8 best Harry Potter advent calendars for a magical start to Christmas 2022

This pampering advent calendar from Boots is full of Harry Potter-inspired toiletries hidden in 24 little boxes. Opening it feels like more of a treat than you’d expect from the price tag – the luxurious-looking box is tied with a silky ribbon, and each item is individually wrapped in tissue paper inside smaller boxes.

As for the contents, there’s a mini bath fizzer for each house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so you can sink into a Gryffindor or Slytherin-scented tub, or wallow in the waters of Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. The same goes for the mini body washes and fragrance sprays, and there are lots more bits and bobs, such as foot cream and emery boards. By the end of the 24 days, you’ll have built up quite a nice little collection of bath treats, including a gold Hogwarts sleep mask revealed on Christmas Eve. Our younger testers ended up using the little bottles to mix up all sorts of Potter-inspired potions in the bath, which – although probably not the intended use – added a whole new element of fun.

This Funko Harry Potter advent calendar contains a whole collection of Funko pockets pops! – little vinyl figurines that are a couple of inches tall. The packaging reveals four of the classic characters – Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco Malfoy – but the rest hide behind the calendar doors.

The box itself has a drop-down flap at the front, where you can stand your new characters as they’re unboxed. Our testers liked the fact each gift was individually wrapped, which prolonged the fun of opening the doors every day, and the figures themselves passed muster with our fussy teen. This will go down a treat with kids as well as pop-culture-loving adults – with quality contents you’ll actually want to keep.

This eagerly awaited Harry Potter advent calendar is one of several new Lego calendars available for 2022. The contents change every year, and this year’s offering includes seven Harry Potter minifigures to add to your collection. That’s the boy wizard himself (naturally), plus Sirius Black, Moaning Myrtle, Lord Voldemort, Horace Slughorn, Nymphadora Tonks and Neville Longbottom.

There are lots more toys behind each of the 24 doors, and more observant fans will notice a bit of a pattern as each day passes. The first three toys make a scene from the first film, the next three make a scene from the second film – you get the idea. Plus, once all the doors are open, you can use them to play the board game on the box.

This jewellery advent calendar is recommended for ages 12 and above, so it’s a nice option for older children and young adults. The tin – which is cleverly disguised as a book – is embossed with an image of Hedwig, Harry’s pet owl. Place it flat, open it up, and there are 24 little boxes packed neatly inside.

In fact, the boxes are spread over two tiers and contain all sorts of jewellery items and trinkets. As well as a necklace, bracelet, and badges there’s a keyring and lanyard, and hair items such as clips and a scrunchie. It may not be particularly cheap, but it’s also refreshingly not full of tat – and the tin makes a lovely jewellery box.

Inside this Kap Toys infinity box advent calendar, there are all sorts of bits and bobs – from plush toys to pin badges. But it’s the actual box – made from two linked towers that somehow rotate to reveal hidden, numbered advent boxes – that’s extra-special, and our testers had a lot of fun trying to figure out how it works.

This is best suited to younger kids and we found the contents could be a little hit and miss, with more substantial gifts some days and much smaller items on others. But the price has been vastly reduced since this calendar’s launch in 2019 and it now represents great value for money, especially considering the clever box is a keeper.

Stationery lovers will enjoy opening the doors of this 24-day advent calendar. It includes a wand pen, erasers, pencils, playing cards, sticky notes, a stamp, a ruler, magnets, a heat-changing coaster, a Sorting Hat paper clip, and an assortment of stickers. Consider the kids’ pencil cases well and truly restocked.

The cardboard calendar itself is big, has a huge Hogwarts crest showing the four houses on the front, and a pop-out door hanger on the back that you can use once you’ve finished with the calendar. Coming in at the cheaper end of the price range, it’s a nice one for children, and they’ll actually get some use out of the items inside.

This calendar is currently out of stock, but make sure to check back with us for updates.

The only 12-day option on our list, this Hogwarts-themed sock calendar is a fun way to count down to Christmas. You can start opening the doors on 13 December, or follow the traditional 12 days of Christmas and open the first door on Christmas Day, which will take you well into the new year.

Either way, your sock drawer will be bursting at the seams with 12 new pairs – five full-length and seven trainer socks. Each pair has a different design and features a familiar Harry Potter character or motif, and our favourites were the gold Hedwig socks. The only drawback with this advent calendar is that you’ll need to be a UK shoe size 4-8 to fit the socks, give or take a bit of stretch either side. If your feet fall within that bracket, happy days.

This advent calendar has a traditional feel – it’s styled like a big hardback book and, when you open it up, there are lots of little envelope-style pockets to look inside. There are 25 pockets in total, including a treat on Christmas Day, although there are more than 40 individual little items when you add them all together.

Most items are made of paper, including little gift tags, mini Christmas cards, postcards, and various little Harry Potter-themed booklets and letters. The Hedwig keyring on Christmas Day is one of just a few non-paper items, so this is a nice option if you’re already up to your eyeballs in plastic toys. Plus, we like the fact you can re-use the book in future years and put your own Harry Potter-inspired items – or even hand-written notes – inside.