Advent calendar comparison: LEGO Friends

This post may contain affiliate links. Here is our disclosure statement.

Hey folks! As you can see, some of my posts are missing images and links due to some host issues I experienced recently. I'm working through getting those corrected as quickly as I can. However, if you are looking at a page you'd like me to correct sooner rather than later, drop me a line with the title of the blog post and I will move it up in my list of fixes to make. Thanks for your help!

I’m a little ashamed to say it, but I really like LEGO Friends. Set aside all the stereotypical girlie stuff… all the hair brushes, lipsticks, makeup mirrors, etc… and they’re just plain fun.

What I love best about them is they add a new array of bright and bold colors to the traditional LEGO bricks. I’m the first one to get lured by the siren call of bright colored bricks calling my name on the brick wall at the LEGO store. I have no idea what I’d do with them, but I just want to buy a bunch. So, of course when I saw the LEGO Friends Advent Calendar, I was drawn to the set.

LEGO introduced the LEGO Friends Advent Calendar back in 2010 when the line first launched. Since this is the first year we actually purchased advent calendars, I thought it’d be interesting to see what the sets have offered from year to year, so I created a quick comparison chart below:

	2012	2013	2014
Minifigures	2	2	2
Special Pet(s)	Dog	Squirrel	Bambi and Kitty
Christmas Tree	yes	yes	yes
Accessories	grooming	grooming	cooking
Snowman	yes	yes	no
Additional Items	Present for Dog	2 Presents	2 Gift Boxes with Presents Inside
	2 Presents with Letter	Present with Letter	Basket with Present
	Dog Basket with Bone	Basket with Leaf	Couch
	Handbag	Basket with Money	Food
	Flower Arrangement	Bench	2 Chairs
	Table with Stool	Snowmobile	Sled
	Sled	Basket	Candle
	Mailbox with Letter	Lamp Post	Serving Counter
	2 Sled Trailers	Skates and Flowers	Coffee Maker and Mugs
	Street Lights with Holiday Garland	Cell Phone Docking Station	Pots and Plates
	Breakfast	Cups, Milk & Cookies	Fireplace
	Fireplace	2 Sleds	Stove
	Skis and Ski Poles	Water Fountain	Window
	Stool with Plate and Candies	Flame	Nightstand and Book
	Corner Table with Beauty Accessories	Musical Score	Table
	Bucket with Broom and Snowballs	Perfume Bottles
		2 Stands

As you can see, the pattern for LEGO is 2 minifigures and a pet with each set. The rest of the slots are filled with mini builds or simple accessories to add to or replace missing pieces in your personal sets. I see it as the advent calendar that has gotten the least amount of love when it comes to minifigures and build quality.

The 2014 calendar does try to make up for it by providing more small builds to enhance your LEGO Friends’ sets; however, I suspect once the girl starts opening the days, I will find most of them disappointing. While the sleds, kiosk, fireplaces and couches are a bit more substantial builds, the super simple cooking sets, baskets and presents look underwhelming to build and somewhat of a let down in comparison to the other advent calendar offerings. The builds also seem to be a bit of a rehash from year to year.

I may not be the only one who feels this way, as it seems they’re trying to improve the quality of the builds. For example, instead of providing extra grooming accessories for the LEGO Friends minifigures a third year in a row, they changed it up to include cooking accessories instead. Also, an extra pet replaced the snowman in this year’s build.

Have you purchased the LEGO Friends Advent Calendar in previous years? How did you feel about the mini builds?