The Chocolate Advent Calendar is seen as an essential part of the run up to Christmas. Each day children can open a new window on their advent calendar and get a piece of chocolate from behind the door. Whether you let your child open it before school in the mornings or after you’ll certainly have a lot of fun with them watching them countdown the days to Christmas.

The advent calendar has it’s origins like so many of the UK’s Christmas traditions back in the 19th century amid the Victorian Era. Originally it would have been a simple way of just marking off the days until Christmas and later it came about as a printed version by a man called Gerhard Lang. The idea for including chocolate would have come later.

There are so many different types of calendar available featuring from characters the kids will know and adore from their favourite TV shows to posher ones from places like Hotel Chocolat, where the grown ups might want their own advent calendar from.

Opening a calendar door each day is a special way of marking the passage of December through to the most important day of the year for most kids! Christmas day can then be celebrated – often by opening a last special window on the calendar or by a bigger piece of chocolate.

Chocolate advent calendars provide an introduction to counting days for younger children and encourages an awareness of time – also helping to teach patience. The virtues of advent calendars are many – and you can buy one or if you’re feeling creative you could even make your own!