Last year, when I wrote my posts about the Ultimate List of LEGO Advent Calendars, I noticed there were a ton of questions regarding the calendars. I decided it might be nice to have one central place where you can get your questions answered.
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Here are all the answers to the questions I fielded:
When do LEGO Advent Calendars get released?
LEGO tends to release LEGO Advent Calendars in stores in September.
LEGO Stores sold out of the Advent Calendar. Where can I get one now?
You still have a few options for finding a LEGO Advent Calendar if you’re coming late to the game:
You can find the current year and previous year LEGO Advent Calendars on Amazon.com. However, know that if you decide to purchase a previous year calendar, you will probably be paying for the fact it is a retired set. Try and look for the current calendar year to save some money.
Over the past few years, Barnes & Noble has expanded their toy selections in stores to include LEGO products. This also includes the seasonal LEGO Advent Calendars when available. While in store, they may only keep the current advent calendars, if you visit their website, you can also purchase the previous advent calendars, usually for only just a $10 upcharge.
eBay is a great place to find all kinds of LEGO items… including the Advent Calendars. You’ll find, just like Amazon, you will pay more for previous year calendars. However, you’re more likely to get lucky and find a good deal on one here.
Target manages to keep the prices down of their LEGO Advent Calendars, which is nice if you simply don’t get the chance to purchase one at the LEGO store. You can still order them online, if you don’t find one while shopping during Black Friday.
Walmart used to be a reasonable place to get the calendars after they sold out in stores. However, they’ve been cashing in on their popularity and tend to hike the prices the closer you get to December. Great to buy before Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, you’re on your own.
Where do I find instructions for each daily build of the LEGO Advent Calendar?
The instructions are located on the inside of the calendar flap door for that day. For example, here is a photo from Brickipedia that shows you the inside flap of a LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar:
Do all the LEGO Advent Calendars come with minifigures?
Yes and no. If you had asked me last year, I would have said ‘yes’. However, this year, LEGO released a new type of LEGO Advent Calendar as a promotional item for sales of $99 or more in October 2016. This calendar, named the LEGO 24-in-1 Holiday Countdown Advent Calendar (40222), has no minifigures at all.
However, the calendars you expect to see every year in the three different themes (LEGO City, LEGO Friends & LEGO Star Wars), do come with minifigures.
Do you get only exact pieces for the build each day?
No. Most of the time you will get a few spare pieces each day from your build.
What is the best way to store the calendar to rebuild the next year?
While I believe most people simply opt to buy a new calendar and integrate the current year’s calendar into their LEGO collection, but I do have a few friends who store the calendar by day, so that next year, it can be re-opened again. Saves them from having to buy a new calendar each year! (Nothing wrong with being frugal, folks!)
What I’ve seen work best, is storing the parts and instruction card for any given day in a 3×5 ziplock bag, marked with the day with which it corresponds.
Then, depending on how you decorate, you can simply purchase an advent calendar display box and place your bags in the box drawers. Each day, you can pull out a brand new bag and build it all over again!
A quick search for “wooden advent calendar house with drawers” on Amazon produced the following results below:
I’m sure you can find something above that will work just fine!
Hi Susan! Not at all. The years just let you know when they were released. Whether that would be an issue or not when gifting depends on your recipient. If they got an advent calendar last year, they may not want the same one this year. ;)
Are the sets new each year? For instance if I purchased the Friends advent calendar last year does this year’s have the same pieces or new / different from last year?
Hey Heather! All the advent calendars have different builds from year to year.