December 1 can only mean one thing – the first day we can (legitimately) open the little windows on our advent calendars.
If you are turning your nose up at the thought of cheap chocolate, or the idea they are only for kids, stop right there.
We’ve rounded up some of the most bizarre – and if we’re honest, pretty great – advent calendars on sale around the world this year.
From cheese to socks, click through to see some of our favourites.

Cheese instead of chocolate? Yes please! Annem Hobson, who runs the food blog So Wrong It’s Nom, has plans to launch her dairy-filled calendar next year, but in the meantime she has an easy guide to making your own version here.

What goes well with cheese? Wine. And UK company Virgin Wine have created an advent calendar with 24 bottles behind each window!

Still on the booze buzz, Gin Foundry have created the original Ginvent – a 24-day gin taste test. In a 2 x 2 metre calendar, there are two dozen mini bottles of different types – BYO tonic!

Of course, there are still child-appropriate advent calendars. Lego has teamed up with Star Wars for this epic little number!

This particular calendar let’s you build your very own working FM radio over 24 days. How cool is that?

Luxury Parisian perfume house Diptyque’s advent calendar (complete with candles, facial waters and body polishes) sold out in just days. And it retailed for $430!

Perhaps for the same person, this Christmas Beard Oil Advent Calendar from The Bearded Man Company might hit the spot. Featuring 24 different scents, he will never have smelt so good.

They say socks make a bad Christmas gifts – but what if they are inside an advent calendar? The Sock Shop are of the firm opinion you can never have too many pairs!

In another advent alcohol adventure, this whisky-filled calendar is from Glenfarclas.