Once the preserve of children, environmental groups are increasingly drawing attention to the adult Advent calendar trend for fuelling unnecessary consumption while generating packaging waste.
The Finnish Nature Association has noted the arrival of adult versions in Finland in recent years. At the same time, even children's calendars have grown more elaborate than they were not long ago.
Tuuli Hongisto, a spokesperson for the association, said they generally encourage people to avoid buying things they don't actually need.
"The end of the year in Finland has become a three-month overconsumption festival," Hongisto told Yle News, noting that shops start stocking plastic Halloween items in early autumn.
"That consumerist nightmare culminates with Black Friday, and continues through December," she pointed out.
The Nature Association encourages people to focus on non-material gifts this holiday season.
Why not make your own calendar in the run-up to Christmas?
"Give something that doesn't require buying anything new: a walk together in nature, a shared experience, or even mend something for someone," Hongisto suggested. "Get something second hand."
Counting down the days
These days, even those with only a passing connection to Jesus Christ are nonetheless spending December counting down the days to his birthday.
So what, exactly, does a consumer get for their money when buying an Advent calendar?
Yle dissected a range of pricier adult calendars, which contained everything from chocolate and coffee to everyday cosmetics and, in one case, tools.
To help assess the value on offer, Yle enlisted Samuel Piha, a consumer research and marketing expert at the University of Turku.
1. Lindt Advent calendar Christmas tradition
253g €36.90
Samuel Piha noted that the price of this chocolate Advent calendar is rather steep. In this case, the cost of the chocolate comes to roughly 145 euros per kilo.
"If you benchmark that against an ordinary box of chocolates, where the price per kilo is around 20–25 euros, you would expect quite a lot in return when the chocolate is this expensive," he said.
While not every daily surprise needs to elicit a wow, Piha said he considers the target audience something of a puzzle.
"Perhaps the target group is those with more traditional tastes, possibly older age groups, but it is hard to say. It can also be a safe, uncomplicated gift when the giver does not really know the recipient," Piha noted.
To his eye, the bright-red calendar, adorned with wooden toy horses, has a distinctly conservative look.
2. Burg 2025 Coffee Advent calendar
24 x 15g €29.90 on sale, from the RRP of €39.90.
Piha calculated that if the calendar costs 30 euros and contains 360 grams of coffee, the kilo price comes to 83 euros. As with the chocolate calendar, the margins are hefty.
"That is a substantial sum compared, for instance, with Juhla Mokka filter coffee, which comes in at around 20 euros per kilo, even after recent price increases," he said.
Reading the German-language description, Piha wondered whether the product is primarily aimed at the German market. The imagery, a Christmas bauble reflecting a romanticised winter scene, does little to evoke a Nordic Christmas, he added.
The intended buyer is again somewhat elusive.
"A coffee calendar like this might be best suited to a true aficionado, someone who genuinely revels in the ritual. But this doesn't really create the impression of something refined or special," Piha said.
Even the sachets themselves are a utilitarian grey.
He did, however, praise the calendar's satisfyingly crisp opening mechanism.
3. Nivea Advent Calendar 2025
€59.90
At 60 euros, the cosmetics calendar is pricier, but Piha noted that its margins are unlikely to be as generous as those on chocolate or coffee calendars.
"If the calendar contains 24 different cosmetic products — and cosmetics are not cheap — I suspect it may even be sold at a slight loss," Piha said.
But that may not even matter. The daily surprises introduce consumers to new products, meaning the aim is not necessarily to make a profit.
In the cosmetics sector, the target audience is generally female. Yet this particular calendar does not seem to court any gender in particular.
4. Makita 2025 Christmas Calendar
€99
The tool calendar, which costs nearly 100 euros, sparked Piha's enthusiasm.
"It's wildly counterintuitive. A tool theme is hardly the first thing one associates with an Advent calendar. The product developers have clearly been innovative and bold in trying something like this," Piha said.
He praised the design, which mimics a real toolbox.
"There isn't the same sense of pressure to put out a calendar simply because everyone else is doing so, as is perhaps the case with many other products," Piha says.
If the calendar has been on sale since early November, Father's Day may well be an important market, he adds. Still, he is not convinced it will easily find its audience.
"I doubt people would buy something like this for themselves."
After opening a few doors, he finds himself wanting to open more. The element of surprise works, delivering multiple moments of delight.
