Gone are the good ol鈥� days when chocolate or toys were the only things to be found in advent calendars. Beauty products and booze are now common adult-only alternatives to the traditional chocolate calendar. But a few adventurous ideas are capturing widespread attention this year, for good or ill.
Zoella advent calendar
A U.K. touched off a wave of social media backlash with her review of fellow vlogger Zoella鈥檚 鈥渓ifestyle鈥� calendar, a £50 ($84) kit with 12 items inside. The calendar was found to contain a variety of dollar store-level items such as a bag of confetti, a star-shaped cookie cutter and stickers.
Angry Brits vented their at Zoella on Twitter, complaining that her calendar was a cash grab filled with garbage.
For £50 I could get 100 pairs of socks from Poundland and that would be a better use of my money than a 12 door advent calendar ����
鈥� Its_sophies_choice�� (@sophieschoice97)
Wow so downright lied about boots setting the price of the £50 advent calendar and Boots confirmed it. She's playing us all. ��
鈥� �� (@AlissaIsABaddie)
The calendar鈥檚 distributor, Boots, in the wake of the outcry.
Nativity scene with sausage
U.K. bakery chain Greggs sparked outrage among Christians this year with its advent calendar featuring a photo of a sausage roll in place of the baby Jesus.
The image depicted the Three Wise Men kneeling and praying around a half-eaten sausage roll in a manger.
The company apologized for the image after it triggered strong backlash from religious Brits, and a wave of derision on Twitter.
Once in royal David's city
鈥� Sean (@csi_bletchley)
Stood a lowly cattle shed
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed
Mary was that mother mild
Sausage Roll, her little child
How flimsy is your religious belief if it's rocked by a sausage roll?
鈥� Hugh Jazz (@ThurstanStHouse)
Greggs replaced Jesus with a Sausage Roll.
鈥� JP OHFUCKITSNANOWRIMO (@TheJPBradley)
Nothing but respect for my lord and savoury.
Greggs Marketing HQ
鈥� Balderdash (@notDcfcBoss)
exec 1: OK. So we've got the 3 wise men but no baby Jesus.
exec 2: Just put a sausage roll in. No-one will notice.
Cheese calendar
Yes, there鈥檚 a cheese calendar. And it鈥檚 extremely hard to find.
A has launched her own cheese calendar this year in partnership with , much to the delight of British cheese connoisseurs.
However, the product is proving to be more popular than anticipated, with many on social media complaining that they can鈥檛 get their hands on one of the coveted calendars.
鈥淵our lack of cheese advent calendars is a joke!鈥� one angry user at ASDA on Wednesday.
fed up! My bestie wanted 2 cheese advent calendars, our nearest store said they had only received a total of 9 and didnt think they would get more. Wasted trip.
鈥� Tall&Firey (@TallAndFirey)
Fantastic cheese advent calendars shame I can鈥檛 find one anywhere ��Tried for a week now!
鈥� Jessica Gadsden (@jessica_gadsden)
so aswell as advertising the wrong date for your cheese advent calendars, and having a manager advise they would ring us when they were in stock, we鈥檝e now been told 鈥渢hey haven鈥檛 unpacked them yet鈥� despite numerous people already asking about them today!!!! ��
鈥� Olivia Trezise (@OliviaPortia)
Went to yesterday to get a cheese advent calendar was told that you got 80 in they sold by 7:30 and you won't be getting anymore. It's bit silly it has been advertised soo much ,says available from the 9th not only the morning of the 9th then no more, not even December yet
鈥� kimberly herbert (@XXpurplerainXX6)
Those who get their hands on a cheese calendar are advised to keep it in the fridge.
Marijuana advent calendar
Many marijuana lovers are already counting down the days until pot is legalized in Canada, but a B.C. company is offering customers the chance to count down to a green Christmas with its new cannabis calendar.
The $200-$230 from Coast to Coast Medicinals contains a variety of medicinal marijuana products including flowers and edibles.
鈥淓njoy this adult version of a classic Christmas advent calendar filled with cannabis products,鈥� the item鈥檚 description reads on its website.
Many Twitter users were high on the idea.
A company is selling marijuana advent calendars for between $200-$300. You may want to have a second advent calendar, on the side, that offers daily snacks too.
鈥� Kelly Latremouille (@KLatremouille)
