Can this Kinder Advent Calendar Bring Joy?

Christmas is over a month away, but I felt I needed to get this advent calendar article out soon so you all can make a decision about whether or not this is something you'd want to buy for a loved on or yourself. Never underestimate giving yourself joy during your holiday season, folks. Self Care isn't selfish, it is necessary! Today I'll share my experiences with the Kinder Holiday Mix Countdown Calendar which you might consider as a gift for December 1st if you celebrate Christmas. I also made a teaser video about this calendar so you can see how easy or difficult it was to open the doors to find the treats inside. These are candy because the first ingredient is sugar but cocoa butter, cocoa mass, and cocoa powder are part of each treat so that's why were are looking it on The Chocolate Cult. I received this product for free via the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review on their website; this article is an unexpected bonus and no other form of compensation was received for it.

Hopefully you checked out the video. The calendar has a flat bottom so it can set on a surface but it has no way to directly hang it up. Holding it, it was a bit challenging to push in one tab on each door and then lift the door upright. Once I set it flat on a table, I could see the tab better and the doors lifted more easily. The doors are clearly numbered 1 to 24 and are different sizes though along the bottom all the doors had the same treat. Most of the treats were space out well except for one type which I'll mention when I reveal that treat. There are six types of Kinder treats but they were not included in equal amounts as you can see in the photo to the right.  For a few treats there was  good reason to include fewer because of the size of the candy. Let's get to those treats and look at them in depth, going from left to right as you see in the photo.

Kinder Mini Buenos

We start with the Kinder Bueno Mini. There were four of these included in the calendar.  The wrappers have some different characters on them, my calendar had squirrel, nutcracker soldier, and polar bear. The candy has a strong sweet fragrance with a hint of hazelnut and chocolate from the milk chocolate coating and the darker drizzle. It has a crunchy outer shell under the coating that stays crunch with each bite. The dominant flavors are hazelnut cream and sweetness with only hints of the chocolate. Make sure you are creamy chocolate and hazelnut lover to enjoy these. They only have 30 calories a piece and would happily eat more of them.

Kinder Mini Eggs

Next were the Kinder Mini Eggs, but don't expect toys in these seven candies because they are tiny. These 28 calorie a piece treats are all wrapped identically in green. Inside the soft milk chocolate shell is a white cream with a tiny hint of crunch. This tastes like cream, sweet milk chocolate that turns into that sweet creaminess of the center. This isn't my favorite Kinder treat in the calendar, but it is fine and I suspect many of you who prefer sweeter candy will be happy with them.

Kinder Happys

There are only two of the Kinder Chocolate Happy, a candy I had never heard of before this calendar. These are 50 calories a piece, the second most caloric heavy treat but don't worry because you are spreading these out over 24 days (I hope). My calendar had two different wrapper designs -- gold with an elf (which I ate for this article) and green with a nutcracker. This isn't a half-egg shape, more like 1/8th of one side in terms of the thickness of the candy. As you can see it hsa Kinder Happy written on the top. This had a strong hazelnut and milk chocolate fragrance to it. It was soft and easy to bite into, it made no sound. The white cream inside was surprising lacking in hazelnut flavor and its sweetness quickly overcome the chocolate outside. I'm not a big fan of this treat and now I'm glad there were only two in my calendar (I don't plan to eat the other, either.)

Kinder Minis

Seven Kinder Mini treats were included, too, making them an even match with the mini eggs. The wrappers had different characters on them including Santa Claus, Reindeer, Elf, and Snowman. This looks much like a smaller, shorter version of the Kinder bar you may have seen. This smells much like the Chocolate Happy and has a similar flavor and texture, but with a odd sour aftertaste that shocked me. At 34 calories a piece, it wasn't bad for me to try it out for all of you, but I won't be eating more of these.

Kinder Happy Hippos

Another new to me candy were the three Kinder Happy Hippo. This made me think of the silly song, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. Yes, these were larger and did require a larger door, but two of them were only two days apart. Given that we have six treat types, I feel they should have been better spaced out. This is truly something that gives you joy just looking at it, doesn't it? The hippo mouth and head are clear, perhaps that is her upper shoulder sticking out, too. The crumbling sides and most of the bottom are darker and lighter pieces that remind me with either jimmies or crumbled cookies; they are crunchy and drier like cookies. I bite into it and am surprised that the entire thing is a thin cookie crust that continues to make a loud noise with each chew. Inside is a two-layer cream of chocolate on top and vanilla on the bottom. This is fun to eat but it is messy so get out a plate or bowl when you take this from the calendar. This is the most chocolate intensity of the candies so far and I must say I may keep the other two for myself.  At 50 calories each this is not a bad indulgence at all.

Kinder Card

Finally, on December 24th you'll find the Kinder Card, the largest of the candies. It makes perfect sense for the largest to happen on the last day. This is two crisp wafer cookies with a dark and light side; I've flipped one over in the photo to show you. I was expecting a holiday style card, but my hubby suggested these were more like credit cards. What do you think? Anyway, these had no fragrance really at all beyond some general wheat that you would get from any type of wafer cookie. They were crunchy for a few bites and then dissolved in my mouth quickly. Between the wafers were two thin layer of the cream from the Happy Hippo, but they are so thin here, that I got more sweetness than chocolate. For 65 calories a cookie, I want stronger chocolate in my treats.

The treats in this candy calendar come from different European countries: Poland, Italy, Belgium, and Germany, but they should be using the brand's recipes, so the differences in flavors must be differences in the candy styles themselves. I prefered the Happy Hippo and the Bueno Mini best of all. If this Kinder Holiday Mix Countdown Calendar sounds like an activity and treats that you or your kids might enjoy, you fight it using any of our links. Remember that we are an Amazon Affiliate so we do get a tiny amount of money when follow those links and if you buy.