After reading a review on a Lego advent calendar before Christmas I had pretty much decided to buy one for my son. Amazon is often my first point of call for things these days and whilst on there I noticed playmobil advent calendars too and so I decided to give my son a choice of which he would like. He chose the playmobil post office set.

The package arrived quite quickly and as it was around a week or so before the 1st of December I put it on top of the display unit we have in the dining kitchen. The main reason I did this was because there was an instruction book in the slip case and on this it showed which items of playmobil you would receive each day! Whilst I realise it is a good idea to document what you get in the kit I felt it was a bit silly to say when you get them as this ruins the element of surprise for the child should they get hold of the instruction book!

The actual advent calendar is a thick cardboard box which is obviously much wider than normal advent calendars so that it can fit the playmobil pieces in. The front features a picture using items you will receive in the calendar which is a nice idea I think. Much like other advent calendars there is a tab at the top of the calendar which has a hole in for you to pin the calendar up. I actually used three pins here as well as big blobs of blutak in all corners to ensure it stayed up on the wall and this worked well.

The doors on the calendar are all obviously numbered and are not uniform in size to accommodate the varying pieces of playmobil behind them. My son found that the doors were a tad tricky to open and so I would run my finger nail along the perforation for him and then he was fine to do the rest independently. We didn't see this as an issue at all and simply put it down to the fact that thick cardboard is used to make the advent calendar so sturdy.

My son was so excited to open this advent calendar and so on the last day of November we built the cardboard scenery to which the playmobil would be added. Despite being made from a thin card this held together really well though I would advise an adult does this part as it involves some folding and pushing tabs through holes which may rip if you were too heavy handed. Each morning as my son opened the advent calendar he would be excited to pull out the little plastic bag with playmobil in so he could develop this post office scene. Items included in the set were Father Christmas, a table and chair, post box and letters, a functional Father Christmas stamp, angel, elf, reindeer, sleigh, tree, naughty list as well as many other items too!

My son had such fun each day adding to the set and seeing what he would receive that day. The more pieces he added to it the more he played with it. I personally liked having the festive scene set up in the front room during the run up to Christmas and it was a talking point for friends and family too as well as being a functional toy to play with.

Once Christmas and the New Year was over we packed up the scene in to a box but I fully expect my son to want to play with it again and most definitely next Christmas. The advent calendar cost us around £15.00 which granted isn't cheap for an advent calendar but I do feel it was well worth that money and I expect I will look to buy another one of the playmobil or Lego advent calendars next Christmas. I should think that deals will occur over the year and so it would be wise to keep a look out for them should you be interested.

Thank you for reading my review!