From popcorn to tea, from flapjacks to rum, here are the best food and drink advent calendars for 2023.
Countdown to Christmas in style with one of these indulgent calendars full of delicious produce that is sure to get you into the festive spirit. From Biscuiteers to Hotel Chocolate, I've compiled a list of the best of the best for this year - including a range of brands that proved very popular last year and some newbies too.
Advent calendars have been popular since the 1950s as a way to count down to Christmas Day. Traditionally, they've been simple in design, with a solo chocolate square hidden behind paper doors or windows. However, in recent years, they’ve been given an indulgent makeover with everything from truffles to pralines to biscuits, cakes, and even booze.
With my expertise, which is over 10 years as a food writer and editor, and my keen eye for quality when it comes to food, I have compiled a list of the best food and drink advent calendars; some of which I have tried and tested firsthand and others I have chosen because I adore the brand or have had the pleasure of reviewing their produce in the past. So without further ado, for those of you wanting to shy away from the best chocolate advent calendars this year, I give you the food and drink advent favourites.
Where to buy the best food and drink advent calendars
- Amazon: A great selection of budget advent calendars from a variety of brands
- Fortnum & Mason: Indulgent food and drink advent calendars for 2022
- Selfridges: Food, drink, and even toy advent calendars for this year
- Ocado: Add one of these must-have advent calendars to your shopping basket
- Hotel Chocolat: Luxury chocolate calendars as well as The Grand Advent calendar
Best food and drink advent calendars for 2023
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RRP: £30 | Delivery: Standard/Next day | Available: Now
This delightful advent calendar contains 24 packs of handmade gourmet popcorn by award-winning brand Joe & Seph's (Great Taste Awards from The Guild of Fine Food). The popcorn flavours for 2023 include banoffee pie popcorn, Bucks Fizz popcorn, caramel, chocolate, and more. Alongside tucking into the 14 best flavours from Joe & Seph’s you can also have a crack at the illustrated novelty puzzle to find Joe. This calendar was also a popular choice last year among vegans and a great gluten-free option too. Oh, and you'll be glad to know that you get a mini packet of popcorn behind each door, not just one piece which sold it even more for me, right?
RRP: £29.90 | Delivery: Standard/Next day | Available: Now
For those who love a preserve, this advent calendar is brimmed with a variety of popular Tiptree jams including strawberry, raspberry, apricot, blackcurrant, and more. The perfect accompaniment to your morning slice of toast or festive scone at the weekend. And the great thing about jam is that it has a lengthy use-by date so if you don't get through all 24 jars in the lead-up to Christmas, you'll have them to enjoy after. I'm a big fan of Tiptree, I think they produce some truly delicious jams. It's a great calendar for trying a variety of jams in one go too. It was a favourite last year, and it's a favourite for me this year.
RRP: £52 | Delivery: Standard/Nominated day | Available: Coming soon
Now I'm not joking when I say these were some of the best, and I mean BEST, flapjacks I've ever tasted and I have tasted a lot of flapjacks over the years. Handmade in Devon, this food advent calendar contains 24 wrapped half pieces of flapjack that come in flavours like Christmas Orange Flapjack, Burnt Caramel & Sea Salt Flapjack, and Billionaires Flapjack (a personal favourite of mine!) and taste exactly as they are named. Available in either a box individually wrapped with numbers or you can upgrade and purchase with velvet numbered advent bags - the choice is yours. Buttery, soft, crumbly, moreish... I want one now!
RRP: £75 | Delivery: Standard/Next day | Available: Now
I had the pleasure of indulging in this impressive advent calendar from Hotel Chocolat last year and my gosh was it a winner. It's a large calendar that's ideal for sharing with the whole gang. Hotel Chocolat's Grand Advent calendar is bursting with some of the best Hotel Chocolat produce including chocolate such as caramel supernova, Christmas mess, simple milk bauble not to mention chocolate slabs, chocolate cream, salted caramel vodka (my favourite!), cacao gin, hot chocolate sachets to name a few. There's a surprise behind each door including Hotel Chocolat's ever-so-popular praline crackers.
RRP: £100 | Delivery: Standard | Available: Now
Countdown 12 days of Christmas with this festive advent calendar full of sweet and savoury biscuits, preserves, hot drinks, and more. The best thing about this calendar is that even though it's only 12 days of food and drink, each product you get in a sliding draw is a standard-sized tin, box, or jar - so you could start your countdown on the 1st of December and enjoy all the goodies well into the month. I just adore Cartwright & Butler's range and this year the smooth chocolate-covered raisins, sweet chocolate fudge, and sticky peanut and popcorn brittle were big highlights of mine.
RRP: £17 | Delivery: Standard | Available: Coming soon
Hidden in this calendar are 25 delicious gooey marshmallows featuring 12 different flavours from salted caramel to honeycomb, from watermelon to bubblegum. The Christmas Day marshmallow is a real treat - an extra large, chocolate-covered marshmallow bar that is perfect for sharing. This is certainly an advent calendar with true marshmallow fans in mind. I just loved guessing the flavour before reading what it was on the back of each door - and as the marshmallows were so big, me and the family had a few bites each so we could all experience the wonderful flavours together.
View at Not on the High Street
RRP: £38 | Delivery: Standard | Available: Now
This limited edition Bird & Blend Tea Company advent calendar is exclusive for 2023 and is full of aromatic teas including some classic herbal choices too. There are 48 cups of tea to enjoy with this advent calendar - with two tea bags per calendar door. An added bonus to this festive calendar is that the packaging is 100% plastic-free and recyclable. If you’re looking to expand your tea-drinking repertoire, this tea advent calendar is a great choice as it has some unusual flavours such as Strawberry Lemonade tea, Hazelnut Rocher and Chocolate Digestives tea - which actually has chocolate-like qualities. I think this is a good one for adventurous tea lovers.
RRP: £99 | Delivery: Standard/Next day | Available: Now
From all over the world including Whistler Solera from South Africa, Infernal Rum No. Five from Guatemala, and William Hinton 5 Cask Blend 2023 from Portugal, this rum advent calendar is an indulgent choice for the Christmas countdown for those who truly understand the quality of rum. Each window contains a mini 20ml bottle of rum plus this calendar includes tasting glasses to share the rums from and two sets of tasting notes to fill out. Great for sharing. A cheeky tipple associated with Christmas - whether it's served neat after Christmas dinner, or drizzled in your Christmas cake mix for an added kick. Only a true rum lover would appreciate and get their monies worth out of this classy advent calendar.
RRP: £60 | Delivery: Standard/Next day | Available: Now
New for 2023. Swap chocolate for hand-decorated Christmas-themed biscuits instead from award-winning biscuit makers and decorators, Biscuiteers. Presented in an elegant, keep-sake tin, this countdown biscuit advent calendar is a great alternative. The advent calendar includes 24 iced vanilla biscuits varying from snowman to Christmas tree from teddy bear to the North Pole sign. A great one for the whole family to enjoy together - plus it can be bought in advance as the biscuits last up to 3 months. You can even upgrade this calendar and add a limited edition handmade advent calendar designed by Emma Bridgewater for £65.
RRP: £25.99 | Delivery: Standard/Next day | Available: Now
I've decided to include this cheese advent calendar again this year as it was a very popular choice last year and I'm sure it'll be the gift that keeps on giving this December too. Think Applewood, Double Gloucester Cheese, Cheddar Cheese, and six other types of cheese to choose from. A great way to sample an array of cheeses in one go - I would just recommend that you make sure you have a box of crackers handy ready for the daily feast - and maybe a glass of wine too. It is Christmas after all...
RRP: £200 | Delivery: Standard/Next day | Available: Now
New for 2023, this eye-catching advent calendar is jam-packed with some of Fortnum & Mason's finest. This impressive advent calendar includes festive foods such as Christmas biscuits, and mint humbugs, as well as Christmas tipples such as a quarter bottle of champagne, a hot chocolate box, and a mulled wine spice box. It's a super indulgent calendar that you'll certainly want to share with the rest of the family. A treat for the eyes, and a serious treat for the taste buds.
View at Not on the High Street
RRP: £99.95 | Delivery: Standard | Available: Now
And for those who love gin, I give you the Premium Gin Advent Calendar - available in four different designs to suit your personality. Gin variations in this calendar include Edinburgh Gin, Green Room Small Batch Gin, Holyrood Height of Arrows Gin, and Gin Ting - Passionfruit, Mango, and Elderflower - certainly a treat for the tastebuds. Behind each cardboard door are 30ml glass drams with wax-seal for freshness. These miniatures are just perfect paired with tonic so you can truly appreciate the flavors of each one. This adult-only calendar features 24 drams in total.
Tried and tested food and drink advent calendars - my top picks
If you’re a massive fan of flapjacks you’re going to be well and truly won over by this generous advent calendar full to the rafters with soft, buttery flapjacks - that are simply some of the best flapjacks I’ve ever tasted - and I’ve tasted a lot over the years. All are gluten-free, individually wrapped for freshness, and all have a different flavour might I add?
It was so hard to choose a favourite as each square of flapjack I tried just had the sweetest flavours true to their name - the creamy hazelnut chocolate flapjacks were exactly that; creamy, nutty with a sweet caramel glaze. The chocolate fudge flapjacks felt like you were eating two treats in one as did the cherry Bakewell flapjacks topped with an almond-infused cake layer and sweet cherry jam. Other heavenly flavours included the Billionaire’s flapjacks, and salted caramel brownie flapjacks (with a brownie top!) to name but a few of my favourites.
Pair them all with a bucket of tea, and you really are indulging yourself in the run-up to Christmas. The squares are big enough to share - but only if you really want to of course. And the use-by dates are generous too, meaning if you don’t eat them straight away, you can save for a later date.
Ok so my initial thought was 'I can only countdown 12 days of Christmas with this calendar, that's a bit rubbish', however the size of the products, and the generous share-worthy treats you get behind each door will well and truly last you past Christmas - especially if you're tackling the whole thing on your own.
Highlights from the 12 days calendar for me included the popcorn and peanut brittle - it was favourite last year and it still remains a favourite for this year; sticky, sweet, chewy pieces of caramel bejeweled with popcorn and peanuts - it's just heavenly. The chocolate fudge is another best of mine; sweet, and buttery with a subtle chocolate flavour, and the crumbly triple chocolate chunk biscuits with a rich chocolate flavour - however be warned they are very messy so don't make the mistake I did and eat them whilst wearing a cream jumper... it was not a good look.
A packet of biscuits, a box of fudge, a jar of preserve... the list goes on! A great range from Cartwright & Butler this year which will certainly help you countdown to the big day.
How we tested the best food and drink advent calendars
Each food and drink advent calendar that I reviewed this year was tried and tested keeping the following criteria in mind:
- How does the advent calendar look; does it look the part? does it have a festive design? would you proudly display this advent calendar on your kitchen side or hide away in the cupboard? How big or small is it?
- How does the product in the advent calendar taste; is the quality of the products in the calendar - true to their flavour, what you expected, or more? good use by dates?
- The variety in the calendar; how many flavours or varieties are included? Different shapes, sizes, types? Is it just the same product over and over or a selection to choose from? Festive-themed or classic? What ingredients are used, would someone be disappointed to open or would they be satisfied?
- Value for money; how much does it cost? Is it worth the money? Does the price reflect the brand? Is it too cheap, too expensive and why?
- Packaging; is it made from recyclable packaging? Is it all cardboard or mostly plastic? How can it be recycled? Is this clearly marked on the calendar?
Love these advent calendars? We've also got a selection of wine advent calendars, and even cheese advent calendars to choose from this year. Not to mention some of the best Christmas food hampers for 2023 too.
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