Santa's Christmas Symphony – Music Lover's Advent Calendar

A hand-illustrated advent calendar for music lovers: find 24 hidden doors in Santa's Christmas concert hall and guess the instrument behind each one.

Product description

It's Christmas Eve at the grand old concert hall. Snow is falling past the tall arched windows, the pipe organ is wrapped in garlands, and the orchestra is tuning up. Santa steps onto the podium, lifts his baton… and the hall is full of secrets.

Hidden among the snowy windows, organ pipes, balcony boxes, kettledrums, presents and instrument cases are 24 little doors. Behind each one, a little elf is playing one instrument of the symphony orchestra. Your challenge this December: find today's door, take a good look, and name the instrument.

Some are easy. Others are trickier than they look: is it a violin or a viola? A flute or a piccolo? An oboe or a clarinet? Expect a few friendly debates at the breakfast table, and maybe a quick search to hear how each one sounds.

How it works

1. Find the door. The numbers are tucked into the illustration and not in order, so the hunt is half the fun.
2. Open it. A hand-drawn elf is waiting inside, playing a single instrument.
3. Name the instrument. Say it out loud, guess the instrument family, hum how it sounds, or listen to it together.
4. Check your answers on Christmas Eve. All 24 instruments, each with its family and a fun fact, are sealed in an illustrated envelope. No peeking!

Why music lovers love it

• A puzzle, not just a countdown: every day is a small music quiz.
• A tour of the whole orchestra: strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion and keyboards, from the tiny piccolo to the giant tuba.
• Hand-illustrated artwork: a detailed ink-and-watercolour concert hall full of tiny details: a bear in a bow tie, penguins in the brass section, a reindeer on the double bass, a cat asleep in an instrument case and a mouse on a drum. It is lovely enough to keep up all season.
• A Christmas finale: the celesta that plays the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, and sleigh bells saved for Christmas Eve.
• Quietly educational: a natural fit for music lessons, band class or the family's first trip to The Nutcracker.
• Answers sealed until Christmas Eve: the illustrated answer envelope keeps the suspense (and settles family debates).
• Screen-free and sugar-free: a cosy daily ritual with your morning coffee or after practice.

Perfect for

Musicians, orchestra and band members, music teachers and band directors, kids taking piano, violin or band lessons, symphony and Nutcracker season-ticket holders, grandparents who love to quiz the grandkids, and anyone who'd rather count down to Christmas with a symphony than with chocolate.

What's included

• 1 illustrated advent calendar, A4 landscape (21 × 29.7 cm / 8.3 × 11.7 in), with 24 perforated doors
• 1 illustrated answer sheet listing all 24 instruments, with instrument family and a fun fact for each
• 1 illustrated "The Answers" envelope to keep the solutions secret until Christmas Eve

Good to know

• The calendar contains no food or treats. The surprise behind each door is a picture to guess.
• The answers are in English.
• Recommended for ages 6+ (younger children will enjoy it with a grown-up as the conductor).

Give the music lover in your life a December full of encores. 🎻🎄