You can spoil your kids before Christmas day even arrives with the variety of Advent calendars aimed at kids these days. In addition to chocolate calendars, Aldi sells a range of kid-themed calendars targeted at all kinds of interests from Hot Wheels to Barbie to Paw Patrol to Little People.
While I have personally veered away from the toy calendars because my kids’ playroom is full enough as it is, one calendar for kids that caught my attention at Aldi is the storybook calendar. As a family of readers, we love the idea of getting a new tiny storybook every day during Advent. I don’t expect it to be high-quality literature, but it’s still fun and a great way to practice reading skills.
I purchased the Disney Storybook Collection Advent Calendar, which cost $9.99 during the 2020 holiday season. Aldi also sold a Disney Frozen Storybook Collection Advent Calendar and a Marvel Advent Calendar, both for $9.99 as well. That comes out to about 42 cents per storybook.
The package states that the 2020 edition has 24 new stories for the year, and this calendar is recommended for ages 3 and older.
It’s designed to look like a giant hardcover book that fastens shut with a small ribbon tie on the right side. It opens up like a giant hard poster board/cardstock display (like a science fair display board) featuring 24 envelopes fastened on, and each envelope holds a small paperback book in a decorative paper wrapper. As you reveal each day’s new book, you can store the books back in their original envelopes to keep them all safe and handy, or you can put them on your own bookshelf or in a small basket.
The back of the calendar with a list of the included books. (Click to enlarge.)
According to the information on the back of the calendar package, this year’s storybooks include:
- Belle to the Rescue
- Frozen II
- Huey, Dewey & Louie’s Christmas Wish
- Pinocchio: The Perfect Gift
- Cars: The Best Present Ever
- Monsters, Inc.: Christmas Laughs
- Donald Duck’s Christmas Tree
- 101 Dalmatians: The Puppies’ First Christmas
- Disney Princess: Ghosts of Christmas Past
- Olaf’s Frozen Adventure
- Mickey’s Christmas Carol
- Mickey & Minnie’s Gift of the Magi
- Disney Princess: The Christmas Treasure Hunt
- Robin Hood: Christmas for Everyone
- Dumbo’s Snowy Day
- Disney Pixar’s Onward
- Winnie the Pooh: The Sweetest Christmas
- Disney Princess: The Christmas Feast
- Wreck-It Ralph: Wreck the Halls
- Bambi: The Wonderful Winter Tree
- Finding Nemo: A Big Blue Christmas
- Toy Story: A Toy Christmas
- A Gift for Wall-E
- Lady and the Tramp: Lady’s Christmas Surprise
The books in this calendar are published by Autumn Publishing, an imprint of Igloo Books Group, which sells a range of children’s books and books for adults that include puzzles, adult coloring books, and more. Igloo Books is part of Bonnier Books UK. This calendar was manufactured in China.
The calendar opens like a giant science fair poster board display, with each day’s book nestled inside a paper wrapper and tucked into a numbered envelope.
We are nearly through opening the books in this calendar. They’re all small paperbacks, but in terms of story length they’re fairly substantial for picture books, with a good number of words per page.
The storybook for the first day, alongside its wrapper.
The inside of one of the books, Mickey’s Christmas Carol.
My elementary-aged child looks forward to and enjoys unpackaging a new book each morning. They’re colorful and feature a good mix of characters from old Disney classics such as Bambi and Lady and the Tramp along with more recent movies such as Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, and Toy Story. Overall, this calendar is a win for our family.
The Verdict:
The Disney Storybook Collection Advent Calendar contains 24 small storybooks for each day of Advent. If you want a calendar that doesn’t have chocolate or plastic toys, or if you just want to encourage reading, this is a good option.
