In 2024, I had the crazy idea to purchase as many quilty (and quilty-adjacent) advent calendars as I could find. I ended up with 19 Advent calendars – two were chocolate, one was tea, one was cross stitch, and one was knock knock jokes… but the rest were from quilt shops big and small. I opened them live each day in December. We had so much fun that month in the YouTube community that I did it again for 2025, and decided that this year I would do a big wrap-up to review all of the advent calendars we opened in December of 2025.
Wrap up video
The week after Christmas, I did a live wrap-up video, asking opinions from the whole community as we went through the numbers. I then turned the numbers into a fancy “infographic” that I’ll share with you below, along with all the details and links.
The infographic
Here is an overview of the advent calendars purchased, how much they cost, what the total cost was, which were the best in various categories, and some overall stats from the live and recorded videos throughout December.
If you’d like a PDF of this image, sign up for my email newsletter using the form below, and I’ll send you a PDF that you can save on your computer, or print out if you love having paper copies of things.
This form will not respond to repeated submissions. Fill out the form once. An email will be sent to your inbox within 60 seconds. If you do not see the email, check your spam folder. Mark the email as “not spam” to avoid future issues.
The full list of Advent Calendars ordered
I chose 22 different Advent calendars, for a total of $3,599.03. I had some specific criteria in mind when I was looking at the advents. First, I wanted Advent calendars that looked fun to me. To me, getting notions is very fun, so I focused on advent calendars that looked like they would offer a variety of notions, and possibly some fabric.
$20.00 Mindful Activity – a small tin with more than 25 different holiday activity ideas. This would be great for intentionally putting in a family advent, with a different activity for kids each day.
$30.87 Personalized Dad Joke – some hilarious, awful, and awfully hilarious holiday riddles in advent-calendar format. It was ordered from the UK, so some of the British terms made things extra fun.
$39.99 Tea Advent – World Market – each day had 2 bags of tea, and the teas were delicious. Most repeated at some point during the 24 days. I don’t do well with green tea, and this had no green tea but several Chai teas (which I loved)!
$44.89 Trimits Advent Calendar Cross Stitch – First time ordering this calendar. Full and generously-sized cross-stitch designs with holiday motifs. 12 days total. Would be great for gifting the kits to a group that enjoyed stitching as party favors or stocking stuffers.
$80.00 Sees Candy Advent Calendar – Delicious Sees chocolates in the most darling house-shaped advent box with drawers for each day! The less expensive of the two chocolate advents purchased this year (as chocolate is absolutely quilty-adjacent).
$84.40 Cross stich advent – 24 small cross stitch designs. Last year were “vacation” motifs, this year were Christmas motifs. Each is small enough to finish within an hour or so. Designs are less than 2″ square. Comes in a large matchbox.
$90.00 KATM Label Advent – If you love labels, this is the Advent Calendar for you! At the end of 24 days, you have a very versatile label collection to use throughout the year.
$119.15 Gourmet Fudge – Generous portions lovely for sharing, each day was a different fudge flavor! The “death by chocolate” was a favorite, but there were so many delicious fudge offerings!
$124.33 8 Days of Hanukkah Quilters Delight – Included Hanukkah patterns and projects to stitch over 8 days, with themed fabric. Perfect if you like projects or kits.
$150.00 Cotton Cuts – Rosa’s Holiday Your Way (Notions) – A non-numbered package of 13 different notions that can be opened all in one day, used as stocking stuffers, or used as gifts for a countdown to Christmas.
$163.00 Aurifil – A different thread each day for 24 days, with thread weights varying from floss to sewing threads, in a wide variety of colors. Included is a QR code that takes you to a collection of patterns and ideas that can be sewn with the thread.
$174.95 Camberville Threads – A great assortment of notions and Fat Quarters that will delight just about any quilter. Hard to go wrong with this box.
$183.00 Mini Quilt Advent + Bonus days – Each day includes a custom acrylic template and a pattern to make a quilt block. 12 and 24 day options available. Once all the blocks have been made, sew them into a mini quilt. Each day includes video instructions. Fabric kit available, or use your own fabrics.
$199.00 Stitch Supply Company – A fun assortment of notions with the modern quilter in mind. This year’s box was designed by Rashida Coleman-Hale. Past years have included a customization option.
$215.45 MSQC – A large box with 25 gifts that vary from notions to projects to patterns to quilty-themed gifts (such as a mug or charcuterie board).
$225.00 Little Sandy’s – Fabulous assortment of notions and projects, with a large tote bag included. If you want a little of everything from an independent quilt shop, this is a solid choice. Ranked #6 in viewer voting when related to cost.
$230.00 Domesticity – Great mix of quilty gift items, notions, projects, and local specialties. Sent in reusable, hand-stamped cloth bags. Keep the bags and send them back in for a discount on next year’s Advent Calendar.
$250.00 Sallie Tomato – This advent box is focused on bag makers, so gifts included bag patterns, hardware, faux leather and cork for making bags.
$250.00 Bella Rose – Daily patterns for a fun snowman quilt made block-by-block, as well as daily gifts of all kinds. Plenty of notions, fabrics, and projects in this advent box. Ranked #1 by viewers for the Advent Calendars with 12 days or fewer, and #3 when votes were compared to cost.
$275.00 Carmons – We’ll be purchasing this Advent Calendar again next year. My box was misplaced by the shipper, so Carmon’s generously sent a replacement box. Though the replacement wasn’t a perfect match for the Advent Calendar we were supposed to get, it was a favorite.
$325.00 Vicky’s Fabrics – Sent from Vicky’s Fabrics in Hawaii, the Hawaiian themed fabrics, fun notions, and great patterns are always a hit! One of the most expensive, but worth the price!
$325.00 Soft Squares – 24 day – Soft Squares also has a 12 day option that has no overlap with the 24 day version. This Advent was ranked #1 of the 24 and 25 day Advents in viewer voting, and #2 when the rank was related to cost. Unique and fun items for quilters.
Want to see what was in the advent calendars without watching 25 different videos? Near the end of December, I took a video of (nearly) everything that came in all the advent calendars. Here is a quick peek:
Viewing Stats
We have a very fun community that gathers during the lives each morning in December – a month that can be challenging for many folks who live alone or don’t have extended family nearby. We sit down with our tea and share about new grandbabies that have been born (or a new litter of puppies). This December was unique (as they always are in their own way). I had to step away for a few days for a family emergency, and did extra live “catch up” videos when I returned. This meant that with the pre-opening videos and the wrap up videos, we had a total of 28 videos, with 21 of them being live.
Our peak live audience was 210 quilters all on the live at the same time! On average, we had 133 quilters in the live at any time. On average, each live video had 1,150 chats, with the peak being 1,489 chats in one live video! And when I totaled up the total amount of time that all the viewers watched all the videos live, recorded, and in replay, it came to over 33 YEARS of collective watch time! I feel so fortunate to have spent all that time with so many quilters!
Thank you
Thank you to all the quilters who joined in the lives or watched the replays each day. It was such a pleasure spending my December with you. I’ve already pre-ordered several Advent Calendars so we can (hopefully) do it again in 2026!
Leave A Reply!