Shopping

10 of the best and fanciest advent calendars on sale in Selfridges

A little present every day.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 25th October 2024

The rise in luxury advent calendars in the last few years has been remarkable – and nowhere does them better than Selfridges.

Gone are the days where we were happy with cheap chocolate behind a foil door.

Nowadays one of the greatest thrills of the festive season is opening a tiny present every day, whether it’s a makeup product, a flavour of tea, a pair of socks or whatever else has been stuffed into an advent calendar.

Selfridges own beauty advent calendar, which is stuffed with more than £1000 worth of products, has already sold out for this year.

But the department store has plenty more options for you to choose from.

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Read on to find 10 of the fanciest, most luxurious, most exciting advent calendars on sale this winter.

Mince pies

A mince pie advent calendar in Selfridges. Credit: The Manc Group
A mince pie advent calendar in Selfridges. Credit: The Manc Group

It just wouldn’t be Christmas without mince pies, and if you love to start stuffing your face with them as soon as the calendar hits December, then this calendar is the one for you.

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The Selfridges exclusive advent calendar has loads of different flavoured mince pies hiding behind every door, including classic, citrus, almond and chocolate.

Then there’s a mini Meg Rivers Christmas cake waiting behind door number 25.

It’s £39.99 and available HERE.

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Penhaligons

Penhaligons fragrance advent calendar
Penhaligons fragrance advent calendar. Credit: The Manc Group

This beautiful advent calendar from proudly British fragrance brand Penhaligon’s is another Selfridges exclusive.

Inside you’ll find a mix of their products, including a Christmas-scented candle, eau de parfums, body lotions, body wash, and hand cream.

And it’s all presented in a beautiful bakery-style stack of boxes.

It’s £425 and available HERE.

Missoma

Jewellery brand Missoma has an advent calendar in Selfridges. Credit: The Manc Group
Jewellery brand Missoma has an advent calendar in Selfridges. Credit: The Manc Group

One of the world’s coolest jewellery brands is on the advent calendar train this year.

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Missoma’s offering is presented in a gorgeous blue jewellery box, and contains £827-worth of its popular gold jewellery.

That includes hoop earrings, stud earrings, ear cuffs, bracelets, and necklaces.

This one is £395 and on sale HERE.

Lego

One for the big kids (or the actual kids) now – an advent calendar full of Lego. How cute!

There are a few different themes to choose from, including Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Spider Man, with a different minifigure to open every single day.

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It’s just £30 and available HERE.

MAC

MAC's Selfridges exclusive advent calendar has loads of hit products in it. Credit: The Manc Group
MAC’s Selfridges exclusive advent calendar has loads of hit products in it. Credit: The Manc Group

Cult make-up brand MAC has picked Selfridges as an exclusive stockist for its Gift of Gold 2024 advent calendar.

Products inside this giant festive box include some of their most celebrated products, including the Fix+ Original setting spray, matte and sheer-shine lipsticks in a range of shades, lip gloss, skincare, eye shadows and brow products.

It’s £180 but you get an unbelievable £445-worth of stuff for that. Grab yours HERE.

Diptyque

Diptyque has a 2024 advent calendar. Credit: The Manc Group
Diptyque has a 2024 advent calendar. Credit: The Manc Group

Another very fancy advent calendar is this one from Diptyque, with 25 days of scents to discover. Scentsational, you might say.

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Candles make up the bulk of this advent calendar, including their seasonal specials like pine tree, berries and wood fire.

But you’ll also get refillable solid perfumes, eau de parfums, soaps, body lotions and even a set of decorations.

It’s £390 and on sale HERE.

Bonne Maman Jam

The Bonne Maman Jam advent calendar. Credit: The Manc Group
The Bonne Maman Jam advent calendar. Credit: The Manc Group

What could possibly be more wholesome than starting every day of December with a different jam or spread?!

Bonne Maman – that brand with the iconic red checkered lids – has an advent calendar that will do just that.

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It’ll also look super charming on display in your house.

This one’s £34.99 and you can shop it HERE.

Posh malt balls

Selfridges' own malt ball advent calendar. Credit: The Manc Group
Selfridges’ own malt ball advent calendar. Credit: The Manc Group

Sometimes you just can’t beat a classic chocolate-filled advent calendar, and Selfridges has their own that should hit the spot.

This pretty green polka-dot box is filled with different flavours of malt chocolate balls, including blonde, salted caramel, orange, and cookies and cream.

It’s £14.99 HERE.

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Gin

A gin advent calendar for 2024. Credit: The Manc Group
A gin advent calendar for 2024. Credit: The Manc Group

A grown-up one from the Selfridges advent calendars now – this Drinks By The Dram one is packed full of gin. Fun!

You’ll get a different wax-sealed dram of different flavoured gin for every day that you open your advent calendar.

It’s £89.99 HERE.

Books

Credit: The Manc Group

The most wholesome advent calendar on the whole list is this one – the Little People Big Dreams calendar, where each day unlocks a new mini book.

Inside each envelope, children will find stories about inspirational people from across the world, from groundbreaking musician Elton John and eco hero Steve Irwin, to freedom-fighter Martin Luther King and visionary artist Frida Kahlo.

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How sweet?!

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Shopping

Major retailer Monki to close store in Manchester Arndale

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson

Monki, a popular fashion brand that’s owned by H&M, had announced it’s closing its Manchester store – and soon.

The high street brand is famed for selling bold, playful clothing at affordable prices.

It opened its glittering disco-inspired shop in the heart of the Manchester Arndale in 2018.

Shoppers will recognise the holographic arches at the entrance and the Monki brand name spelled out in lightbulbs overhead.

But this week, H&M confirmed that all seven Monki stores across the UK will close, either shutting them completely or merging them with Weekday, another of the retail giant’s brands.

Manchester is among the first casualties of this move, with signs in the window of the store confirming that a closing down sale will be live until 12 January.

At that point, the Manchester Monki store will close for good.

Also shutting will be Newcastle, with the fate of the five remaining shops – including one in Sheffield – not yet confirmed.

The statement from H&M read: “A limited number of Monki stores are intended to be transformed into multi-brand Weekday destinations, while the others are intended to be closed.

“The newly formed Weekday multi-brand destination will cater to customers’ high aesthetic standards while embracing their multitude of unique expressions.”

In a statement shared earlier this month, they added: “Being mindful about the changes this might entail for our colleagues; we look forward to this exciting new chapter on the way to something great.”

Monki will close in Manchester Arndale on 12 January.

Read more: The best picky bits and Christmas party food in M&S this year

Featured image: The Manc Group

Shopping

The best picky bits and Christmas party food in M&S this year

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson The best party food at M&S for Christmas 2024

Can some scientist please explain why us Brits have such a compulsion to roll out the picky bits and party food (ESPECIALLY if it comes from M&S) as soon as there’s a vague sense of occasion?

Birthday party? Picky bits. BBQ season? Picky bits. Had a long day at work and can’t decide what to have for tea but definitely don’t want a Pot Noodle? Picky bits.

And when Christmas or New Year’s Eve rolls around, the urge to consume random little morsels of food intensifies.

Whether it’s British classics squashed down into tiny portions and jammed on a buffet table or fancy little appetisers you hand around a party, we just can’t get enough.

Which is why we’ve raided the shelves at M&S once again to bring you all the best picky bits and party food available for Christmas 2024.

As for prices, the more premium M&S Collection party food items are generally priced at £7.50, with the more standard range coming in at £5.50 each, and all available on a four-for-three offer.

And yes, you might end up spending an obscene amount of money on miniature food items that won’t do a single thing to quell an appetite, but my gosh, won’t you feel like a prim and proper princess when you slide those teeny weeny fish and chips in front of your guests.

Let’s begin.

Brits abroad

M&S party food 2024 - chicken shawarma and Middle Eastern flatbreads
M&S party food 2024 – chicken shawarma and Middle Eastern flatbreads
M&S party food 2024 - patatas bravas stacks
M&S party food 2024 – patatas bravas stacks

M&S might be the most staunchly British institution of modern times, but us Brits also love nothing more than to lift the culinary expertise of other countries onto our own plates.

And this year is no exception – M&S has whipped up a whole host of party food inspired by international favourites.

From little potato stacks that pay homage to everyone’s favourite tapas dish, patatas bravas, to tiny chicken shawarma kebabs to Middle Eastern Flatbreads, if you want a little spice on your Christmas buffet, they’ve got it.

Well aren’t you a fancy pants?!

M&S Christmas party food 2024

‘Ooooh, someone’s doing well’ comes the chorus of praise as you hand around your mini prawn thermidor (these tiny gold trays even have a cheddar cheese crumb on top).

‘Wow, that must’ve been a good Christmas bonus’ they say as they accept a mini coquille St Jacques, complete with extra-small shell.

If upper middle class was a nibble, it would probably look like these guys.

Little Britain

Mini scampi and chips, and miniature pies at M&S
Mini scampi and chips, and miniature pies at M&S
Mini Yorkshire puddings and cheese and ham scones from M&S party food range
Mini Yorkshire puddings and cheese and ham scones from M&S party food range

Imagine all your classic British dishes, pub food, Sunday dinners, comfort meals cooked by your mum – you picturing them? Okay, now imagine them again but really, really small.

Now you’ve got a good idea of the items in our next M&S party food category.

There are mini Yorkshire puddings filled with slow-cooked beef, red wine and mushroom jus, and a garlic and herb crumb.

There are neat little cheddar and ham scones, miniature pies filled with beef and ale or chicken and leek, and even picky bit-sized scampi and chips portions, complete with newspaper wrapping. Cute!

The classics

M&S prawn selection
M&S prawn selection
M&S pigs in blankets and halloumi in blankets
M&S pigs in blankets and halloumi in blankets
M&S Smoked salmon appetisers
M&S Smoked salmon appetisers

These are not just buffet food items, these are M&S buffet food items, and that means they come with a bit of pizzazz.

Yes, there are pigs in blankets, but there are also halloumi pigs in blankets (which they weirdly haven’t made vegetarian) served with a hot honey drizzle.

We love a battered prawn on a party food selection and M&S has done a selection of tiger prawn nibbles – prawn baguette toasts, prawn and coconut bites, and prawn and potato lattice balls. The word prawn is starting to look weird.

There are also smoked salmon appetisers, where smoked salmon strips are rolled around a honey roast salmon mousse. Hope ya like very small fish!

Calm down M&S it’s getting weird now

M&S festive bao buns
M&S festive bao buns
The viral M&S turkey feast dip
The viral M&S turkey feast dip
Mini steak sandwiches from the M&S party food range
Mini steak sandwiches

I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the M&S party food is discussed, because I’m pretty sure no one around that boardroom table is telling them ‘No, Arabella, that’s a silly idea’. Arabella does what she wants.

This year, she’s heard all the ‘girl dinner’ trends and gone ‘WE SHOULD MAKE A CHRISTMAS DIP’ – the result is a turkey feast dip topped with shredded turkey and bacon, cranberry sauce, cranberries and a stuffing crumb. WHY, ARABELLA?!

They’ve also brought back the novelty-shaped bao, this year in two festive shapes – penguins and polar bears.

And of course you can still get miniature steak sandwiches and I don’t know why that makes me so uncomfortable, but it does.

A very yeehaw Christmas

M&S Mini beef burgers
M&S Mini beef burgers
Buffalo chicken croquettes and New York deli spring rolls at M&S
Buffalo chicken croquettes and New York deli spring rolls at M&S

Giddy up, cowboy, it’s time for the rootin’-tootin’ M&S party food show!

Everyone’s favourite fancy supermarket has gone stateside this year, drawing inspiration from the healthiest of nations… America.

There are Buffalo chicken croquettes, served with an extra Buffalo sauce dip, mini beef burgers (always the hardest thing to eat), and, weirdly, spring rolls inspired by a New York deli?

They’ve shoved salt beef and sauerkraut into a spring roll and then served it with a mustard and gherkin dip. You do you, M&S.

Now you’re just showing off

M&S party food 2024 - the charcutertree
M&S party food 2024 – the charcuter-tree. Credit: The Manc Group

You’re presenting your charcuterie on a flat board? Peasant.

Real fancy people present their cured meat and cheese selection in the shape of a Christmas tree (obviously) and M&S have got a build-you-own kit available for £25.

An extra shout-out to the security-locked Serrano ham joint, which came with its own block and knife, for another statuesque meat buffet option.

Read more

Featured image: The Manc Group

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