Advent calendars are now seen by many as a core part of the beauty brand’s festive offering. They are a great must-have addition for beauty brand fans, and the addition of a high RRP item is perfect for building excitement for a brand’s consumer following. They are also an influencer’s dream; gorgeous packaging makes the best unboxing reels and #beautyadventcalendar is tagged 30,000 times on Instagram.

The media love to celebrate the top calendars of the year when they are pre-launched in October, so they’re a sure-fire way to get some great PR if timed right. Almost all major magazines and some of the UK’s most loved TV programmes have featured the best calendars for 2020, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and This Morning. So, to make sure they stand out in the crowd, it all comes down to how they look just as much as what is inside.

We are also noticing a trend for sustainable advent calendars, where plastic is replaced by paper and other recyclable elements. The Espa calendar we created this year, for example, is sophisticated and luxurious, while being totally paper and card-based, with limited foiling to ensure it is fully recyclable. If your brand’s products are clean and sustainable, then we know that consumers are very conscious that sustainability should also be maintained throughout packaging too.

But does your brand need an advent calendar, and how do you make sure that you are featured in those top advent calendars listings in 2021?

Well, we know from our experience at Hunter Luxury that a lot of work goes into coming up with the perfect concept for our brands. The “Bejewelled Chest of Beauty Treasures”, a 12-door wonder that we created with the team at Charlotte Tilbury for 2020 is the result of around 16 months of work, from concept theme, through to meticulous design and development then into production, for delivery in time for October launch. The final piece this year includes incredible detailing and finishing; Charlotte herself especially loves the glass crystal drawer handles, an embellishment conceived by the team at Hunter, and a feature that ensures a transition from packaging into dressing table furniture that will live on way beyond Christmas.

What has the Hunter Luxury team learnt about luxury advent calendars over the years…

12 or 24 days, both are popular, but many brands are opting for 12 days to maximise the number of full-size items they can include. So, it’s really important to think about the size of the products, as well as their weight before considering the style of advent calendar to choose, especially now that e-commerce is such a huge part of business, and shipping costs are an increasingly important factor.

At Hunter Luxury, we have been briefed to create a wide range of styles of advent calendar, and each has their own structures which must be highly engineered to make the unboxing experience as enjoyable as possible. Drawers with individually wrapped items rest on a structured framework, as seen with traditional wooden advent calendars. Many brands now opt for removable boxes that slot together like a game of Tetris to create an impressive style. Some brands are opting for completely unstructured boxes filled with reusable fabric bags, to create a child-like experience of searching for the right date! Or why not introduce alternative materials to encourage second use, for example, tin, wood, sustainable fabric, etc. which can really elevate the brand. Or how about focusing on an amazing, memorable reveal to really impress consumers.

People love a calendar that is a little bit extra - whether featuring a ribbon, clever opening mechanism, secret compartment, decorative features, metalwork, the options available are only limited by your imagination. So, think of how these could be added to really increase the wow factor, as the team at Charlotte Tilbury did. The “Bejewelled Chest of Beauty Treasures” achieved coverage in over 250 media items between October and December and has been shortlisted for the Luxury Packaging Awards Seasonal Pack category 2020.

So, with all of this in mind, if advent calendars are something you want to introduce for 2021 for your brand but you just do not have 16 months to plan - well of course, anything is possible with Hunter Luxury. With support, clever design, and quick turnarounds, an initial brief placed in the New Year could still result in a beautiful advent calendar to add to your festive product range, delivered in time to feature in those 2021 top advent calendar lists too.

To find out more, and discuss your advent calendar needs for 2021, contact Pippa Bell – pippabell@hunterluxury.com