I bought the 5496 'Christmas At Home' Advent Calendar - and I don't even celebrate Christmas! I just wanted the contents, but as I'd never had a Playmobil Advent Calendar before, I thought I'd set up the background and then open the doors in order, as a child would. And, actually, that was great fun, so I'm posting this review as a commentary on each day's door opening - though, of course, they were really all opened one after another on the same afternoon.
But to start before that:
The box sleeve shows the order of the surprises; what one gets on which day, but that sleeve can be removed before the child sees it.
They will still see a picture of much of what is to come, but won't know which day they will receive which item.
A warning: take care if you are going to cut the tapes holding the cardboard sleeve around the actual calendar. When I was cutting one of them, I caught my scissors in a piece of plastic, and I was quite shocked to find how close I'd come to cutting the edge of the background scenery.
The background scenery is nice (I like the voile curtains at the windows). The rectangular hole to the right is to hold an item later.
The first item on 1 December is a girl klicky, followed by kittens (and accessories) on 2 December. This is a great start, because if a child didn't want to set up the Christmas scene, she or he still has toys that can be played with, or added to their existing Playmobil scenarios.
4, 5, and 6 December bring a cool pink chair, an Advent Wreath, and Dad. I really like Dad: in his jacket and tie he looks ready for his work, and yet he is not 'perfectly' smart like a businessman in an advert. He's much more Real than that.
7 December = a coffee table - not very exciting to me, as I already have several of these, but if a child doesn't have one already, then I'm sure they'd like it. And on 8 December comes the wonderful tray of cookies. Stars, moons, trees, hearts, and gingerbread people. I really like these, and in my Playmobil Land they will certainly be served all year round.
Dad gets a white chair on 9 December.
10 December brings two cushions and two wine glasses. Each cushion comes in two halves - two white halves and two pink halves - and the instructions show how the two white halves are put together, and the two pink halves are put together, resulting in one white and one pink cushion. But I paired up the white halves with the pink halves so that, depending how I display them, I can have two white cushions, two pink cushions, or one white and one pink.
I think the two wine glasses are intended for the two adults in the set, but as there is only one adult available at this point, the wine has turned into a fruit drink, and the child is sharing it with Dad.
11 December and the first gift arrives. The gift box comes with a handbag, but in the end there are far more gifts or potential gifts than there are gift boxes, so eventually there is freedom to choose which items will be gifts (and which are just part of the scene), and which gift boxes they will go in. The gift boxes are superb, sturdy plastic and reusable, and as they are not Christmas-themed, they can be used as gift boxes for any occasion.
A puppy and bowl arrived on 12 December, and then for 13 December, I pulled out this:
That's a very poor photo, because actually those parts are grey, but whatever the colour - I found them very confusing, and looked at the box sleeve for a hint about what these things might be - ski poles perhaps?
It turned out that 13 December's surprise is packed in
two bags, and I'd taken out only one of them. All became clear when I retrieved the second bag. The 'ski poles' are part of a very nice candlestick arrangement.
14 December yields another gift box, plus a watch, a camera, and a tank-like toy. The toy came in two parts, and I needed to refer to the instructions to put it together; its shape/design wasn't something I recognised. If I'd bought this Advent Calendar for a child, I'd hope that two weeks in, I still had the instructions kept safely somewhere!
A nice side table with a drawer arrives on 15 December.
And on 16 December, there's a wooden-looking Nativity Scene, plus some holiday gift cards. The gift cards need stickers on, so I had to put them aside for now - I can't do stickers.
I can't imagine that I'll have much use for a Nativity Scene, but it does look nice. The star is a bit difficult though. The 'stick' to fix it through the hole in the stable roof feels quite flimsy and vulnerable. I tried twice to insert the star straight, but dare not try again, in case I broke it. I think, also, that it will have to be stored in an individual tray compartment, not thrown in with 'decorative items', or else it will surely get broken.
17 December = a jewellery box with a padded lining sticker, plus a little jewel to attach to the gold necklace. I imagine that it will look good when it is put together.
At last! Another child arrives on 18 December. A cool little boy with a hood.
He didn't have a chair to sit on, but he seems quite comfortable in the cat basket.
Only six more days to go - but quite a few more photos, and I'll get back with those a bit later.
