2023 LEGO Harry Potter advent calendar – afterthoughts

While trying to eat my way through all the food that was prepared and bought up to Christmas, I have also been reflecting on this year’s Advent Calendar and how it does stack up compared to the previous years’ calendars…

We have now had five LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendars in total (you can check my review pages of them in case you want to revisit what was in them: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023). How did this year’s calendar stack up? Below my assessment and thoughts, but keen to hear the thoughts of others as well.

Basic stats

Let us first look at a comparison of some key stats:

• 2019 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar (set 75964): 305 pieces, 413 grams, 6 minifigures (or 7 if including the Hogwarts Architect statue, and 8 if you count the snowman).
• 2020 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar (set 75981): 355 pieces, 443 grams, 6 minifigures.
• 2021 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar (set 76390): 274 pieces, 400 grams, 6 minifigures.
• 2022 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar (set 76404): 334 pieces, 409 grams, 7 minifigures (or 8 if you count Slughorn as chair).
• 2023 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar (set 76418): 227 pieces, 365 grams, 6 minifigures (or 7 if you count the snowman).

Most obvious is the significant lower piece count in the 2021 calendar compared to 2020 (and even the year before). It was down 81 bricks compared to last year, and that was felt at times when opening the calendar.

In 2022, they increased the price of the calendar (see below) and increased the part count significantly (but still below 2020). Many of those parts were small tough, as the models were all micro-scale, so the weight of the calendar was almost the same.

In 2023, we saw a massive drop in the piece count, which left me disappointed many days. Compared to 2020, we got 128 less parts! But it is not all about the number of pieces.

Price

Below you can see the recommended retail price for the calendars.

• 2019 calendar RRP: £24.99/US$39.99/€24.99
• 2020 calendar RRP: £24.99/US$39.99/€29.99
• 2021 calendar RRP: £24.99/US$39.99/€29.99
• 2022 calendar RRP: £29.99/US$44.99/€34.99
• 2023 calendar RRP: £29.99/US$44.99/€37.99

So over the period of five years, there has been an increase in price of 12.5% increase in USA, 20% increase in UK and up to 50% increase in the Euro-zone (part of that has been due to an alignment of prices within the Euro-zone).

Theme

A strong theme can help bringing the various models together with a consistent story-line.

• 2019 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar: First Christmas at Hogwarts
• 2020 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar: The Yule ball (4th year at Hogwarts)
• 2021 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar: Journey to Hogwarts – back to first year, but not really a focus on Christmas.
• 2022 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar: Photos from all the Hogwarts years
• 2023 LEGO Harry Potter Advent Calendar: Hogsmeade at winter time

As such, there is not a lot of difference there. They have all done fairly well on that front, in particular with minifigures supporting the theme like Harry and Ron with their sweaters from Molly in 2019 and the characters dressed up for the Yule ball in 2020.

Moving on to 2021, one difference is that it didn’t really have a strong focus on Christmas, with only two models linked to this. None of the minifigures had any connection to Christmas, but I really liked Harry and Dudley. Something special in the 2021 calendar was that it included a game. I didn’t think the game would have a lot of replay value, so I created a few house rules you can include (using some of the models included in the calendar). You can see those rules here.

2022 was the odd one out. All other calendars have focused on minifigure scaled models with a few micro-scale models added at times (the 2020 calendar for instance included three microscale models which I turned into a nice book-shaped display). But in 2022, almost all models were micro-scale. It is a hard scale to build in, but some were pretty amazing (like the Burrow). The models were not really useful for including into minifigure-based displays. There was also a game, but I must admit that I’ve never tried it.

In 2023, we’re back into minifigure scaled models (and no game). The theme is a nice one representing Hogsmeade in winter time. Beyond the wintery weather, there’s not a lot to link with Christmas apart from a few Christmas trees. But the minifigures were great for the theme.

Printed pieces

I’ve noted the fewer pieces – and the limited focus on Christmas in this year’s models. But one thing that helped this year’s calendar is the inclusion of so many printed pieces unique to this calendar. Let’s have a look at how the calendars stack up when it comes to printed pieces.

2019 Calendar:

This calendar included two cookies (12 Dec), four tiles with the Hogwarts house crests (20 Dec), two envelopes (22 Dec) and as a special treat on 24 December: A 2×3 tile printed as Hogwarts acceptance letter, as well as 1×2 tiles with Wingardium Leviosa spell and a chocolate bar print.

Only the Hogwarts Acceptance letter was unique to the calendar though.

2020 Calendar:

The following year we got even less printed pieces. We started on 1 December with the beautifully printed Yule ball invitation (on a 2×3 tile). Otherwise, we got piano keys (17 Dec), music nodes (21 Dec) and an envelope (23 December).

Only the Yule ball invitation was unique to the calendar.

2021 Calendar:

In 2021 we got a lot more printed pieces:

• 1 Dec: Privet Drive sign and one envelope
• 4 Dec: Three envelopes
• 5 Dec: Harry’s birthday cake
• 7 Dec: Leaky Cauldron sign
• 16 Dec: Wizard card tile and Hogwarts express ticket
• 18 Dec: Wizard card tile
• 19 Dec: Platform 9 ¾ sign
• 24 Dec: Spinner top

Apart from the envelopes and wizard card tiles, the printed pieces are all unique to the calendar and (with the spinner top being the exception) very useful pieces when creating your own models. The wizard card tiles would have useful too for those trying to get a full collection.

Adding printed pieces does come at a cost and it may explain the lower piece count for this calendar otherwise.

2022 Calendar:

After an impressive 2021 calendar with heaps of printed parts, the 2022 calendar was less impressive. We didn’t get our first printed part till 10 December, though that was one I liked a lot (see below).

Along with the Goblet of Fire we got a printed transparent tile showing the half-burned paper which blew out of the fire, revealing that Harry Potter was a surprising fourth contestant in the Tri-wizard tournament. That tile looks amazing!

We also got a printed spinner for the game on 21 December – which was useful for that, but not otherwise.

2023 Calendar:

This year’s calendar didn’t have many printed tiles – with the “Have you seen this wizard?” poster and the sign pointing to Hogwarts being the only printed tiles unique to this calendar, while we also got a Bertie Botts every-flavoured beans brick and an envelope.

Summary

I really want to love this year’s calendar. The theme is great and I love the minifigures. But I am left with a pretty average feeling and looking at the stats, I can see why I was left longing for more. It is by far the calendar with the least pieces – and no additional minifigures beyond the usual six (I do not count the snowman) or vast amount of printed pieces to sweeten the deal. I know inflation has been crazy the last year or so, but considering the price increases we have seen since 2021, this will be the calendar that got the lowest value for money.

Hopefully, next year will be better. I love the concept of the advent calendars and will definitely get the 2024 one. I’m hoping for Christmas in the Burrow as theme – that would be pretty awesome – but time will tell…

Till then, Build the Magic!