly great. The kind you would make for someone you love, full of goodness and joy. We couldn't find it, so we created it.

The 2023 advent calendar was released in September for a strictly limited run of just 40 and we sold out. We're beyond excited now for the 1st December and the joy we know they will bring. Did you get one? This is pretty much all we can say about these beauties for now, but pop back in December to see videos each day of the contents.

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