Counting down to Christmas will always be one of my favourite moments of the year. Even as I’ve grown into an adult, the excitement of opening a numbered door to reveal a gift hasn’t diminished.

The origin of the traditional advent calendar contained religious meaning and has adapted to be aimed as a fun festive activity for children. As concepts evolve into post-modern society, the trend of non-traditional advents has become very popular, with the promise of luxury gifts for adults, from cheese to gin, wax melts to socks. Advent calendars now cater to any taste, interest, or price point.

Although we are only midway through the year, big brands such as Lego have already previewed their advent calendar for 2021, with luxury brands, including John Lewis, Look Fantastic and Charlotte Tilbury looking to preview theirs as early August. Clearly, it’s not too early to plan for the winter season!

Our advent calendars are known to be our best sellers with over 100,000 units flying off our shelves last year. So why are advents something you should consider for the festive season?

Capitalise on popularity

The advent calendar is a desirable product with luxury brands in beauty, skincare and self-care taking full advantage of the trend. We can’t help but want to be treated and an advent calendar is a fun and exciting way to countdown to the festive season. This is the ideal market for increasing your revenue and encouraging people to spend well before December.

Promote your products to a new audience

A gifted calendar can introduce you to new customers as well as increase sales from existing customers. Why not use it as a promotional tool to test new or limited edition products which will help with future sales? The key is to put your most desirable and popular products inside. 

24 Day visibility

The recipients will be reminded of your brand, in their home or workplace, throughout the whole of the festive period. Make sure your packaging has an impact and you will be memorable for all the right reasons!

#Adventcalendar

Join the trend. #Adventcalendar has been used over 1.9 million times on Instagram, with the hashtag set to grow again this year. If you make your advent desirable or unique, people will share with their followers, bringing in free advertising and promotion for your brand!

The Margins

These big-ticket gifts bring in high-value single orders. If you package your products in a beautiful advent, you can sell at a higher price point than you would normally charge for the same unboxed products. However, ensure you don’t overprice your final product, your customers need to feel they are getting value for money. 

What’s next?

As you loved them so much, we have decided to add to this range. We are launching our first 3D advents, alongside adding new designs to our standard advents! We know these new exciting additions have the potential to become our new best sellers and we can’t wait to see you share them on social media! 

Be sure to package your 24 Day Classic Advents safely for delivery! 

If goods arrive damaged, this could hurt your brand and reputation. However, worry not! We have designed tailored postal outers to ensure your advents arrive in perfect condition.

How can Meridian help?

Whether you are selling chocolate, soaps, wax melts or jam, we can offer you a range of different options to create your own custom advent, including personalising stock packaging or creating a bespoke design from scratch.

We have 5 available sizes on offer that will suit a variety of products:

Classic 24 Day Advent Calendars. Choose from a variety of outer advent box designs in portrait or landscape. Both options are the same size, have 24 doors and feature a stand/hanger on the back profile. All adverts can be combined with any of the 3 inner component options. Cavity sizes vary depending on which inner component is chosen – guided dimensions are approx. 35 x 35 x 30mm.

12 Day Countdown Advent Calendars. This self-fill advent is a smaller alternative to our standard 24 Day advents. This allows our customers to fill with higher value items such as wax melts, cosmetics or jewellery. Each cavity measures 33 x 33 x 20mm.

24 Day Giant Advent Calendars. This self-fill advent is perfectly designed to home your larger treats – including customer favourites; mini bath bombs, 1oz wax melt pots and tea light candles. Each cavity measures 51 x 59 x 45mm.

25 Day Triangular Advent Calendar. The triangular matt gold box holds 25 mini cartons within and is topped with an easy-to-assemble clear lid. Fill with chocolates, truffles, wax melts or small gifts. Advised product size to be a max of 34 x 30mm diameter.

24 Day 3D House Advent Calendar. Our new 3D advent features 24 windows and you can access your treats from the front and back. Hidden behind the perforated doors sits a cardboard divider. Each cavity measures 38 x 35 x 24mm and is great for holding chocolates, wax melts or other small products.

Want to go personalised?

Be memorable for all the right reasons! With the opportunity of 24 days of visibility, ensure your packaging is impactful and professional by adding your branding or artwork. Our personalised packaging starts from a minimum order quantity of 100 units to allow smaller businesses to buy lower volumes. 

Know what you want? We have a variety of options available with a 3-week turn-around once you have signed off on your artwork and paid for your order:

Hot die foil your branding onto any of our stock advent designs. Personalising is the most cost-effective way of making your advent calendar unique to you. 

Submit a full-colour design to print our existing advent cutters. This option allows you to save on up to £1000 worth of tooling. Prices start from 500 units and will involve an additional cost of £200 for printing plates. This is most cost-effective on orders over 1k units. Contact our sales team for further details.

Need an advent to hold a particularly sized product or have an idea that is a little different? Why not go fully bespoke? We have helped many of our customers design and manufacture all styles of advents, from triangle-shaped calendars to drawers. Past projects have included advent calendars catered to teabags, dog treats, wax melts, beauty and confectionery. The min order starts from 1000 units and please be aware that tooling prices could start from £1000.

To avoid disappointment, be sure to allow plenty of time to plan as from August, our Christmas rush begins. Let’s have a conversation and help you bring your idea to life!