Souped-up Advent calendars are here to stay this holiday season, with just about every big player in food and beverage getting in on the trend.
Experts say there’s a mix of factors at play as for their rise in popularity: little treats and micro indulgences in an expensive world, the idea of “saving big” on high-value bundles, and the sensory satisfaction of unboxing 25(ish) little boxes leading up to Christmas.
“There’s something so special about having a small treat to look forward to each day,” Sockerbit Scandinavian candy founders Florence Baras and Stefan Ernberg said in a statement. Sockerbit is one of several newbies to the food Advent calendar space this year (and one of our new faves).
Advent Center, a hub for data and reviews for thousands of Advent calendars globally, says there are around 250 food and drink calendars on the market this year. The category makes up about a third of the 2026 calendars it lists.
Max Zeshut, Advent Center’s founder, said food and drink calendars work well because they’re a cheaper, noncommittal entry point into the ritual, compared to, for instance, a beauty box. And for all the new and zany iterations out there, chocolate calendars remain an anchor.
Broadly, the global Advent calendar market is anticipated to grow from $1.32 billion in 2024 to $2.47 billion by 2033, according to research compiled by Accio, a B2B platform. Food and drink calendars hold a huge share of that, with the help of mainstays like Bonne Maman, whose annual calendars have inspired “Jamvent” fan groups for a decade, alongside newcomers that announced inaugural calendars this season.
“As a small team, we try to be very conscious of the operational demands of every product launch,” Fishwife CEO and co-founder Becca Millstein told Bon Appétit. “Still, the demand [for calendars] grew too loud to ignore, so we decided to go for it.”
Millstein cited Fishwife’s success in the online gifting space as motivation to launch a calendar this year. Fishwife’s includes 12 doors of tinned fish and extras, retailing for $150. The company said the calendar’s “elements of surprise and delight” drives chatter and user-generated content on social media.
“In the end, we simply had to do it,” Millstein said.
When the Sichuan condiment company Fly By Jing’s Advent calendar launched in 2024, it sold out in about a month. That’s when founder Jing Gao knew the brand was onto something.
Gao said that 65% of its Advent calendars were purchased by new customers this year and that historically, 20% of customers who purchase a calendar go on to make another Fly By Jing purchase by the end of the year.
“To me, that really speaks to the power of discovery and giving people a chance to explore our flavors in a fun, unexpected way,” Gao said. “We never want that sense of discovery to go away, even for people who have been with us from the beginning. It's become such a fun creative outlet for our team. I think that joy really comes through in the experience.”
The stewards at Onyx Coffee Lab in Arkansas describe a similar phenomenon. “There's so much storytelling, education, and human connection surrounding coffee, and Advent gives us a unique opportunity to explore those things in ways that might not make sense within our everyday offerings,” Onyx’s co-founder Andrea Allen said. Their box features 24 different coffees, each a 56-gram package of whole beans that are roasted on a schedule for peak brewing by their respective reveal day.
At Bonne Maman, Advent calendar planning starts two years in advance. The development team pays close attention to seasonal ingredients and market trends to produce 24 limited-edition jams and spreads made just for the calendar. The result sells out every year, with production growing by 400% since 2017, according to a spokesperson. This year will mark 10 years of the Bonne Maman Advent calendar.
“We’re grateful to the fans who have made it part of their holidays,” a company spokesperson said. “On social media, we see everything from matcha pairings and coffee creations to new takes on toast, along with plenty of flavor-by-flavor reviews. Many fans also write to us to tell us which flavor they loved most. It helps us decide which flavors should return or come in larger sizes.”
Have we stretched Advent calendar hype to its absolute limits? Advent Center’s Zeshut says no.
“The clearest sign of demand is that people search for calendars that don't exist,” he said. “There's no official Monster Energy calendar this year, and 'monster Advent calendar' is still one of the most searched terms that brings people to our site,” he said. “I don't think we've reached peak calendar, but we may have reached peak chocolate.”