30 Best Advent Calendars for Teens Who Deserve a Treat
Beauty products, pop-culture trinkets, and snacks—you can't go wrong!
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Teens, even more than little kids, really like to indulge themselves with little pick-me-ups every day. That's why they're the perfect recipients for a great advent calendar, especially if they get one that's tailored to their interests. Luckily, many options abound, and it's easy to find one for every type of teenager out there.
The best advent calendars for teens don't just ply them with chocolate or daily trinkets and toys. It has to speak to them. That's why these rose to the top, because they offer something more than just a plastic bauble. Some give them activities to work on, like a craft or a puzzle, while they're waiting for Christmas to come. Others help them show off their fandom for their favorite movies, TV shows, and characters. And some, yes, have sweet treats—but candy that they won't be able to get at their nearest convenience store. Grab one, and make the wait to Christmas seem a little less long.
Refresh their makeup stash in one go with this beauty advent calendar. It comes with skincare, bath items, and cosmetics that they'll love to experiment with. There are 24 items in all, including one exclusive gift.
Now their bags, backpacks, and purses can look as festive as they do! This comes with 12 different plush bag charms, each decked out in holiday finest. They can even hang their favorites on the tree!
They never get tired of LEGO, and each year the LEGO advent calendar slate is a much-anticipated event. For 2025, there are LEGO advent calendars for Star Wars, Minecraft, and Harry Potter, (in addition to Frozen, LEGO City, and LEGO Friends for the little ones). Each one comes with a mix of minifigures and small builds that fit the theme, and also have some seasonal touches. Ages 6+
They never outgrow their love for Squishmallows—and they can indulge their burgeoning beauty interests at the same time with this calendar. There are seven days' worth of limited edition skincare and self-care items, including sheet masks, blemish patches, hand cream, lip gloss, a collectible keychain, and a plush headband, all in a cute, Squishmallows style.
This advent calendar gives players ages 10 and up a chance to solve a mystery over the course of the month. In addition to puzzles and clues, teens will get other goodies like new versions of the Clue tokens in chic winter attire.
They'll get 12 little OPI bottles with some limited-edition holiday hues, plus base coat and top coat. They'll be festive enough to wear to any holiday or New Year's Eve parties that may be on the calendar.
This is the perfect way to do a jigsaw puzzle: a little at a time. Each day offers a small jigsaw puzzle of a tiny, wintry scene, but they combine to make one larger holiday picture. It's a good lesson for teens that little things, done every day, add up to a lot.
If baking holiday cookies is a tradition in the house, the baker in charge will thrill to getting new gear to up their game. This calendar comes with spatulas, cookie cutters, piping bags and tips, stencils, and other tools they'll use to decorate their sweets like a pro.
Crocheting and other "grandma hobbies" have been known to have good mental health benefits, so it's great if a teen picks one up. With this advent calendar, they'll get enough materials to crochet four Woobles characters, plus fun accessories to dress them up. Even the box turns into a toy workshop where they can set up a holiday scene.
Fans of Luffy and his merry band of pirates can find One Piece trinkets like pens, socks, patches, and bookmarks all inspired by the Netflix show (not the original anime).
If they want the classic candy, they can get it in a box that looks like Snoopy's doghouse decorated for Christmas. Each day, in addition to a treat, they'll reveal a panel of a Peanuts comic. The candy includes everything from Sparkle Pops and Snowman Gummies to Reindeer "Carrots" and Chocolate Biscuits.
When they're just looking for a little pick-me-up every day, they can enjoy 24 different squishy toys. Some of them are seasonal, and will help their desks look ready for the holidays, and others are just adorable. A couple even glow in the dark!
This bath set comes with different, trial size hand lotions in fun holiday scents. They're the perfect size for stashing in backpacks, purses, or a locker.
Some kids turn into teens without outgrowing their plush phase. These adorable plushies are meant to give some emotional support—squeeze when you feel stressed!—and when all the doors are open, they'll have five each of fries, pickles, wreaths, chicken nuggets, and yeti, all with different expressions.
With this this escape-room-style advent calendar, they'll have to solve a puzzle that'll tell them which door to open for the next day. New for 2025, the story involves entering a giant space race for a lucrative prize, provided players can beat the other teams. If they enjoy it, get them more Exit: The Game sets for their stockings.
They'll be able to collect Earth's Mightiest Heroes as Earth's tiniest heroes with Funko's advent calendar of teeny, almost-one-inch-tall Bitty Pops. It even comes with little tree-shaped stand to display them in.
Families with musical-theater kids at home can thrill them with Wicked-themed stickers, patches, magnets, coasters, and other little treats. Or, if they're a superfan, they might even want the deluxe version. They're both from Insight Editions, and for those with teens on their list, the publisher does similar advent calendars for a ton of teen faves, including My Hero Academia, Elf, Supernatural, Fallout, Friends, Dragon Ball Z, Batman, Marvel, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Dungeons & Dragons.
RELATED: The Best Gifts for Wicked Fans
For teens who like building and love to play games, this calendar is just the trick. Each day offers a new electronic component, which teens can use to build their own retro games, Whack A Mole, Ping Pong, or Code Breaker.
They say a magician never reveals their tricks, but this advent calendar will do it for them. Each day offers something new to try, including classic magic tricks and even a few STEM experiments. There are links to instructional videos from professional magicians.
Whether they believe in the healing power of crystals or just want to add new specimens to their rock collections, this advent calendar comes with 24 rocks, gems, and crystals, and even a necklace. It also comes with information about the properties of each type of stone.
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
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