One of the highest grossing movies of the holiday season is Home Alone. Millions of people love watching Kevin McCallister and his crazy traps as he attempts to save his home from the Wet Bandits, Harold “Harry” Lime and Marvin “Marv” Merchants. From stepping on glass ornaments to Paint buckets in the face, the crazy death defying traps bring laughter to us all…how disturbing is that?
Knowing our love for the wonderfully done Home Alone movie, Insight Editions has created a fun Christmas Advent Calendar featuring iconic items and moments from the movie. This Advent Calendar is different than others I have reviewed. Instead of receiving gifts to keep, it comes with a pop up tree to decorate! Each day we open a door and receive an ornament. We then hang it on the tree for our Christmas Countdown.
I actually received the Advent Colander to review. Here is what I think about this aaaaaadvent calendar.
Home Alone is a staple of mine here at the Galeana house. We watch it every Christmas Season. Who am I kidding, we watch this movie all year round. Whenever we need a laugh, we pop it in , make some popcorn, and begin the adventure. So when this arrived in the mail to review, my entire family couldn’t wait to check it out.
At first glance, the Home Alone Official Advent Calendar looks like a story book. The cover features Kevin with his hilarious screaming face and the McCallister home in the background. The back cover feature the back of the McCallister home and Harry and Marv before things went down. The book before opened is about 12.5 x 12.5 inches.
When the book opens, that’s when things get real. As one opens the book, the tree begins to unfold and stand in the center of the board. The entire surface features the inside of the home from the stairway to the bedrooms to the basement and even the club house. Each doorway within the design has a gold number etched on it telling each of us which to open first.
What is really cool, is there is a door we get to open before the Advent begins! inside the door in the upper left hand corner is a gold image of a book. Open it up and we get Kevin’s Guide to (Harmless) Holiday Pranks! Take that in for a moment…We get to play pranks at Christmas! From wrapping random household items to making Santa footprints in the home, this book has a ton of fun that the whole family will enjoy. Bring it out each year to make these pranks a tradition. Who says April Fools is the only date to play a prank?
The family fun doesn’t end there! Once the prank book is displayed and ready, the 25 day countdown begins! Each day, a family member can open a door to get the ornament inside. Then they hang it on the pop-up tree. By the end of the Advent there will be 24 ornaments on the tree featuring items from the movie, such as ornaments, a paint can, a glue gun, a snow shovel, and even Harry’s hand with the letter M. My favorite one is probably the toothbrush, the item that made Kevin an official criminal.
The ornaments are made from a high gloss thick paper that are bright and colorful adorned with a little gold string to hang it somewhere on the tree. Getting to them is a bit difficult. There is an opening with a tab that we are supposed to use to pull up the door. DO NOT DO THIS! Because the doors are so tightly closed, pulling the tab separates the image from the cardboard closure. Basically it rips it apart. To try and open the door, I grabber a small pair of scissors to slide in and open the compartment…DON’T DO THIS EITHER. it tears into the beautiful artwork. Instead use a non-sharp thin yet stiff object to open the door and leave it by the calendar, something about the size of a thin butter knife should work. If done right, after Christmas, the ornaments can be placed back inside the packets in a random order and saved for next year to use again. Since the ornaments are put away randomly, only the person who put it away will know what’s next…if they can remember a year later hahaha.
The final item is the tree topper to be opened December 25th. This will complete the look and the Christmas Tree is ready for Santa. I LOVE THE TREE TOPPER! It is so funny! However, I do know that that last decoration should probably be a surprise so if you want to see the surprise click the image below and check it out. If not, pass up the image and continue reading the review.
From the Book to the pop-up tree to the final tree topper, I love this Home Alone Official Advent Calendar. It is engaing, interactive, and fun for the whole family. The illustrations are hilarious, the ornaments are iconic, and the whole experience screams Home Alone. To top it all off, the aaaadvent calendar comes with a fun prank book just for the holidays. I give The Home Alone Official Aaaaaadvent Calendar five stars. In fact my family will be using this calendar every year. The pop up tree will have it’s own little place to decorate for Christmas.
To get the Home Alone Official AAAAAAdvent Calendar, head over to Amazon.com (affiliate link) and grab a copy to display for the holidays.
