The market is booming! In France last year there were more than 500 calendar references in stores, three times more than five years ago! And it should continue to increase… Advent calendars with chocolates or figurines of course, but also advent calendars with “beauty products” are what are most popular, or even the calendars of “DIY” Advent: big trend for 2024. Bits, sockets, wood bits… so many surprises in each issue!
The Advent calendar is diversifying, a century after its creation in Germany – because yes, for once it doesn't come from the United States. The concept was born in 1920 to keep children waiting until Christmas. Now it's for adults and no one has to wait!
Social networks, TikTok in the lead, are full of Advent calendar unboxing videos which are often among the most watched and most liked of the accounts that offer them. Last year the hashtag #calendardelavent exceeded 1.4 billion views. That gives you an idea of the phenomenon!
And what exactly is there to see? Torrents of breathtakingly suspenseful videos where people rush to open boxes and list surprises in front of the camera, while those watching wonder: will the calendar be “validated”? – that is to say appreciated by the unpacker… Is the packaging up to the content? Is the content worth the purchase price? So many existential questions!
To view this TikTok content, you must accept cookies Advertisement.
These cookies allow our partners to offer you personalized advertising and content based on your browsing, your profile and your interests.
Manage my choices I authorize
This year, Sephora's beauty calendar, which has a very profitable reputation, has been reversed so badly that it's already out of stock. Sold for double on the second-hand Vinted app! The disappointments and even the “tears” follow one another in the comments under the videos of the lucky people who were able to obtain it!
This is obviously big madness on an ecological and climatic level, with mountains of packaging waste to blame, an “advent calendar” madness which can be explained by the meeting between the heavy trend of unboxing , these unboxing videos, which reign supreme on the networks, the brands which shower influencers, and flood the stores, the little nostalgia of childhood of course and… the passion for the sounds of packaging with relaxing effects , we call it ASMR! In short, a hellish cocktail!
