Advent Calendar 2026: When to Start, Key Dates, Which Brand Calendars Are Confirmed and 4 Free Printables

Advent 2026 begins on Sunday, Nov. 29, four Sundays before Christmas, which falls on a Friday this year. Most advent calendars, though, follow the simpler countdown: 24 doors from Tuesday, Dec. 1 to Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24. Searches for 2026 advent calendars are climbing fast this week, from LEGO and Disney pins to luxury beauty and golf sets. Here are the dates, which brand calendars are actually confirmed for 2026, and four free calendars you can print today.

Advent 2026 dates

Date	Day	What it is
Nov. 29	Sunday	First Sunday of Advent
Dec. 1	Tuesday	Door 1 on most advent calendars
Dec. 6	Sunday	Second Sunday of Advent; St. Nicholas Day
Dec. 13	Sunday	Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete Sunday)
Dec. 20	Sunday	Fourth Sunday of Advent
Dec. 24	Thursday	Christmas Eve, the last door
Dec. 25	Friday	Christmas Day

Because Christmas falls on a Friday, the season of Advent lasts 26 days in 2026, from Nov. 29 through Christmas Eve. It can be as short as 22 days or as long as 28, depending on the weekday of Christmas. The church season and the shop-bought calendar are different things: the first starts on a Sunday, the second almost always on Dec. 1.

Which 2026 advent calendars are confirmed

Interest in branded calendars is spiking, but not every brand has announced a 2026 edition. As of Monday, Oct. 19:

Calendar	2026 status
LEGO	Five calendars on sale since Sept. 1: City and Friends at $34.99; Star Wars, Disney Princess and Marvel at $44.99
Disney pin advent calendar	Christmas Cookies 24-Day Mystery Pin Set, $275, limited to 5,750 worldwide; still available on DisneyStore.com on Oct. 19
Funko	A Disney 2026 Pocket Pop advent calendar is listed by Entertainment Earth
Fisher-Price Little People	Mattel sells a Little People advent calendar for toddlers; check its shop for the current edition
Golf ball calendars	Callaway’s 12-day Supersoft calendar was sold for 2025; we found no 2026 edition as of Oct. 19
Toy Story, Jellycat, Victoria’s Secret, Louis Vuitton, champagne	No official 2026 advent calendar details found from these brands as of Oct. 19

Two of the hottest searches deserve a warning. We found no advent calendar for sale from Louis Vuitton; the “Louis Vuitton advent calendars” listed online are resold holiday gift boxes and ornament sets from past years. And many pages promising “2026” calendars from Jellycat, Toy Story or Victoria’s Secret recycle last year’s photos and prices. Check the brand’s own website before you pay.

For the confirmed sets, our LEGO advent calendars 2026 guide compares all five, and our report on the Disney pin advent calendar 2026 lists the 12 known pins.

Four free printable advent calendars

Not every countdown needs a box of chocolates. The four templates below are free to print, with no sign-up:

• Advent Calendar 2026 countdown. 24 shuffled doors with the weekday under each number. Children color in or cross off a door each morning; the Advent Sundays are highlighted in gold.
• Activity advent calendar. One easy family activity per day, from putting up the tree on Dec. 1 to setting out cookies on Christmas Eve. Weekend days are matched to longer activities such as baking.
• Kindness advent calendar. A “reverse” advent calendar: 24 small acts of giving, such as donating canned food, writing a thank-you note or calling someone who lives alone.
• Do-it-yourself (DIY) advent calendar. Blank doors with the date and weekday, for your own treats, Bible verses or plans. Print it on card stock and cut out the doors to hide small surprises behind them.

All four are sized for US Letter paper. For a month-at-a-glance view of the season, pair them with a December 2026 printable calendar.

How to choose an advent calendar

Count the doors. Most calendars have 24 doors, but beauty and golf brands often sell 12-day sets, and some include a 25th door. A 26-door calendar matches the 2026 church season exactly.

Buy early, or plan to print. LEGO’s sets went on sale Sept. 1, and TechRadar has reported some selling out in some regions; Disney’s limited pin calendar, released in mid-October, is capped at 5,750 sets worldwide. Printable calendars cost nothing and never sell out.

Check the price per door. Disney’s $275 pin set works out to about $11.46 per pin; LEGO’s $44.99 calendars to under $2 per day.

Mind the start date. If you buy a 24-door calendar, the first door is Dec. 1. If your church or family follows the liturgical season, start on Sunday, Nov. 29.

Thanksgiving is Nov. 26, three days before Advent begins; our November 2026 important dates list counts down to both. For the holiday itself, see when Christmas Day falls each year, and plan the weeks before it with a November 2026 calendar.