25 Best Advent Calendars for Teens Who Just Can't Wait for Christmas
Beauty products, pop-culture trinkets and snacks — all failproof things teens love.
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Teens may seem all grown up — but when it comes to presents, they definitely like to indulge their kiddie sides. This includes delighting in little treats, like opening a little something every day to make the wait between December 1 and Christmas seem a little less long.
When it comes to finding the best advent calendars for teens though, not any grocery-store chocolate will do. They love it when they get something that aligns with their interests, be it beauty products, their favorite pop culture merch or collectible surprise toys. (I'm a parent, I know). Our list below includes best-sellers and GH reader favorites for even the pickiest teens.
With this this escape-room-style advent calendar, they'll have to solve a puzzle that'll tell them which door to open for the next day. If they enjoy it, you can get them more Exit: The Game sets for their stockings.
Some kids turn into teens without outgrowing their plush phase. These adorable plushies are meant to give some emotional support — squeeze when you feel stressed! — and when all the doors are open, they'll have five each of pizza plushes, chicken nuggets, reindeer, fries and trees, all with different expressions.
For teens who want to express their styles for the holidays. this advent calendar will give them beauty items to experiment with. They'll get some makeup, tools and accessories from beauty brand Popfeel.
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They can never have too much ChapStick, and this advent calendar will refill their stash with lip balms in flavors like sugar cookie and candy cane. They're much-needed on cold, winter days!
No one told them life was going to be this way — fun and filled with Friends re-runs. With this set, they'll get 12 beauty-related treats like hand creams, bath fizzes and lip balms with Friends-themed packaging, like lotion with Central Perk packaging or body wash in a bottle that says, "How you doin'?"
These Cadbury chocolates are filled with 24 different candies from across the pond, including Wispas, Twirls and Dairy Milk bars.
My Hero Academia: The Ultimate Advent Calendar
Anime fans will thrill to this advent calendar, which offers pins, magnets and other keepsakes related to My Hero Academia. And if you're looking for something similar for other teens on your list, the publisher does similar advent calendars for a ton of teen faves, including Elf, Fallout, Dragon Ball Z, Home Alone, Batman, Marvel, Star Wars and Harry Potter.
For teens who like building and love to play games, this calendar is just the trick. Each day offers a new electronic component, which teens can use to build their own retro games, Whack A Mole, Ping Pong, Code Breaker.
Whether they believe in the healing power of crystals or just want to add new specimens to their rock collections, this advent calendar comes with 24 rocks, gems and crystals, and even a necklace. It also comes with information about the properties of each type of stone.
This bath set comes with different, trial size hand lotions in fun holiday scents. They're the perfect size for stashing in backpacks, purses or a locker.
If there's one thing little kids, big kids and teens can all agree on, it's that fidget toys are the best for busy hands. (And maybe you have a few stashed away for yourself, too?) This advent calendar gives kids 24 items to squeeze, twist, pop and twirl when they need some place to direct their restless energies.
Amazing Magic Advent Calendar
They say a magician never reveals their tricks, but this advent calendar will do it for them. Each day offers a new magic trick to try, so when the month is over they'll have a little repertoire of card tricks, "mind reading" tricks and sleight-of-hand magic under their belts.
If they don't need a lot of stuff and just want a fun way to count down the days, this calendar is a pop-up tree, and every day one of the presents unfolds to reveal a different ornament for it. As the month goes on, the pile of presents transforms into a lush tree with decorations like house crests and pictures of favorite characters.
This year's LEGO Star Wars advent calendar is sure to please longtime LEGO fans, because it includes mini builds of some of fans' favorite Star Wars-themed LEGO sets. And if that isn't enough for a LEGO fan in your life, there's also a LEGO Spider-Man, LEGO Disney and LEGO Harry Potter advent calendar out as well.
When they're just looking for a little pick-me-up every day, they can enjoy 24 different squishy toys. Some of them are seasonal, and will help their desks look ready for the holidays, and others are just adorable.
When they finished opening all the goodies in this advent calendar, they'll have everything they need to do their own at-home gel manicures, including prep pads, an LED light, top coat and remover. They'll also get six different gel nail polishes and holiday-themed nail stickers.
While this advent calendar doesn't choose the books for them, it'll help them lean into the hygge with items for readers like a winter reading bingo card, a magnetic page-clip bookmark, book tags and more.
Teens who use The Office as a comfort watch can get different, two-inch "pocket pops" of their favorite characters in this advent calendar. Or, if they're not into The Office, Funko also has pocket-pop calendars for Five Nights at Freddy's, DC Super Heroes, Marvel, Star Wars and Hasbro Games, among others.
If Jack Frost nips at their noses all December long, give them a way to fight back. This one comes with 12 luscious hot chocolate packets in different flavors, like peppermint, hazelnut and salted caramel. Don't forget to add your own mini marshmallows.
No, their love of squishing things around in their hands didn't end with Play-Doh. Indulge their urge to squash, sniff and mold with this advent calendar, which offers 12 different small tins of putty. Some of them even have seasonal scents, like pumpkin pie, festive wreath, frosted cookie or even fruitcake.
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
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