LEGO advent calendars are terrific for a particular kind of collector

It won’t be long until those jingle bells start ringing. And that means LEGO advent calendars, which is good news for a specific group of LEGO fans.

LEGO advent calendars are a great way to spread seasonal joy right though December. Or just one day in September if you’re the sort that likes to buy them early and open them straight away. For the more traditionally minded, it means an inventive little micro build every day for nearly four weeks, as gradually the Christmassy scene grows and grows.

For the savvy LEGO collector with an eye on price per piece ratios, a calendar, which typically contains around 300 pieces give or take, doesn’t seem like great value.  The City and Friends sets retail at £21.99, while the licensed calendars – Star Wars, Harry Potter and new for this year, Guardians of the Galaxy, are a little more, at £29.99. But that’s not the whole story.

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For the minifigure collector – and there are a lot of them out there – LEGO advent calendars are a gold mine. This year, the CITY, Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy each contain six minifigures. Agreed, the Friends set only contains four (five if you include the reindeer), but the Harry Potter set makes up for it by including seven. Arguably seven and a half. If you don’t know what we mean, we’re not going to spoil it for you.

So why is this a big deal? Well so far this year, the LEGO Group has released 36 sets that contained six or more minifigures. (There were a couple more, but we’re only counting sets that were widely available.) Of those, 15 cost more than £100 and almost all the remainder were over £50. The only set that came close to the price of an advent calendar was 75342 Republic Fighter Tank, which cost £34.99 for a 262 piece set with six minifigures.

So you may look at the calendars and think that it’s a disposable box with just a few handfuls of tiny elements and thus not worth your time. But if you collect minifigures – and don’t forget that many of the designs are unique to the calendars – then they’re a must have when the season of goodwill rolls around. And of course: LEGO is better for your teeth than chocolate too!

41706 Friends Advent Calendar and 60352 CITY Advent Calendar both cost £21.99 / $34.99 / €24.99. 75340 Star Wars Advent Calendar, 76231 Guardians of the Galaxy Advent Calendar and 76404 Harry Potter Advent Calendar all cost £29.99 / $44.99 / €34.99. All will be available from September 1, 2022.

Click here to read more about our stance on LEGO Harry Potter, and consider donating to charities that support transgender people, such as Mermaids and Stonewall.