United StatesSpend Christmas amidst the bright lights of London with our latest animated Advent Calendar. 25 days of hidden surprises, games, puzzles, recipes and much more. For our 2021 Advent Calendar, we’re inviting you to join us in the vibrant, bustling city of London for 25 days of Christmas fun. Every day conceals a new surprise, and on top of that there are games and puzzles, a Christmas tree decorator and a new version of our ever-popular snowflake maker, specially arranged Christmassy music, a recipe book, and much more to amuse you every day as Christmas approaches. Our Advent Calendar features: • An incredibly detailed main scene with hidden surprises • A new animated story or activity every day • Loads of hidden surprises, puzzles and games to play • A recipe book with mouth-watering seasonal recipes • A music player with a selection of tasteful Christmas music Have fun playing Christmas games: • Decorate your own Christmas Tree and see it appear in the main scene • Design your own snowflakes using our ever-popular snowflake game • A brand new “match three” game on a Christmas theme Find delicious recipes for: • Christmas pudding • Mince pies • Trifle • Much more! Here at Jacquie Lawson, we’ve been making interactive digital Advent Calendars for over 10 years, and our latest version is the best yet! Incorporating the wonderful art and music for which our ecards have justly become famous, it has become an unmissable part of the countdown to Christmas for thousands of families across the world. Download your Advent Calendar now! --- What is an Advent calendar? A traditional Advent Calendar is a Christmas scene printed on cardboard, with little paper windows – one for each day of Advent – which open to reveal further Christmas scenes, so the user can count the days to Christmas. Our digital Advent Calendar is much more exciting, of course, because the main scene and the daily surprises all come alive with music and animation! Strictly, Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve, but most modern Advent Calendars – ours included – start the Christmas countdown on 1st December. We also depart from tradition by including Christmas Day itself!
Boringly Video Heavy/Un-interactive
Although I quite enjoyed these calendars for years (and love the ways in which the scenes have expanded recently), one significant trend greatly detracts from the calendar’s uniqueness, appeal and what once made it so enjoyable. Prior to 2020, Jacquie Lawson advent calendars offered a delightful mix of interactive activities interspersed with other features, including videos. This provided the user with a bright sense of anticipation and mystery from day to day. However, for the past two years, the calendar has slid dramatically towards endless daily videos. Some are quite charming (while others are just plain cutesy), but a steady diet of them on a daily basis makes the entire experience tedious and predictable. Hence the calendar loses its freshness, which greatly detracts from the joy of using it. Meanwhile, not only is there a drastic decrease in interactive activities, there are hardly any games now. In fact, there were no card games of any kind this year. All this gave me much less reason to spend time in my London home (which seemed under-decorated, by the way. It really could have used a festive garland along the staircase, for balance). There was really very little reason to be there, which was a huge letdown. As for the main scene, I found it drab, even with the lanterns, whose style and colors you could alter (a nice touch!). It was all just very grey. I did notice little upgrades that appeared as the month went on, like an additional boat (to make it three), and what seemed like the addition of a passing railroad in the distance (charming!) The inclusion of Big Ben, which chimed the way the real one naturally does was just wonderful (and useful if you kept the calendar open). However, even with all the decorative elements, the scene had a drab feel from the very first, and that feeling never really did go away. All in all, for anyone who got to experience the joy of the Edinburgh calendar, the Cotswolds, or even the magnificent Nordic calendar of 2020 (despite the sharp increase in videos, which was *not* a plus) the London edition was a big letdown. So I pray that the designers and developers will take this to heart, because if the goal was to bring joy to the Christmas season, there was much less of that this year. Bring back the interactive activities and keep the videos to a minimum! This would make all the difference! Lastly, thanks for making the calendar into an app. Much appreciated!
United StatesKinda disappointing this year
I am a long time fan of Jacquie Lawson Advent calanders. I really love that they have now added an app so they can be done and played on phone or iPad. This year, I found the scene very flat and only focused on the front layer. In past years, it was so fun to see the scene come more and more alive every day. This year, hardly anything changed except the building being lit. To me this is my biggest critique. Tho there were some adorable videos, I found the overall calendar boring, even tho I love London. And added suggestion….go back to letting us search the scene for the days video. This years took that fun away from us as it opened directly to the video. I will definitely buy next years. But hope this critique is helpful for future development. My husband and I love the break Christmas balls/ candy break game. I love the tree decorating, snowflakes, cookie decorating, snowmen.
United StatesNot happy
Really disappointed in this years app. Last years was so much more fun and interactive. This was pretty boring. Not sure I will purchase one next year. Even my six year old grandson noticed the difference. Very sad.
United StatesAlways a delight but….
Reading the reviews shows me all the different features enjoyed by so many. Our family misses the wonderful videos from last year but I get why Lawson must have reined them in. The videos were wonderful for our toddler grandchildren, this year’s games not a hit.
United StatesDisappointing compared to prior year’s
The background scene while beautifully detailed is almost totally static which was not the case last year. The colors are flat except for the “main” street. The ornaments are okay but nowhere near as fun as the gnomes which were interactive once you got them on your shelf. The recipes include products I’ve never heard of and have no idea where I’d ever find them. I bought this for myself & 3 friends which I had done last year as well. No one is enjoying this one like last years. I will need to preview next year’s before deciding to buy it again, especially for other people. The end was very disappointing- last year the gnomes as a group sang a song. Ornaments, of course, couldn’t do anything special. They’re sending you to the Country cottage which is ok but the furnishings are limited & after a while you run out of things to buy with the coins you earn playing the games.
United StatesI used to love these advent calendars
I’ve always loved these calendars. Looking for (and “opening”) the daily ornament, playing the games, watching the town light up, seeing my customized “activities” show up (like snowflakes). Last year and this year, however, were quite disappointing. It has been much less interactive - few games (and none that show up later (like snowflakes, cookies, etc); no searching for the daily calendar to open, it simply presents itself each day; few activities; all the daily ornaments are simply videos that don’t even appear to show up later in the scene. And the music didn’t even change. All in all, it was quite boring. I’m sad, but I think I’ll go back to paper advent calendars next year or seek out a new online calendar.
United StatesWonderful Christmas Spirit!
The best 4.99 I have spent in a long time. Will look for this each year. The content was great, graphics spectacular, music perfect. Had so much fun with this. Each day my 11 year old and I would open the date and really enjoyed it.
United States
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