Why advent calendar unboxing videos are my favourite kind of holiday content

I don’t celebrate Christmas, but I have somehow become deeply invested in other people’s advent calendar hauls. Every year, I find myself watching strangers open tiny doors to reveal miniature perfumes, lipsticks, chocolates and other things I neither need nor necessarily intend to buy. And yet, the suspense of what comes next gets me every time. Apparently, I don’t need to be counting down to Christmas to enjoy counting down to someone else’s next reveal.

This year, the unboxing season seems to have started particularly early. Advent calendars are appearing on our feeds months before December, turning what was once a festive countdown into a full-blown internet obsession. From beauty and fragrance to candles and chocolate, there is always another calendar to open, another surprise to anticipate and another reason to keep scrolling.

The gift that keeps on giving

There is a reason I will happily watch someone open 25 little boxes when I could simply look up the contents online. It’s the suspense. Each door offers a new discovery, whether it is a miniature fragrance you've never tried, a lipstick in a surprisingly wearable shade, or a product you had no idea existed. A creator I follow has been unboxing more than 50 advent calendars this year, having started as early as September. It's a lot of tiny doors, and yet somehow, I’m still watching, eager to know what comes next.

Luxury calendars take the anticipation up a notch. Dior’s advent calendar, for instance, draws viewers in with its selection of products and the additional gifts that can accompany the experience. There is something wonderfully excessive about receiving a present every day for nearly a month, even if you are watching someone else do it. It’s the grown-up equivalent of being told you can open just one present today, except there are 24 more waiting for you. And you can watch someone else do it without spending a dime.

Is it the deal, or the dopamine?

Of course, there is also the appeal of getting more than you paid for. Advent calendars bundle multiple products into one purchase, and the combined value can be considerably higher than the price of the calendar itself. For anyone who enjoys discovering new beauty products or building a fragrance collection, that makes them particularly tempting. But the internet is also very good at spotting when a calendar is relying on its packaging to do most of the heavy lifting. A luxurious-looking box can only get you so far if the big reveal is a keychain.

This is where the unofficial audit begins.

Viewers scrutinise the contents, compare the products with previous editions, and decide whether a calendar lives up to the hype. A miniature skincare product? Fair enough. A mirror you could have gotten for free? Less exciting. A calendar promising a month of surprises should probably deliver more than 25 variations of branded merchandise. The comments section becomes a courtroom, with viewers judging every reveal and deciding whether the calendar is worth the splurge. Sometimes the most entertaining part of the unboxing is watching everyone collectively decide that it absolutely is not.

There’s a calendar for that?

Skincare and makeup might dominate the unboxing videos, but advent calendars have expanded into some wonderfully specific territory.

There are calendars filled with different types of chocolate, tiny jars of jam, others featuring cheeses and accompaniments for a daily mini cheeseboard, and versions dedicated to hot sauces, condiments and snacks. Instead of another lipstick or perfume, you could be discovering a new spread for your toast or something to put on your next snack plate. It is essentially a month of edible recommendations, delivered one door at a time. 

And food is only the beginning.

There are advent calendars for tea drinkers, coffee enthusiasts, stationery obsessives, pet parents, and even those who would rather add a new piece to their jewellery collection than unwrap another skincare sample. Some are charmingly practical; others are so niche that you wonder who asked for them, before realising you would quite like one yourself. That is part of the appeal: there seems to be a calendar for almost every interest, and the more unexpected the contents, the more compelling the reveal.

Christmas may be the original excuse, but the internet has turned the advent calendar into a celebration of collecting little things. Perhaps that is why I keep coming back, despite having no Christmas countdown of my own.

Advent calendar unboxings offer the simple pleasure of opening a present, the curiosity of discovering something new, and the satisfaction of seeing what someone else gets. I may not be buying 25 little treats for December, but I am perfectly happy watching other people do it. And if the internet starts unboxing next year's calendars in August, I suspect I’ll be there for that, too.

Lead image: Pexels 

Also read: How watching cringe content on the Internet is my survival strategy

Also read: Team Cosmo’s quirkiest doomscrolling addictions, revealed