6/10/2023
For many in the UK, advent calendars are a cherished way of counting down the days to Christmas. Opening a small window every morning builds anticipation and excitement throughout the festive month. While the tradition is often meant for children, the UK has seen a rise in variations of the classic chocolate-filled calendar, hiding anything from toys to jewellery, alcohol, and even beauty products.
With so many different products stashed away in boxed compartments, which advent calendars will give you the best value for your money? To find out, we’ve looked at the most sought-after advent calendar of 2023. With beauty advent calendars coming out on top, we took it a bit further and uncovered which brands offer the best-valued calendar in this category of December countdowns.
(Some of the images contain product spoilers!)
The most popular advent calendar type
With so many different advent calendars, brands offer Christmas lovers a unique way to count down the days in December. Chocolate-filled calendars have a lot of competition, with calendars now carrying beauty products and toys to name a few. There are options out there to meet every taste and interest in the nation but which advent calendars are the most in demand?
Beauty Advent Calendars
With an average monthly search volume of 33,110, beauty advent calendars are crowned the most popular type of calendar in the UK. Adding a twist to the traditional chocolate calendar, beauty advent calendars give Christmas lovers that much more excitement during the lead-up to the big day. Beauty buffs can enjoy a range of products from their favourite brands, like The Body Shop and MAC.
Beauty calendars also offer a daily dose of self-care, providing a touch of luxury during the busy holiday season. Over the past few years, this type of advent calendar has gained popularity in the UK, particularly for those who love their cosmetics and skincare products. Social media hosts the pages of beauty influencers and celebrities who promote the beauty-themed calendars in the months before December. In the past, Victoria Beckham partnered with Charlotte Tilbury to promote the make-up artist’s calendar.
Chocolate Advent Calendars
Chocolate advent calendars are declared the second-most desired calendar of 2023, with an average search volume of 14,800 per month. This classic was made popular by the chocolate company, Cadbury, back in the 1970s. There is now a wide variety of companies, and not just the chocolate producers, that offer their own chocolate advent calendars.
Despite more and more brands jumping on the bandwagon of alternative calendars, it seems that there are still many who prefer waking up to chocolate every morning. Not only are the chocolate advent calendars more affordable than their fancy counterparts, but they also bring back the Christmas magic people experienced as children.
Jewellery Advent Calendars
Jewellery advent calendars add even more luxury to the Christmas season, which may explain why people seem so eager to buy them. These calendars are the third-most in-demand, with an average search volume of 6,600 per month. These calendars are also among those promoted by social media influencers in the lead-up to Christmas.
While jewellery advent calendars tend to only offer a 12-day countdown, the products are usually high-quality and make the perfect gift for those celebrating important occasions during the holidays, such as anniversaries. Some brands, such as Story of You and Posh Totty Designs, even allow buyers to personalise their calendars, choosing the metals and gemstones that best suit their loved ones.
The Best Value for Money Beauty Advent Calendars
With beauty advent calendars crowned as 2023’s most searched-for, we pulled together a list of brands that offer the best-valued advent calendars. We looked at the price of the advent calendars, the average price of the products (when bought with the calendar and bought separately) and the amount of savings shoppers will make when purchasing the calendars. Each metric was then scored on a scale of 1 to 10, and then averaged to determine the calendars’ total ranking score.
Harrods Beauty Advent Calendar
Christmas shoppers can save the highest amount of money on beauty products when they buy the Harrods Beauty Advent Calendar, sparing their bank accounts a total of £36.92 per item. From Kylie Cosmetics make-up to Elemis skincare products, there is no question that you’ll get your money’s worth with these luxury brands.
The Harrods Beauty Advent Calendar is priced at £250 and presents a total of 25 products worth a huge £1,173 combined. The average retail price per item comes to £46.92, which makes this an ideal gift for loved ones you want to spoil right up to Christmas day. The Harrods Beauty Advent Calendar also has seen a 4700% increase in Google searches over the past three months. This comes as no surprise when shoppers are saving a total of £923 through the calendar, rather than buying the products separately.
Harvey Nichols Beauty Advent Calendar
The luxury department store renowned for its beauty department gives shoppers the second-best valued advent calendar. Harvey Nichols provides the highest number of products (45) for a total of £250. Bought separately, the included items come to a total of £1,300.
Harvey Nichols shoppers will be saving £1,050 by buying the products in the calendar - the highest total among the best-valued beauty advent calendars. The calendar not only offers products from iconic brands, like Charlotte Tilbury, but also treatment vouchers from a selection of beauty experts. Overall, Christmas shoppers will only end up paying an average of £5.56 per product. If that wasn’t enough to give customers their money’s worth, the department store has also placed a £100 Havery Nichols gift card in one in every 50 advent calendars this year.
Selfridges Advent Calendar
It’s another London department store that rounds off the top three, with the Selfridges Advent Calendar providing shoppers with the third-best value for money calendar. This is partly due to the beauty products coming to an average of £6.67 each, which is incredible considering the retail price of the products comes to £1,094. Many people out there have thought the same thing, with the Selfridges Advent Calendar seeing a 1,340% increase in Google searches over the past three months.
Some of the high-end products include a 111Skin mask, Sam McKnight hair products and even a Selfridges Beauty Concierge gift card. Selfridges offers a total of 33 items for the price of £220 and Christmas shoppers will be saving a total of £874 by getting these products through the advent calendar. For any Selfridges lovers out there, online shoppers become iconic key holders on orders over £150, granting them access to exclusive invites, free shipping and monthly prizes.
Space NK Advent Calendar
The Space NK Advent Calendar, featuring a combination of full-size and mini products, stands out as one of the best in terms of overall value. Customers will essentially be paying an average of £7.58 per product. When compared with the £1,104 retail price of the 31 products, skincare lovers will be getting great value for their money. It’s no wonder when they’ll be waking up to a range of skincare essentials, from face masks to skin serums.
The Space NK Advent Calendar is slightly dearer than Selfridges’, coming to a total of £235, although there isn’t a lot of difference between the two in terms of value for money. There has, however, been more interest in the Space NK Advent Calendar over the past year, with the term seeing a 260% year-on-year increase in Google searches since 2022. Cosmetic addicts might want to get in quickly before they sell out!
Sephora Advent Calendar
The Sephora Advent Calendar is the fifth best valued among the brands, filled with Dove Gently Nourishing products and gifts. The average price per item will come to £5.25, granting Christmas shoppers £856 in savings by going through the calendar. This is a particularly good bargain for people who use Dove products all the time, as the advent calendar offers 36 products for the price of £189. If bought separately, the products’ retail price would come to a huge £1,045 overall!
The Sephora Advent Calendar has seen the highest year-on-year increase in Google searches (8,900%) and the second-highest increase over the past three months (3,708%). From head to toe, Dove Gently Nourishing provides everything a person needs to care for their bodies while they count down the days. These include shampoos, body washes, lotions and many more.
More beauty advent calendars to keep an eye on
A few might be keen to know that one of Queen Elizabeth II’s favoured brands has found its way among the best valued. The Fortnum and Mason Beauty Calendar provides 30 body and wellness treats at the average price of £8.67 each, down from a retail average of £34. That’s not too shabby for a royal favourite. On the other hand, the John Lewis and Look Fantastic advent calendars offer beauty products at lower average prices of £6.29 and £3.96 respectively.
Despite ranking ninth, the Revolution Advent Calendar comes at the third-lowest price (£48), while also offering one of the lowest average product prices (£1.92). What makes Revolution even more interesting is the fact that the brand has 5 available advent calendars for shoppers to choose from. The popular high street retailer, Next, rounds out the top ten of best-valued advent calendars. The calendar offers beauty products at the low average price of £3.80 each; astonishingly these same products would set shoppers back £355 if they were to buy each item at its full retail price.
Conclusion
Whether you’re someone who enjoys a little pampering or knows someone who does, there are plenty of savings to be made with this year’s beauty advent calendars. With trusted brands offering such highly desired products, you’ll be sure to get the best for your money. Now you know the savings you can make in the lead-up to Christmas, will you opt for the best-valued advent calendar, or take the opportunity to indulge in a bit of luxury?
Tables
| Rank | Advent Calendar | Average Monthly Search Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beauty Advent Calendar | 33,100 |
| 2 | Chocolate Advent Calendar | 14,800 |
| 3 | Jewellery Advent Calendar | 6,600 |
| 4 | Beer Advent Calendar | 5,400 |
| 5 | Cheese Advent Calendar | 5,400 |
| 6 | Toy Advent Calendar | 4,400 |
| 7 | Candle Advent Calendar | 3,600 |
| 8 | Coffee Advent Calendar | 3,600 |
| 9 | Tea Advent Calendar | 3,600 |
| 10 | Wine Advent Calendar | 3,600 |
| Rank | Beauty Advent Calendar | Advent Calendar Price | Number of Products | Number of Advent Calendars Available from the Brand | Combined Price of Products if Bought Separately | Average Price per Item (Calendar Price) | Average Price per Item (Retail Price) | Total Savings; Calendar vs Retail | Per Item Savings; Calendar vs Retail |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrods | £250 | 25 | 2 | £1,173.00 | £10.00 | £46.92 | £923.00 | £36.92 |
| 2 | Harvey Nichols | £250 | 45 | 1 | £1,300.00 | £5.56 | £28.89 | £1,050.00 | £23.33 |
| 3 | Selfridges | £220 | 33 | 1 | £1,094.00 | £6.67 | £33.19 | £874.00 | £26.48 |
| 4 | Space NK | £235.00 | 31 | 1 | £1,104.50 | £7.58 | £35.63 | £869.50 | £28.05 |
| 5 | Sephora | £186.00 | 36 | 1 | £1,045.00 | £5.25 | £29.03 | £856.00 | £23.78 |
| 6 | Fortnum & Mason | £260.00 | 30 | 1 | £1,020.00 | £8.67 | £34.00 | £760.00 | £25.33 |
| 7 | John Lewis | £195.00 | 31 | 1 | £921.42 | £6.29 | £29.72 | £726.42 | £23.43 |
| 8 | LookFantastic | £99.00 | 25 | 1 | £565.00 | £3.96 | £22.60 | £466.00 | £18.64 |
| 9 | Revolution | £48.00 | 25 | 5 | £96.00 | £1.92 | £3.84 | £48.00 | £1.92 |
| 10 | Next | £95.00 | 25 | 2 | £355.00 | £3.80 | £14.20 | £260.00 | £10.40 |
Sources & Methodology
To find out the most popular types of advent calendars and most popular beauty calendars in the UK, Savoo pulled calendars from two seedlists (Hello! Magazine & Cosmopolitan). They used the Google Keyword Planner tool to uncover the calendars with the highest monthly search volumes (Location: United Kingdom; Timeframe: Last 12 months Sept 2022 - Aug 2023).
To determine the beauty calendars with the best value for money, the price of the calendars was taken from sellers’ websites, including total worth if given (unless stated otherwise in the sources below). The list of sellers’ websites can be found here: Data Sheet
If the brand offers multiple advent calendars, the calendar with 24 days or more, or the most expensive/premium version of the 24-day-editions, is used for analysis.
The number of available calendars is based on the number of calendars from the brand itself. Third-party calendars sold by this brand are not included in this count. Further calculations include:
- Total savings when buying calendar: worth minus the price of the calendar
- Average savings per item: total savings divided by the number of items in the calendar
- The average price you pay per item when buying the calendar: the price of the calendar divided by the number of items in the calendar
- Average value per item in the calendar: total value of the calendar divided by the number of items in the calendar
The data was pulled on 13/09/2023.