Seasonal

Friends Advent Calendar 2024

Twenty four tiny doors of Heartlake City cheer, and honestly, that is exactly what it should be.

Brick Rated Score

3.8/5

Set 42637 · 2024

Pieces272

Minifigsn/a

Year2024

Set number42637

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The verdict

I love that this calendar never tries to be more than it is.

Each door is a small, quick build, a little sled, a gift box, a tiny tree, a mini scene from the Friends world, and the whole thing is over in ten minutes a day if you let it be. It will not wow a teenager who wants a spaceship behind every flap, but for a younger Friends fan counting down to Christmas, it is a genuinely sweet ritual. I would hand this to a kid who already loves the Heartlake City characters over a kid who wants raw building complexity.

Best for: younger LEGO Friends fans who want a daily countdown ritual, not a big December build

The full review

What it is

I will say this plainly, advent calendars are not where LEGO puts its most ambitious engineering, and the Friends version does not pretend otherwise. What you get is 272 pieces spread across twenty four numbered doors, each one hiding a tiny holiday scene or prop pulled from the Heartlake City world. It is the kind of set that turns December into a little daily event, and there is something genuinely charming about a kid running to open door six before breakfast.

The catch

The honest caveat is scale. Nothing behind any of these doors is going to take more than a few minutes to build, and a handful of doors are really just a festive accessory or a couple of loose pieces rather than a proper model. If you are shopping for a build that will actually occupy a rainy afternoon, this is not it, and older kids who have graduated to bigger Friends sets may find the day to day builds too easy to hold their attention past the first week.

Who it's for

Where this calendar earns its keep is as a countdown ritual for a younger Friends fan, especially one who already has a soft spot for the Heartlake City cast. It is affordable next to LEGO's bigger themed calendars, it is low pressure for a parent doing the December morning routine, and it plays nicely alongside the main Friends sets already on a kid's shelf. If your builder wants scale and spectacle, look at the City or Star Wars calendar instead.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

Building through this one is a routine, not a project, you crack open a numbered door, tip out a small handful of pieces, and follow a one or two page instruction sheet before moving on with your day. There is no ramp up in complexity the way some of LEGO's bigger calendars build toward a finale, it stays gentle and quick from door one straight through to door twenty four.

The real value here is in the small stuff, tiny holiday props, little trees, gift boxes, and seasonal touches in the soft Friends color palette that do not show up in the theme's regular sets. It is not a set you buy for rare printed parts or dramatic new molds, it is a set you buy for two hundred and seventy two small, cheerful pieces that feel like stocking stuffers you get to build.

Fun facts

01LEGO has released a dedicated Friends advent calendar every year since the theme's line of holiday calendars began, continuing a tradition alongside the longer running City and Star Wars versions
02The Friends advent calendars are set in Heartlake City, the same fictional town as the main theme's houses, cafes, and shops
03At 272 pieces spread across 24 doors, the average door hides roughly 11 pieces, keeping each day's build genuinely quick
04Friends advent calendars traditionally price below LEGO's larger licensed calendars, making them one of the more affordable ways to add a countdown to Christmas set to a collection