Presents for each of the 24 days leading up to Christmas!

christmas advent calendar

That’s the modern adaptation of the advent calendar and I think it’s a wonderful concept! It’s basically a countdown to Christmas and having small gifts for each days leading up to the final big present on Christmas Eve. You can make one that gives out:

ice cream

A nice bowl of ice cream on the first day

theatre

Tickets to the theatre for the second day

dinner

A nice dinner outside for the third day

theme park

A trip to a theme park for the fourth day

iberico ham

A nice leg of Iberico Ham for the fifth day

romantic hotel

A night’s stay at a romantic hotel for the sixth day

nature

A day trip getting reacquainted with nature for the seventh day

parfait

Back to a nice parfait for dessert on the eighth day

…and so on up till the 24th day which would be Christmas Eve!

It’s a really fun way to get into the spirit of Christmas and get the holiday festivities going.

It’s also the time to get gifts for loved ones – your friends, family and maybe even yourself. πŸ˜‰

ikea table

One of the pieces of furniture I kept when I moved to this studio is a small table I bought from IKEA that my friend Jamie kindly painted for me. It has since been sitting at a corner of my living room, accumulating all sorts of stuff (which I have unceremoniously dumped under to take this photo).

I moved into a fully furnished studio but you still need the little touches that will personalize it and make it truly your own.

dali

Well, not the trippy stuff that Salvador Dali dreamt up (although tickets to see them would make a great addition to your own advent calendar). For more practical items (that is, things rooted in the real world) IKEA has introduced advent calendar to Malaysia – a tradition that is celebrated in a lot of Nordic countries like Sweden.

advent calendar

It has great bargains for the 24 days leading up to Christmas Eve – the awesome thing about The 2012 IKEA Advent Calendar is that you can see the deals that are coming up by hovering over the day. Keep in mind that the deal is only valid on that day itself so it’s a great way to buy gifts for loved ones at a good deal.

The best thing about the IKEA Advent Calendar is that you can actually peek at deals in advance so you’ll know what the promotions are on a certain date. The deals are really good too – you know that IKEA already operates at a low profit margin so that you can get quality products at the best deals ever.

trofast frame

I’m personally waiting for their TROFAST pine frame at RM 169 (discounted from RM 249) on the 23rd December. It’s actually categorized as toy storage for children but you can use it to store a wide variety of things – I’ve mentioned that my condo lacks space so all my stuff (various personal souvenirs from travels) can go right into this – it’s a great way to save space! πŸ˜€

However, for this, some of the prices on furniture are marked down as much as RM 100 – like this queen size Sultan Tarsta mattress pad:

mattress share

…also if there’s something that catches your eye you can always hint to your friends by sharing the deal on your Facebook Wall. πŸ˜‰

Here’s the link to The 2012 IKEA Advent Calendar so you can help ease your friends Christmas shopping. Heh.

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20 thoughts on “Presents for each of the 24 days leading up to Christmas!”

    • Hello Dora!

      That particular ice cream was in one of the stores run by Movenpick in Germany. I love the toppings though, I didn’t get it myself, was eating when a couple got some for me (they way the run their restaurant over there is great, just pay once for a card and swipe it anywhere inside).

      Cheers! πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Heh! Yeah, it’s better for families or couples, it can be cheap small gifts though, the idea is for celebrating the lead up to Christmas.

      I thought it’s a great custom to have.

      Cheers Charmaine! πŸ™‚

      Reply
  1. I don’t think there will be advent calender for me as I’m literally stuck at home with work after work. =(

    I’m not sure if I would want to buy anything from Ikea since I’ll be moving off soon. I think I’ve mentioned this before in Facebook’s PM. =)

    P.S. Where can I find the parfait and the ice cream?

    Reply
    • Hello Ciana!

      Well, then all the better, you’ll need some comfy furniture. πŸ˜‰

      …but then again you’re moving so it might come in handy for your new place instead.

      The parfait is from Pasta Zanmai in 1U, the ice cream is from a Movenpick store (there are heaps of them in Germany) in Wolfsburg.

      Cheers!

      Reply
      • Nice! I think I can catch a bite of the parfait when I’m in Pasta Zanmai again. =D

        I don’t think I’ll be bringing over the bulky furniture like couches over there, HB but then again, I’ll be bringing the smaller items that I have bought from Ikea’s As-Is like the reading light.

        Reply
        • Hello Ciana! πŸ™‚

          Yup, that’s when I first had it too!

          Nice, I have a reading light from IKEA too! It happened when most of the lights in my condo blew out due to weird power surges that seems to occur over here.

          Cheers! πŸ˜€

          Reply
    • Hello Mela! πŸ˜€

      Yeah, I queued up for close to an hour for both sides! It’s a different ride for each, as you know, the only duelling rollercoaster of it’s kind back then.

      I love the TV series too, am a huge fan of Battlestar Galactica! Good to hear from a fellow fan!

      Cheers! πŸ™‚

      Reply
    • Heh! True that, the idea is for small gifts for the lead up to Christmas.

      I absolutely love the idea of an advent calendar, would do one when I have kids of my own, in the style described in Wikipedia.

      I think it’s going to be awesome!

      Cheers! πŸ™‚

      Reply
  2. still my favorite furniture store, over the years i must have spent over 10-20k there.

    this post reminds me that we need to go there again to pick up some storage solutions

    Reply
    • Heh! True that, I have a lot of IKEA items in my house too – even my cutlery is from IKEA!

      They certainly have a lot of great stuff, and they sell it at a bargain too.

      I remember when I was working in KL back in 2003 that they had bottles of Swedish vodka for RM 30 – that’s 700ml bottles.

      Cheers! πŸ™‚

      Reply
  3. 24 days? I thought only 12 gays…oops…I mean, 12 days of Christmas? LOL!!!! Bet you’ll have a blast this year, you always do…any day anytime of year, right? Wink! Wink!

    Reply
    • Haha! Yeah, it’s supposed to start at the beginning of the month of December and go on till Christmas.

      Indeed! I wish IKEA still carries a lot of the snacks they used to – they had a truly fearsome variety of imported foodstuff at very reasonable prices but they stopped carrying it.

      Especially the vodka, now I used to load up on that coz it was only RM 30 back in 2003 when I was working here – awesome stuff, they don’t sell it anymore.

      Indeed, and a very merry Christmas to you too buddy! πŸ™‚

      Reply
      • Ikea has certainly stopped selling a couple of products but they’ve introduced new items too…. like the ever-elusive gingersnaps. =D

        They once sold vodka?

        Reply
        • Oh yeah, they once sold vodka (quite a little known fact) back in 2003. Not only that, they sold a wide range of affordable import beers and other alcohol too! I was working in KL then (right after graduating from Australia) and a friend called Stephanie told me about where to get the best vodka in KL (technically PJ).

          It’s Svenskt Brannvin vodka – only RM 30 and they also have a wonderful herbal liquor for RM 22.

          The best thing is, this isn’t low quality locally distilled “vodka” but imported, relatively good (great in fact for the price) quality vodka from Sweden. I posted about it back then:

          http://sixthseal.com/2004/02/ikano-power-center-and-ikea/

          There are various theories as to why they stopped selling it, but no one knows the real reason. It certainly undercut any other import liquor in the market by a huge margin. πŸ™‚

          I’ve gotten gingersnaps too! πŸ™‚

          Reply

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