Custom Advent Calendars UK.
Bespoke or Ready to Go.

Additional Product Information

Custom Advent Calendars for Corporate Gifting

Custom advent calendars are one of the most effective formats for corporate gifting and seasonal brand campaigns. A fully branded calendar — printed with your logo, colours, and messaging — puts your brand on a client's desk every day throughout December. We manufacture bespoke advent calendars from 100 units upwards, with minimum order value £850 for custom printed designs. Digitally or litho printed, with the full range of finishing options including foil blocking, embossing, and anti-scuff lamination.

Self-Fill Advent Calendars

Our self-fill advent calendars are supplied flat with a recyclable rPET vacuum-formed tray for you to fill with your chosen contents. rPET trays contain a minimum of 70% recycled content and are fully recyclable from home collections. Popular fills include Lindt balls, Ferrero Rocher, dog treats, small jewellery, cosmetics samples, and spirits miniatures. Available in a range of standard sizes or custom-sized to your product dimensions. We recommend ordering as early as possible to ensure delivery in time for your campaign.

Luxury Drawer Advent Calendars

Our luxury advent calendars use either pull-out boxes or trays — boxes are the more cost-effective option. Each of the 24 or 25 numbered drawers pulls out individually to reveal the day's gift. The outer can be a channel wall box board construction or a rigid greyboard box (2000 micron) with litho-printed paper wrap. Each drawer is individually numbered and fully printable inside and out. Ideal for premium corporate gifting, luxury retail, and VIP brand activations where the unboxing experience is central to the campaign. We also hold stock luxury drawer designs — available now from lower quantities.

Eco-Friendly Advent Calendars

All our advent calendars are manufactured from FSC or PEFC certified board stock. Vegetable-based inks are used throughout. UK manufactured — reducing supply chain miles. If sustainability is a core requirement for your brief, we can advise on the most eco-effective construction for your contents and quantity.

Custom Advent Calendar Printing UK

Create-This has been producing custom advent calendars printed in the UK since 2007. Our production capability covers digital, litho, and flexo printing on box board, corrugated, and Kraft (brown) board. Custom advent calendars printed in the UK means faster sample turnaround, direct colour approval communication, and no import delays. All standard materials are FSC or PEFC certified. Minimum order value £850. Delivery and VAT extra.

Advent Calendar Buyer's Guide — What to Consider Before You Order

Ordering a custom advent calendar — whether for retail, corporate gifting, or a brand campaign — involves more decisions than most people expect. Having produced advent calendars since 2007, we have put together this guide to help you avoid the most common pitfalls and get the best result for your budget.

1. Quantity affects unit price more than anything else

The lower your quantity, the higher the unit price — this is simply how print and production economics work. When you see mass-produced generic advent calendars at a low cost, it is because the manufacturer has produced thousands, spreading setup and tooling costs across a very large run. If you are ordering a custom size or design, you will also need to factor in cutting forme costs (for die-cutting the box shape) and vacuum-forme tooling costs (for custom rPET trays). The more units you order, the lower each of those costs per unit. If you are considering a larger campaign and think the calendar could be reused year on year, printing without a year on the design and holding stock is worth considering — it significantly reduces your long-term unit cost.

2. If your quantity is small, start with stock

For lower quantities, buying from a stock size is almost always more cost-effective than going fully bespoke. At Create-This we hold a range of pre-printed stock advent calendars — available from 50 units — which are the most cost-effective starting point. The next step up is printing your own design onto a stock-size calendar. Full bespoke — custom size, custom tray, fully branded — makes economic sense from around 250 units upwards, though we can advise based on your specific brief.

3. Style affects cost significantly

Drawer-style advent calendars are extremely popular, but they are also among the most expensive to produce. To put this in context: for an order of 100 calendars, you need 100 outer sleeves and either 2,400 or 2,500 individual drawers. Each of those drawers is a separate component — cut, folded, and assembled. That complexity is reflected in the unit price. A flat self-fill advent calendar with a vacuum-formed tray is a fraction of the cost of a drawer-style construction at the same quantity. We will always tell you the most cost-effective route to achieve the result you are after.

4. Start planning earlier than you think you need to

Advent calendars for Christmas need to be ordered well before December. At Create-This we work on advent calendars all year round, with deliveries throughout the year for different markets and occasions. Our general guidance is to start thinking about your calendars early in the year — ideally in the spring, which gives you time for proper design, sampling, and sign-off. It is never too early to get your design sorted. Leaving it until September is stressful for everyone and may limit your options. Advent calendars made with corrugated inserts can be produced more quickly than those with vacuum-formed trays — vac-form tray production alone can take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks, so factor this in from the start.

5. If you are going bespoke, allow time for sampling

A bespoke advent calendar involves structural design, cutting forme production, a physical unprinted sample for fit testing, artwork sign-off, and then production. Each of those stages takes time. If your contents have unusual dimensions or are fragile, getting the tray design right before print is essential. Do not skip the sampling stage — it protects your investment and avoids costly reprints.

6. Cost-effective graphic design options

If budget is a consideration for artwork, buying a high-resolution image from a stock library such as Shutterstock or Adobe Stock and adapting it is a practical approach. The key requirement is resolution — for print, you need a minimum of 300dpi at the finished size. Low-resolution images will print poorly regardless of how good the design looks on screen. We supply structural templates on receipt of purchase order so your designer or agency can work to the exact dimensions of the calendar.

7. If you are selling the calendar, model the full cost before you commit

If your advent calendar is a retail or revenue-generating product, work through the complete cost model before placing an order. This includes graphic design and artwork, structural production (calendar and inserts), any outer or mailing packaging, contents, fulfilment (inserting and assembling), and shipping. At Create-This we design calendars that you can fulfil yourselves — which saves the cost of outsourced fulfilment, but you need to factor in the time and resource involved. For larger quantities or where time is a constraint, we also offer a complete fulfilment service. Work out which approach makes more sense for your operation before committing.

8. Advent calendars are not just for Christmas

Custom advent calendars are now used for a much wider range of occasions and markets — Diwali, Eid, Ramadan, Hanukkah, weddings, product launches, brand activations, spa and wellbeing campaigns, events countdowns, and corporate onboarding kits. The format is versatile. Before briefing a design, decide clearly what the calendar is for, who it is for, and what it needs to contain. That clarity shapes every other decision — size, tray type, quantity, format, and budget.

9. Choose the right insert for your contents

There are several options for the internal insert that holds your contents. At Create-This we primarily use corrugated inserts and vacuum-formed rPET trays, and we will advise on which is most suitable based on your quantity, contents, and calendar dimensions. rPET trays are made from a minimum of 70% recycled content and are fully recyclable from home kerbside collections. Look at what other brands in your market sector are using — it gives a useful indication of what works well for similar products and price points.

10. Always get a pre-production sample — and test it properly

Before committing to a full production run, always request an unprinted structural sample of both the calendar outer and the insert or tray. Insert your actual contents, check they fit correctly, and ensure they do not move excessively. Then consider transit: if the calendar is being shipped or sent by courier, you need to test it in the outer packaging it will travel in. If you cannot find a suitable stock outer, a custom mailing outer may be required — an outer that is too large or not strong enough will result in damaged calendars arriving at their destination. Do at least one full mailing or shipping test with all contents in place before signing off production.