Last Updated on July 9, 2023
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LEGOs are popular in our house. We’ve bought and received different sets of various sizes as gifts for years. They’re always well liked by both the kids and kids at heart in our family, and I appreciate how they promote spatial hands-on learning. We typically get LEGOs from retailers such as Target or Amazon, but this year I spotted some small fall- and winter-themed LEGO building sets at Aldi.
Most of what Aldi sells is under its various house brands, and they tend to sell only a limited number of name brands such as Coca-Cola, Cheerios, and Hershey chocolate. So it’s not common to see Aldi selling products such as LEGO building sets. The only other time I can remember Aldi selling LEGO products is when they offer LEGO Advent calendars during the holiday season, so these little seasonal building sets caught my attention. I bought one of each of the fall and winter LEGO sets with the idea that they’d be good projects for the kids and would also serve as fun seasonal decorations on a shelf.
LEGO Halloween Owl on the left, and LEGO Christmas Penguin on the right.
The LEGO Halloween Owl (40497) and the LEGO Christmas Penguin (40498) each cost $12.99 at Aldi at the time of publication. The owl set includes 228 pieces (in three small bags) while the penguin set has 244 pieces (in four small bags). These LEGO sets are not exclusive to Aldi. The owl and penguin sets both cost $14.99 on Amazon at the time of publication, so these are a slightly better deal at Aldi.
These are Aldi Finds, so they’re only at Aldi for a short time. Each store gets one shipment, and after that sells out, they’re gone. If you still want these LEGO sets after they sell out at Aldi, you’ll have to buy them from another retailer. Aldi does not offer online ordering for products that aren’t in stock at your local store.
These are part of a larger line of holiday-themed LEGO sets that also include a teddy bear with hearts for Valentine’s Day and an Easter bunny with eggs, both sold separately. I haven’t seen the Valentine’s Day or Easter LEGO sets at Aldi, but it’s possible they might show up as those holidays approach.
The Halloween and Christmas sets come with all the LEGO blocks you need in order to build the owl or penguin and surrounding habitat shown on the boxes, along with an illustrated color manual with assembly instructions. The completed owl set also includes several small pumpkins, while the penguin set includes a decorated Christmas tree and some gift boxes.
Side view.
An older elementary-aged child in my house assembled both of these sets entirely without adult help, and it took about 30-50 minutes per set. Our resident builder recommends that when you first open a box to begin building, just go ahead and open all the small bags at once because the pieces you’ll need are scattered among all the bags. Our kid builder also remarked that in the illustrated manuals, some of the darker-colored pieces are hard to see clearly. Our builder also said these are easy to build compared to other LEGO sets, but they take a little while because you have to build the inner core of each animal, which requires a good number of blocks. The blocks that make up the core come in several different colors such as pink, red, yellow, and green, but those colors are hidden once you build the animal’s outer shell.
Back view.
These sets both have some unusual bricks not in common LEGO shapes. Both sets includes eye bricks, beaks, and some unique feather and wing bricks. The owl also has interesting eyebrow bricks.
When these sets are fully built, and owl and the penguin can both turn on their platforms if you touch them, and the penguin’s wings can move up and down a little. The owl seems a little more secure on its platform, while we had an unfortunate accident with our penguin set. While moving it and holding only the base, the penguin fell off and landed on the floor, knocking a few pieces off in the process. So we recommend that if you move these sets — for example, from a table where you built them to a shelf where they can be displayed — you should hold the base with one hand and hold the animal figure steady with your other hand.
Other than their precarious nature if you’re moving them around, these sets are cute and make nice seasonal or holiday display pieces. They can be put on a shelf or tabletop and may make for a fun conversation piece during Halloween or Christmas.
The Verdict:
The LEGO Halloween Owl and the LEGO Christmas Penguin are small holiday-themed building sets that feature an owl with pumpkins on a platform or a penguin with Christmas tree and gifts on a platform. These are fairly easy for kids about mid-elementary age and up to build, but they will appeal to people of all ages who like LEGOs. They make a great tabletop decoration, centerpiece, or shelf display during Halloween and Christmas. Their low price means they would also make good budget-friendly gifts for LEGO fans. While they’re not exclusive to Aldi, you’ll get the best deal by a few dollars on them at Aldi while supplies last.
