Advent calendars for ourselves.

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Last year there was a post about "advent calendars" which instead of expensive treats was things like re- visiting a favourite piece of jewellery  or other simple treats,each day. I can't find the post. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Nelliegrace

Was this the one? @button_box

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6573788/a-very-mse-advent/p1

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That is the one! Many thanks @Nelligrace you are a star!

ButterCheese

Advent calendars seem to have got out of hand!  When we were kids in the 80's, we'd be excited to see what picture we would get every morning.  Now you can get ones with £1000 worth of high end cosmetics in.  I did buy my partner a yankee candle one some years ago, think it was about £40.  But never again.  The link above is a nice idea, let's normalise memories instead of expensive stuff

Brie

My personal favourite for a advent calendar spotted in (I think) Aldi a few years back was for the handy person.  Each day was a different drill bit and the big final present was the small electric drill.  All for just under £20 at the time.  

Meanwhile the reverse advent calendar list has been posted on the food bank thread......(shameless self promotion....)

The Foodbank Donation Thread - Page 15 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Flugelhorn

ButterCheese said:

Advent calendars seem to have got out of hand!  When we were kids in the 80's, we'd be excited to see what picture we would get every morning.  Now you can get ones with £1000 worth of high end cosmetics in.  I did buy my partner a yankee candle one some years ago, think it was about £40.  But never again.  The link above is a nice idea, let's normalise memories instead of expensive stuff

I agree - I use to get excited about the picture even though it was a rerun of last year as mother used to keep the advent calendars from year to year

Then came chocolate each day in my kids calendars - now, wow there is no end including an "emotional support advent calendar" with crocheted figures https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FT7YDVRC/?tag=yaptor01-21

Nelliegrace

If I was organised, I would do something for Advent with the tiny jam jars collected free, (with permission,) from the garden centre café.
Home made jams and marmalades and honeys, filled during the year.
Loose leaf herb and spiced teas, (a herbalist friend grows and dries many of her own.) Every year I mean to collect lime blossom from the park.
Dried fruits, apricots, cranberries, dates, figs, crystallised ginger, and nuts, a bit of marzipan when I do the cake. Just plain, from the baking aisle. Stuff we buy and use regularly. I could put out one a day, or a week's worth. An orange and a jar of cloves to start, to make a Christmas pomander. A tot of home made sloe or damson gin perhaps for Sundays.

button_box

Not"shameless self promotion"@Brie but a gentle reminder that some people need a helping hand at this time of excess. Our local foodbanks list foods for the reverse advent calendar without a lot of "treats". I try to slip some "treats" in as well because I don't want children to feel left out. A reminder too that the donation point for the toy banks are out in some shops now.
I remember the picture advent calendar that my Mum recycled every year @Flugelhorn. 
Lovely idea with the mini jam jars @Nelligrace. One year I made small boxes from  photocopied  handwritten recipes from my (long gone) Gran's & Mum's recipe note books and old Christmas cards for an advent calendar. I filled them with small treats for an elderly aunt of mine. I could have left out the treats she was much more taken with the boxes when she recognised the handwriting! So as @ButterCheese said "lets normalise memories instead of expensive stuff"

cornishchick

My late husband was given a drawer advent when he was younger. We used to buy a new ornament —a small Christmas ornament that reflected a moment from that year, e.g., a new home, a holiday. 
He passed before my granddaughter was born, I passed it on to her and  every year for the last 7 years I have brought things that reflect her life, put the year on the back or bottom and give it to her to put in the drawer advent. My plan is extra special ones for her 18th, 21st and th 25th , 

Rosa_Damascena

Flugelhorn said:

ButterCheese said:

Advent calendars seem to have got out of hand!  When we were kids in the 80's, we'd be excited to see what picture we would get every morning.  Now you can get ones with £1000 worth of high end cosmetics in.  I did buy my partner a yankee candle one some years ago, think it was about £40.  But never again.  The link above is a nice idea, let's normalise memories instead of expensive stuff

I agree - I use to get excited about the picture even though it was a rerun of last year as mother used to keep the advent calendars from year to year

Then came chocolate each day in my kids calendars - now, wow there is no end including an "emotional support advent calendar" with crocheted figures https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FT7YDVRC/?tag=yaptor01-21

I always wanted one, but never got one! But there was one every year in primary school and a different child would be allowed to open a window every morning. I bought my niece a wooden one when she was coming up to her second Christmas and fill it with goodies every year, to her it's no privilege.

Nelliegrace

I collect a bit of greenery every day on my walks in Advent, a sprig of holly, some ivy, red dogwood twigs, cotoneaster lacteris with evergreen leaves and lots of red berries which the birds ignore. A tiny bit of pruning of overgrown shrubs in the back lanes. By Christmas I have a vase full of greens and reds which takes the place of a messy or synthetic tree. I decorated it last year with a few dried slices of orange and lemon. It all goes in the garden waste recycling bin after Christmas. This was from 2023 when the council had hacked back the laurels leaving the waste.