Lego Advent Calendar – The Brick Life

Due to the success of the last few years, Lego is releasing a greater number of their Lego Advent Calendar 2011 sets and parents also have a surprise option when it comes to the Lego themes represented.

Whereas in the past Lego have produced both a generic/City Advent Calendar and one based on their own in-house themes, in 2011 they have decided to produce a set based around their most popular licensed theme – Star Wars.

The Star Wars Advent Calendar is bound to be a bit hit with Lego and Star Wars fans alike, and not just because of the exclusive figure. The franchise continues to grow in strength and it has proven to be a highly successful partnership for The Lego Group.

Update – Lego have started releasing this set in Mid-August!
Update 2 – Star Wars Calendar is ~~sold out~~ (back again!)

So before you buy, what exactly do you get in a Lego Advent Calendar?

Lego Advent Calendar 2011 Sets

The cool thing about Lego is that when you buy a set, you know exactly what you are getting and Advent calendars are no different.

With a generic store bought Advent Calendar you often have no idea what is behind all those little windows – it could be an heirloom-quality gift your kids will treasure, handing it down to their own children.

Or it could be a pile of junk that breaks apart after two minutes…

Lego is upfront about what is inside their Lego Advent Calendar 2011 sets and as a parent, that makes my choice easier.

Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar 2011 (Set 7958)

The Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar 2011 features:

24 different LEGO Star Wars-themed gifts
8 minifigures including Nute Gunray, Chewbacca, Clone Trooper and an exclusive Yoda in Santa Claus outfit
Also includes mini Millennium Falcon and X-wing Starfighter.
A total of 266 pieces
Retails for $39.99

The Lego Star Wars Advent calendar was originally released at this year’s San Diego Comic Con and sold out very quickly. You can still get these limited editions on ebay for a small fortune but the regular edition is out now at Amazon.

To be honest, if you like it I wouldn’t wait too long to buy one as the calendar has a limited edition figure inside, the Yoda in Santa outfit.

Lego Star Wars fans are notorious for their love of minifigures and I imagine many will buy more than one calendar and sell the figure once the set sells out. These are hard to track down but I found them ready to ship now from Amazon (but can’t guarantee they will be there long :0) )

City Lego Advent Calendar 2011 (Set 7553)

The City Lego Advent Calendar 2011 Features:

6 minifigures (2 police men, 2 robbers, 1 fisher and 1 Santa Claus)
Build larger models using bricks from three different gift days
Includes 2 cool snowmobiles, a police dog, a Christmas tree, a mini police station and much more
A total of 232 pieces
Retails for $34.99

The City Lego Advent Calendar 2011 set is a little different than previous years’ releases. The set allows kids to build larger models and releases parts of the model over a number of days rather than offerring one small model per day.

So on any given day the window might reveal pieces for part of a model that will require pieces contained in the next day’s window to complete. Its a cute idea but if you have impatient kids this might cause a little frustration on their part.

This calendar comes out September 1st and is available for pre-order now on Amazon.

Lego Advent Calendar 2011 Availablility

The Lego Advent Calendars are hard to come by, I don’t think I have ever seen one in a store, and I am always searching for Lego!

I am ordering my calendar through Amazon because they offer free shipping and a great returns/customer service center (they also have another Lego Advent Calendar listed from a previous year which you can check out if either of the above options don’t suit).

Prices are fairly simliar at other places that offer the sets, and you won’t find to many stores selling these on discount as they are limited editions and often sell out.

So what do you think of the Lego Advent Calendar 2011 sets – Are you going to have them as part of your family tradition this holiday season?