Gibsons Merry Mischief Puzzle Advent Calendar Review

Reviewed by Cath Joyce

When I was a child the only advent calendars you could buy were made of card and were usually a Crib scene, Christmas tree or a Father Christmas. There was certainly no chocolate to discover hiding behind a door, simply a Christmas picture or scene, but getting an Advent calendar was the start of the magical build up to Christmas. I vividly remember the excitement of racing downstairs each morning with my sister to see what was behind the door and, as we didn’t have a calendar each, taking it in turns to open them.

These days it’s not only children who can enjoy a daily surprise, adults can now join in the Christmas fun as Advent calendars have suddenly become a lot more exciting and there are plenty aimed at the adult audience. Packed full of goodies such as chocolate, alcohol, beauty products, tools, stationery etc. there is bound to be one that takes your fancy – although don’t spend too long choosing as the popular ones always sell out quickly!

Gibsons recently sent me their Merry Mischief Jigsaw calendar to try out and just like a traditional advent calendar, there is a treat hidden behind each of the 24 numbered doors.

The advent calendar arrived quickly and when I opened the box, I found a free-standing box decorated as a Christmas present with beautiful illustrations of animals on it. There are 24 numbered doors, 12 on the front and another 12 on the back of the box. The box has a protective sleeve which will be perfect for making sure all the pieces stay safely in their slots when it is packed away after Christmas. The calendar stands 30cm high by 20cm wide and has a depth of 13cm, so sits nicely on a table or chest of drawers.

When you open the numbered doors, you discover a plastic bag containing a festive shaped mini jigsaw. The size of the puzzles vary between 30 to 70 pieces and there is a mix of stockings, baubles, snowmen and Christmas trees shapes, all beautifully illustrated with animals in a festive Christmas scene. Some of my favourites were the penguin party and monkey mayhem and my niece, who has a real thing about unicorns at the minute, was thrilled when she spotted the unicorn in disguise jigsaw.

The jigsaws are easy enough to complete without a picture, however if you do need a little help all the jigsaw images are printed inside the protective sleeve and can easily be seen without cutting the sleeve. The pieces slot together nicely and the average puzzle size is 182mm x 128mm. There are 22 festive puzzles in the box, I hear you say “are there not 24 doors on an Advent calendar” – yes of course there are but behind the remaining two doors you will find puzzle glue and ribbons, meaning that once you have completed your jigsaw you can transform the puzzle into decorations and hang them on your tree or along a mantlepiece or shelf.

As you would expect, it is advised that the glue is used under adult supervision and whenever I let children use glue I always make sure I have covered the table with plenty of newspaper as glue invariably gets everywhere! You simply apply the glue evenly over the front of the puzzle, avoiding the hole at the top and then leave to dry for an hour.

I have really enjoyed making these Christmas puzzles and I think it is a lovely twist on the traditional Advent calendar. If you don’t want to turn the puzzles into decorations then simply put the pieces back in the plastic bags and seal them and it will last for years to come. This is a great quality Advent calendar and will be loved by young and old alike. Highly recommended!

Rating: 5 out of 5

RRP: £32.99

This product can be purchased from Gibsons here.