Christmas spenditure can easily get out of hand when you start totting up the cost of food and drink, presents, and decorations.
But advent calendars are usually one of the holiday season’s cheaper products – for as little as £2 you can pick up a basic one that delivers a tasty treat each day in the run up to December 25. What’s not to love about that?!
Of course, there are brands that are putting their prices up, and some are also tempting shoppers with bigger, more extravagant options filled with everything from beauty products, to jewellery.
When it comes to chocolate, we’ve already seen how M&S has one-upped a number of other advent calendars with their Chocolate Shop one that includes a full-bag of treats on Christmas Day, but it perhaps isn’t the cheapest at £12.
However, if you thought that price was high, you might be horrified to learn there’s a chocolate advent calendar on the market that’s selling for as much as £180.
People have just discovered there’s a giant Lindt advent calendar being sold in Costco, thanks to a video posted on social media by UK Newest Foods.
The anonymous food blogger took one for the team and headed to their nearest branch of the wholesale retailer to buy the product, which is the same height as Sabrina Carpenter — five feet to be exact.
They then proceeded to reveal what’s behind each of the calendar’s 24 doors, and while they were initially excited by the purchase, by the end of the video their feelings had drastically changed.
Now, you won’t find any measly little chocolates inside this advent calendar, instead it’s full-size Lindt gold reindeers and bears, as well as 200g boxes of different flavoured Lindor sweets, Lindt Crispy Bites, a sharing bag of Lindt Teddys, and Lindt Choco Hazelnut wafers.
And while that might be quite a lot of chocolate, is it really £180 worth of stuff? According to UK Newest Foods, the answer is no.
The blogger is reviewing advent calendars online everyday online, and they claim this Lindt one the ‘best and worst’ one in their series.
They told : ‘It’s the best because it’s AMAZING, look at it, it’s 5 foot tall!!! But it’s the worst as it’s terrible value for money, which is such a shame.
‘It cost £180 but I added the cost of the individual products up on the Tesco website as a rough guide, and the total came to £90.’
And they weren’t the only ones that were unhappy with the price. Thousands of social media users liked and commented on their video, with many hailing the advent calendar a ‘scam’ and the ‘biggest rip off ever’.
@amiras.editha said: ‘Looks like a huge scam just for the sake of the advent calendar. Such a shame from Lindt.’ While @_c_l__ agreed, saying: ‘People will buy it just coz of the size and novelty. It’s crazy.’
@dinedrinkandtravelwithme wasn’t happy with the contents either, writing: ‘It’s all about the Lindt balls not their chocolate teddies/Santas etc. What a rip off hey?!’
@_stanners_ on TikTok was also outraged by the price, posting: ‘How much! Those products would probably cost around £50 in B&M!’
Others just couldn’t fathom spending so much on an advent calendar in general, with @lady_bowen proclaiming: ‘That’s just crazy money. Mine costs £2.’
But not everyone was opposed to the product, as @luxegiftsco said: ‘Looks amazing, especially with the full-sized chocolates.’
And @ilikenofriendsbackup admitted they would buy it if they had 180 quid to spare as it ‘looks so nice’. While @cleanyourroom added: ‘I am so jealous that my Costco doesn’t have this!!’
A few people also suggested that the giant advent calendar would be perfect if purchased for a classroom, for kids to open each day as a treat, and others thought it woud also be a good idea to donate one to a hospital for patients to enjoy in the run up to Christmas.
Metro has contacted Costco and Lindt for comment on the advent calendar.
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