From mini jams to classic chocolate, these are the treats you’ll want to buy now if you hope to indulge throughout December

During the holiday season, most of us are so focused on buying gifts for other people that we don’t spend enough time treating ourselves. An advent calendar is an especially festive way to surprise yourself with something nice each of the anticipatory days leading up to Christmas, and it’s even better when you get to enjoy lots of fun little edible and drinkable trinkets.

Sure, it’s only October, but if you want a really great 2026 advent calendar, we highly advise smashing that order (or pre-order) button right now. Not only do many of the most popular advent calendars sell out quickly (i.e. well before December), but early bird shoppers can sometimes find great discounts from chocolatiers, coffee companies, and beyond, offering daily treats that are far more exciting than waxy drugstore chocolate.

While advent calendars have been around since the 19th century, their popularity and ingenuity (and their especially luxurious side) has exploded in recent years (where was my Japanese Kit Kat-filled advent calendar as a kid?). With that popularity has come a dizzying array of new advent calendars for food-lovers. Here are a few of our favorites for 2026.

The advent calendar from this French chocolatier is visually stunning thanks to its 3-D packaging that boasts an equally compelling assortment of treats within. Inside, you’ll find an assortment of the brand’s beloved chocolates, plus a limited-edition holiday bonbon made with candied orange, holiday spices, and milk chocolate. Plus, you can hang it up, giving it a very cool decorative element.

There are a lot of luxury chocolatiers out there, but Dandelion Chocolate takes special care to soliloquize even the most minute details, inspirations, and flavor notes in its chocolates, especially when it comes to its 2026 advent calendar. This beauty is filled with delights inspired by Nordic folklore from various chocolatiers, with each bonbon presented in an individual keepsake box that can hang like an ornament. To add to the whimsy, Dandelion also includes a book of folktales inspired by Nordic mythology, and a keepsake cut-out paper star to hang in your window during the frosty winter nights, per Nordic tradition.

In a departure from the more traditional rectangular advent calendars, this 24-day Oliviers & Co. calendar unfolds to reveal a European street corner flanked by an olive tree. Each of the louver-style doors is filled with a gourmet selection of truffles, jams, oils, and vinegars, making it the perfect calendar for the person with the not-too-sweet sweet tooth.

Classic French jam company Bonne Maman’s advent calendar is a perennial favorite, and for good reason. It’s reasonably priced, and packed with 24 miniature glass jars featuring different (and, in some cases, rare) holiday flavors of the brand’s beloved jams, jellies, and preserves, plus one-offs like caramel with salted butter and raspberry with dark chocolate. Bonus: You get to reuse all those adorably tiny jars all year long.