Easily one of the best Advent calendars I've done in many years, lots of costumes and microscale vehicles.
TL;DR:
- Original Price: $34.99
- Pieces: 186
- Minifigure(s): boy in polar bear costume, man in green sweater, girl in reindeer costume, woman in blue sweater, boy in Christmas tree costume, Mrs. Claus, Santa
- Sticker Sheet: No
- Pros: Specialty minifigs, cute builds, microscale vehicles
- Cons: No specialty pieces
Assembly:
December 0 - I'll be doing something a bit different from my usual post format for this year's Advent calendar sets: given their setup, I will update this post with each day's builds. In the past, when I've been fortunate enough to have Advent calendars in more than one series, I'd saved them up, doling them out one month at a time (first Star Wars in December, then Disney in January, etc) both as an exercise in patience and to keep the fun going for much longer. It's a fun way to do it, especially if you can find them on clearance after December 1.
You can see my other 2025 Advent calendar reviews here: City, Frozen, Star Wars
December 1 - Boy in polar bear costume
Exremely cute, and really nice detailing (even the grey gloves are a perfect match), I can see this being very useful for other wintry scenes, and it definitely fits in with theme of the upcoming CMF Series 28.
December 2 - Toy bulldozer. I love microbuilds like this, and it definitely fits the idea of toys at Christmas.
Leftover Pieces
December 3 - Teddy bear & table. A cute enough piece—as well as a good pairing with the boy's costume—but the build itself is lackluster, without even a sprig of holly, a candle, or a Christmas cookie to round it out. It is worth noting that this is the first time we get a toy bear mold with polar bear colors, so a nice rarity to include in the set.
December 4 - Scooter & helmet. Safety first! The minifigure feet wedge on either side of that vertical piece on the deck, and the stud on the rear is for holding cargo (like a certain teddy bear).
December 5 - Man in green sweater. After years of doing the Star Wars Advent calendars, I'm used to getting Christmas sweater minifigs...though it took me a moment to be ok with the fact that there wasn't a Death Star or AT-AT or anything sci-fi in his knitwear. In all honesty, however, this is a great figure, with a winning smile and a good normal holiday sweater. He also comes with a camera to record his family's Christmas fun.
Leftover Pieces
December 6 - Toy tractor. Another cute micro-build, using a two-plate-tall 1x1 brick to hold the two SNOT bricks far enough apart to fit under the 1x3 plate. It's also neat to get three of the tea-saucer pieces (two for the front wheels and one extra)...though upon researching it in BrickLink I now see that they're not quite so rare, I just hadn't ever gotten a set that had them.
Leftover Pieces
December 7 - Puppy with food and water. Super cute German shepherd, even if it comes with a minimal build.
Leftover Pieces
December 8 - Snow Plow. I appreciate that the wheels fit on Technic pins instead of the smaller wheel axle plates, which makes them much more flexible for other uses. Otherwise it's an acceptable little build, and nice using the spoiler piece as the front scoop.
Leftover Pieces
December 10 - Girl in reindeer costume. Just like the polar bear boy, this is a super cute costume, and with a different pair of legs could also be an adult character. She also comes with a 1x1 round compass tile, possibly a nod to Rudolph's guiding nose? The mask piece is the same mold as in CMF Series 23, but the torso printing is unique and looks quite nice.
Leftover Pieces
December 10 - RC Race car. The design of this one is really efficient, using a 1x1 plate with a clip under the 1x2 plate with clip to give it a race car's signature stance, skateboard trucks in place of wheels, and a half-circle plate for a spoiler. My only complaint is that the wheels don't turn, but that doesn't really affect the play value that much (and keeps such a tiny build from rolling off the table). These kids are sure getting a bunch of toys this Christmas!
December 11 - Cat in a cardboard box. Only 2 pieces but I'm not even mad, it's just too cute and too accurate.
December 12 - Skateboard & helmet. Just like with the scooter, safety first!
December 13 - Woman in blue sweater. Clearly a Space fan, not only is her sweater a wonderfully wintery version of the standard Space logo, but she's got a cute alien plush toy (using a different print on the mold first seen in CMF Series 27's Plush Toy Collector); even her hair mold is nice and intricate. It's things like this that make for the the best Advent calendar experience.
December 14 - Toy spaceship. Like the other micro-scale vehicles this year, this does a great job of making good use of a few number of pieces; and it has the color scheme—white and sand blue with reddish orange accents—we see in so many modern Space sets (such as, as Jay's Brick Blog pointed out, the Interstellar Spaceship)
Leftover Pieces
December 15 - Alien. It seems our Space fan has gotten a little extraterrestrial visitor to join in the holiday fun (or else it's just an action figure). He uses the same body mold introduced for DREAMZzz's Dreamlings, which works great for either a minifig-scale action figure or similar larger toy, or else for a diminutive and not quite human character. While the head has appeared in 6 of the modern Space sets, the body/print combo is only in two: the Galactic Spaceship, and the Space Science Lab, both of which are sold out and one of which is quite pricy.
December 16 - Wind-up robot toy
Leftover Pieces
December 17 - Boy in Christmas tree costume. Nothing much to say about this. It's a cute look, and the tree costume piece is brand new for this set. They're leaning hard into the whole costume theme we'll be getting in CMF 28, since we have three similarly-costumed characters in this advent calendar alone, which is a lot of fun. I wonder if he'll be taking the place of a brick-built Christmas tree...
Leftover Pieces
December 18 - Toy truck. I appreciate the use of a 2/3 brick in the middle, which makes it a little easier to keep all of the 1x1s aligned (and while it would be nice to have those pieces for the other parts of the truck's trailer, 1x1 2/3 bricks only come in a few colors). The red also evokes the LEGO logo, as seen in the Yellow Delivery Truck set.
Leftover Pieces
December 19 - Snowman. The tricorn hat and scarf are nice touches, but I'm uncertain why they used a black 1x1 round plate for the waist instead of a white one (a plate of one color or another is needed, to because without that space the scarf is pushed up against the bottom dome piece).
Leftover Pieces
December 20 - Sweets trolley. Very cute.
Leftover Pieces
December 21 - Mrs. Claus. A nice enough figure (and with a pretzel), though a bit of printing on the skirt piece would have made it even nicer.
December 22 - Toy train. It's curious how many different ways there are to create micro-scale trains (see also my own various experiments here), and using the "movie camera brick" for the train cars' chassis is an interesting solution.
Leftover Pieces
December 23 - Sleigh. This is simple but well-executed, especially the pair of pearl gold plates with bar handles used for runners. I wonder what the dark red plate with 1 stud is to be used for, perhaps for cargo?
Leftover Pieces
December 24 - Santa Claus. An appropriate choice for the final day, and while he isn't rare (appearing in this configuration in 6 sets total) it is a charming print especially with his dual-molded legs and comes with a bag, as well as a spare beard.
Leftover Pieces
Tomorrow I'll present photos of the whole set, along with my final thoughts...
Final thoughts - I never would have expected a basic City Advent calendar to be one of the best I've ever had (including some of the better Star Wars ones). Each build was charming and—with the exception of Santa and the alien—every single minifigure was a new print. As you can see below, I've divided the 24 offerings into different categories: microscale/toys (10), minifig-scale vehicles (5), and minifigs (10). This should be held up by LEGO's design team as a great example of how to make their Advent calendars special and worth the price.
Minifigs
My Modifications - I swapped around the pieces on Santa's sleigh to make use of the 1x2 with 1 stud to hold his toy sack. It's not perfect, but was a fun little experiment.
Score (out of 5 🧱):
- Price: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Process: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Presentation: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Play: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Pieces: 🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Total: 🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱
Lego Instructions: here
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