Advent calendar for grown-ups: 24 gift ideas and a plan

Putting together an advent calendar for a grown-up is a different task to making one for a child. Gifts for grown-ups need to strike a balance between the practical and the quirky, and few people fancy 24 random knick-knacks with no connection between them. With a fixed plan for themes and budget, the process becomes both more fun to start and more enjoyable to unwrap.

This guide shows you how to build an advent calendar with 24 gifts spread across themes, without it becoming an expensive or overwhelming task. We'll cover planning, themes, specific gift types and how to tie it all together with the wrapping.

The short answer: how to put together 24 gifts for a grown-up

An advent calendar for a grown-up consists of 24 gifts, one for each day leading up to Christmas. The best approach is to make a plan first: choose a few fixed themes, set a budget per gift, and mix the useful, the sweet and the fun so the recipient doesn't work out the pattern too soon. It's more about structure than about hunting down 24 individual items at random.

The plan also makes the actual shopping easier, since you can shop within price ranges rather than hunting for individual products. Dims Studio has gifts sorted into the price ranges 1-200 DKK, 200-400 DKK, 400-600 DKK, 600-800 DKK, 800-1000 DKK and 1000-1500 DKK, which makes it simple to find something in the price bracket you've set aside for that particular day.

How to plan the calendar

Start by deciding on a budget per gift, so you don't end up spending most of it on the first ten days and stand empty-handed for the rest of December. A fixed amount for most days, for example in the 1-200 DKK range, makes it easy to keep track of the total spend, while you can save a few pricier gifts for special days.

Next, choose three to five themes that suit the recipient, and spread the days between them so there's variety throughout the calendar. Write a list with 24 lines, one for each day, and note down the theme and rough budget next to each date before you start shopping. That way you avoid buying too much of the same thing and forgetting other categories.

Save the best and slightly bigger gifts for the 1st, the 24th and the Sundays, when there's often more time to enjoy the gift. On the other weekdays, you can easily use the smaller, simpler gifts you'll find under 1-200 DKK.

Themes that make the calendar easy to fill

With fixed themes, shopping becomes easier, and the recipient experiences a common thread instead of 24 random things. Five themes that work well for a grown-up's advent calendar are:

• Cosiness: candles for the dark evenings
• Kitchen: mugs and dishes for everyday use
• Decorations: baubles for the tree
• Jewellery: one gift a week instead of every day
• Fun figures: something that makes the recipient smile

Under the cosiness theme, you can take a look at Candles and Candle holders, where you'll find candles and holders in several price ranges. LED candles in coral/blue from Rice come in a set of 2, which makes them ideal for splitting across two different days in the calendar. LED block candles from EJA come in several colour combinations, including green/purple/red, orange/pink/mint and red/purple/light blue, so you can vary the candle gifts throughout the calendar without repeating the same colour.

For the decoration theme, Christmas baubles work well, as they are small and easy to wrap as a single calendar gift.

Small gifts that fit in a calendar

Christmas baubles from Cody Foster and Kersten are small glass ornaments with fun designs and make an ideal calendar gift, because they're small, easy to wrap paper around and give the recipient something to hang on the tree along the way in December. Pink Barbie glass ornament from Cody Foster and Frida Kahlo glass ornament from Cody Foster are examples of designs with personality, while Boxed wine glass ornament from Cody Foster and Six-pack glass ornament from Kersten suit anyone who enjoys a gift mix with a wink in the eye.

Other good calendar gifts are cupboard knobs and hooks, which are small enough to fit in a box, but which the recipient can use around the home afterwards. Turtle hook in brass, small size, from Doing Goods, Shell cupboard knob from Doing Goods and Moon cupboard knob from Doing Goods are examples of this kind of detail. Mushroom salt and pepper set in ceramic from &Klevering belongs under the kitchen theme and fills a day with something that will actually be used at the table.

A piggy bank is another easy calendar gift, which works both as a fun detail and as something that gets properly used afterwards. Take a look at Piggy banks for more options. Many of these smaller gifts fall in the 1-200 DKK range, which makes them easy to spread across the calendar's 24 days without the budget running away with you.

Save a bigger gift for the 24th.

The 24th deserves a gift that stands out a bit from the rest, both in size and in price. Here you can choose something from one of the higher price ranges, for example 400-600 DKK or 600-800 DKK, depending on what you've set aside for the occasion. A piece of jewellery, a vase or a throw are classic choices for a final gift that feels like a highlight after the many smaller gifts in the calendar.

If you're unsure exactly what the recipient wants, a gift card can be a solution for that very last day. The gift card from Dims Studio comes in amounts of 100 DKK, 175 DKK, 250 DKK, 400 DKK, 500 DKK, 600 DKK, 1000 DKK and 1200 DKK, so there's a chance to hit exactly the level you've set aside for the 24th.

See more suggestions for the big gift under Gift ideas or Christmas gifts, if you want an overview of a wider selection before you decide.

Wrapping and presentation

Once all 24 gifts have been gathered, the last step is about turning the calendar into a complete experience. Number each parcel clearly from 1 to 24, so there's no doubt which day it belongs to. Use wrapping paper in a couple of fixed colours or patterns, so the calendar appears as a whole rather than 24 random wrapped parcels.

Tie each parcel with a string, and hang them along a wall, or place them in a bowl or basket, depending on how much space you have. If you'd like more concrete ideas for paper, ribbon and display, you can find inspiration in Wrapping paper and gift wrapping: Make the gift complete.

Summary

A gift calendar for adults works best when you plan themes and budget before you start shopping. Mix the useful, the sweet and the fun, save the biggest gifts for the 1st, the 24th and the Sundays, and tie it all together with matching wrapping and clear numbering.

Read also

• Christmas gift wishes: Inspiration for your wish list
• Christmas decorations with personality: How to build a unique Christmas collection
• How to create cosiness with candlelight
• Wrapping paper and gift wrapping: Make the gift complete