Advent Calendars are a yearly tradition in our house. Luckily parents who are suffering from an overload of Halloween Candy or just don’t want their kids to have chocolate first thing in the morning for 24 days straight there are other options out there! From toddlers to teens you can find a kids advent calendar to suit your child’s personality. We choose Non-Chocolate Advent Calendars every year for the kids in our household so we thought we would share some options.
With many of these advent calendars you get to build up every day to create a fun set of toys you can play with all year long. Playmobil, Melissa & Doug, Hot Wheels, LEGO, Little People, Crayola, PLAY-DOH and more there are TONS of options out here. Make sure you order early these calendars early to give time for them to be shipped to you for December 1st.
This year skip the chocolate advent calendar and get one that will last all year long. There are even many great options for babies which can be a challenge as they are too little to eat chocolate but you want to get them something for their First Christmas. Don’t forget to come back and check out our NON Chocolate Easter Egg Ideas.
Non-chocolate advent calendars for kids can make the countdown to Christmas extra special and engaging. Here are some non-chocolate advent calendar ideas that children might enjoy:
- LEGO Advent Calendar: LEGO offers a variety of themed advent calendars with mini-builds that children can assemble each day leading up to Christmas.
- Playmobil Advent Calendar: Playmobil also provides advent calendars with small figurines and accessories that children can add to a holiday-themed playset.
- Book Advent Calendar: Provide a new holiday-themed book for your child to read each day during the countdown to Christmas. It’s a great way to foster a love of reading.
- Art Supplies Advent Calendar: Encourage creativity with an advent calendar that includes different art supplies like colored pencils, markers, stickers, or crafting materials.
- Advent Calendar with Stickers: Kids can enjoy themed stickers for each day, which they can use for crafts or decorating.
- Activity Advent Calendar: Fill an advent calendar with daily activity cards, such as baking cookies, making holiday crafts, or going on a winter nature walk.
- Wooden Advent Calendar: Purchase a reusable wooden advent calendar with drawers or doors that can be filled with small toys, trinkets, or notes.
- Character Figurine Advent Calendar: Many popular children’s characters have their own advent calendars with small figurines. Examples include Paw Patrol, Disney, or superheroes.
- Dinosaur Advent Calendar: If your child is a dinosaur enthusiast, you can find advent calendars featuring tiny dinosaur toys.
- Socks Advent Calendar: Get your child into the holiday spirit with fun and festive socks to wear every day leading up to Christmas.
These non-chocolate advent calendars can be a delightful way to build excitement and creativity during the holiday season for kids.
Non-Chocolate Advent Calendars we have purchased so far:
2019 – Fisher Price Little People (1 Years Old)
2020 – Paw Patrol ( 2 Years Old)
2021 – Play Mobil House (3 Years old)
2022 – Pokemon (4 Years old)
2023 – Considering Lego
Why Choose a Non-Chocolate Advent Calendar?
Chocolate comes and goes however toys can stick around a be played with for years to come. My kids still play with the Little People and Paw Patrol sets constantly making it a much better value even though they cost more than chocolate calendars. Choosing non-chocolate calendars can also let you customize your choose based on your child’s current interests as you can see from the calendars we have purchased above.
Your kids will be having so much fun playing each day as they open their advent calendar they won’t even miss the chocolate.
Advent Calendar Books
A great idea to add to the Advent Calendar is this awesome book I found called The X-Mas Files – Classified Secrets from the North Pole. This book is a great addition to the Holiday Advent calendar as each day teaches children something new about the holidays including the topics in the Table of Contents below.
For example on Day 1 the book explains how Santa renames the Elves every year and gives an activity idea for the kids to try it themselves (drop the book or a lid – the first part of your elf nickname will be based on the sound ex.Clank). This fun book really encourages fun activities to enjoy the Magic of the holiday season and is perfect for young children who still “believe” in Santa Claus.
Last year in December, my daughter and I read the book every night at bed time as she was super excited about “Christnas” as she called it. This was the first year that she started to actually understand the concept of Santa, Reindeer and Elves and the book was a great jumping off point.
Kids Advent Calendars that are NOT Chocolate 2023
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Click on the links and images to see more details about the Advent Calendars or where you can buy them
Playmobil Advent Calendar
Playmobil Advent Calendar – There are a variety of Playmobil Advent Calendar options to choose from including Playmobil Wild, and Playmobil Christmas.
Playmobil Bath Playtime Set – Each day kids will collect a new bath toy until they have completed the collection. Kids will love peaking behind each door to see which toy piece is waiting each day. Includes tons of floating fish and accessories to create a splashing good time!
LEGO Advent Calendars including LEGO City Advent Calendars and LEGO Friends Advent Calendars- Everything you need for your master builder to count down to Christmas with this awesome selection of LEGO Avent Calendars.
LEGO City Advent Calendar – Build 24 different presents in this Christmas countdown Advent Calendar, including vehicles, minifigures and other seasonal item. Comes with 7 LEGO City minifigures (including Santa Claus!) and a husky dog figure
LEGO Friends Advent Calendar – 330 pieces of LEGO Friends Advent Calendar fun. Build 25 surprises that you can include with any of your other LEGO sets. This toy advent calendar includes a Mia mini-doll figure, plus 2 robot figures, a snowman, 2 penguins and hamster figures.
LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar – Step right into Hogwarts with this Harry Potter Advent Calendar. Contains 7 minifigures, including Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, Hogwarts Architect—plus a Hedwig figure and a micro Hogwarts Express train.
Star Wars Advent Calendars
May the force be with you during the holiday season with these fun Star Wars Advent Calendars.
Star Wars Advent Calendar – Set includes 7 Mini figures, and pieces to make 11 vehicles. Over 300 pieces in total for hours of fun. Box also includes playmat to use as backdrop for play. The 2021 set Features 7 LEGO Star Wars characters, including The Mandalorian and the Child (Grogu), affectionately known as Baby Yoda, in festive outfits, plus a Tusken Raider, IG-11 and IT-O Interrogator Droid.
The 11 mini build vehicles include The Razor Crest, Riot Mar’s starfighter, Imperial Troop Transport, X-wing, TIE Fighter, Imperial Light Cruiser, Boba Fett’s starship and the Child’s hoverpram. Other mini builds include an E-web heavy blaster snow launcher, training targets, Tusken Raider’s weapon rack and snow launcher, Imperial weapon rack and Mandalorian weapon rack.
Star Wars Calendar 2023 – Christmas Holiday Countdown Gift Idea with 9 Star Wars Characters and 15 Mini Building Toys, Discover New Experiences and Daily Collectible Surprises.
Toy Advent Calendars and other Non-chocolate Advent Calendars
Advent Calendars don’t have to be all about the chocolate. There are LOTS of other non-chocolate advent calendars out there. From crafting and Play-Doh to Hot Wheels and Minions there is a huge variety for every age group and interest. check out this list below and click on the links to learn more.
Wooden Advent Calendar – A full Christmas Ornament Set: This Christmas countdown tree ornament set includes a magnetic wooden tree, 24 magnetic ornaments, and 1 shining star for the top of the tree. An attached wooden ornament box helps to keep all the pieces together.
Crazy Scientist Advent Calendar – This offers hours of play as there is a different experiment for each day that engages kids and introduces Chemistry, Biology, Mechanics, Optics and magnets.
PLAY-DOH Advent Calendar – Play-DOH Advent Calendar includes 5 Play-Doh cans featuring 2 Sparkle cans to let your season shine, tools and shapes. 24 secret doors hide a different surprise for each day of the season.
Crayola Christmas Countdown Activity Advent Calendar – Get your craft on with this diverse Crayola Advent Calendar including 10 Googly Eyes, 6 Paint Pots, 5 Doodle Scent Markers, 4 Glitter Crayons, 4 Metallic Crayons, 1 Twistables Slick Stick, 1 Stick of Glitter Glue, 1 Tube of Glitter Glue, 4 Packages of Model Magic, 3 Model Magic Character Bases, 3 Pieces of Ribbon, 1 Window Marker, 1 Mr. Tip Sharpener, 4 Mini Stamper Markers, 1 Paintbrush, 4 Sticker Sheets, and Perforated Cardboard Sheets with Line Art and Double Sided Cardstock with crafts and activities.
Fisher Price Little People – Use this calendar from December 1st to 24th as a great way to introduce counting and numbers and watch the excitement grow as children open 24 Little People friends and holiday accessories.
Bracelet Necklace Set with 22 Charms Fashion Jewelry Countdown to for Girls – Collect a charm a day until you have an entire charm bracelet for Christmas.
Disney Advent Calendars
Disney Storybook Collection – Count down to Christmas with all your Disney and Pixar friends. Unwrap 24 books this holiday season and enjoy a magical tale every day from December 1st through December 24th!
Checkout Advent Calendars for kids – For a complete list of Advent Calendars
There are so many fun options on the market for non-chocolate advent calendars now. Don’t get stuck with cheap chocolate calendars, pick one that suits your child and will give you something to play with all year long!
Disclosure: Some of the products included have been gifted to us, however we have also have purchased some of these over the years.
Originally Posted Nov 17, 2018, Updated 2023
Wow,thanks for sharing this list with links to buy option!
Wow! There is so many good one!
So many great advent calendars this year. My girls would love the Barbie Advent Calendar
Thank you for all the great suggestions, there is something for everyone, young and not so young. I did not realize there were so many.
how awesome are these ! I love that they have these calendars for all different age ranges and away from the chocolate. The crayon one is my favorite for my girls 🙂 they are 4 and under so they will love that
Oh my gosh, these are too cute. I never even thought to look for one that’s not candy.
These are all so great, my niece would love these
Wow, great ideas. We are still getting over the Halloween chocolate here so I’m going to check out the lego and playdoh calendars for my kids instead. Thanks for the great ideas.
So great to see this list of alternatives to the daily sugar, with a traditional advent calendar.
These advent calendars look like so much fun. I remember how much fun it was eating the crappy candy calendars as a child. Might get the nephew one of these for Xmas this year.
I am so glad you took the effort to put together such an extensive list. I was trying to find the perfect gift for my niece and she will love the LEGO Advent Calendars! This is an amazing compilation. Thank you!
This is such a good post and list of advent calendars. I hate buying the ones with Chocolate and so am always on the lookout for fun education calendars.
I love the look of those Lego advent calenders. Such a good alternative to chocolate advent calendars that my sons will love!
We have had the Playmobil calendars for the last couple of years and love them. We haven’t decided which one we will get this year just yet.
What a great idea! My daughter can’t have sugar and would absolutely love one of these. Thanks!
Oh this is an amazing idea, and something I imagine kids will actually enjoy even more! Thanks so much for the great ideas!
My son wants a Playmobil one this year I like the idea of something that’s not just chocolate!
We have the Playmobil calendars and the kids love them !
Loving th Lego option