Santa's Fairy Tale Forest – Storybook Advent Calendar

A hand-illustrated storybook advent calendar: find 24 hidden doors in Santa's snowy fairy-tale forest and guess the classic fairy tale behind each one.

Product description

It's Christmas Eve in the snowy fairy-tale forest. A golden braid hangs from the old stone tower, the gingerbread cottage is glowing, a beanstalk climbs into the clouds… and Santa has just opened the biggest storybook you've ever seen.

Hidden in the tower, the cottages, the windmill, the hollow oak, the old well, the bridge and Santa's sleigh are 24 little doors. Behind each one is a tiny hand-painted scene from one of the world's best-loved fairy tales. Your challenge this December: find today's door, take a good look, and name the story.

Some are easy for even the smallest reader. Others are trickier than they look: who is shaking her pillows so that it snows? Why are twelve pairs of dancing shoes worn out every morning? Expect a few happy debates at breakfast, and a story to read together every night.

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 little storybook scene is waiting inside.
3. Name the fairy tale. Then read it or tell it together at bedtime: 24 nights, 24 stories.
4. Check your answers on Christmas Eve. All 24 tales, with where each one comes from and a line to remember it by, are sealed in an illustrated envelope. No peeking!

Why families love it

• A puzzle, not just a countdown: every day is a small storybook quiz.
• 24 classic tales: Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault and favourite folk tales, from Little Red Riding Hood to Cinderella at midnight on Christmas Eve.
• A built-in bedtime tradition: open a door in the morning, read that story at night.
• Hand-illustrated artwork: a detailed ink-and-watercolour forest in the style of an old storybook, full of tiny details: a wolf behind the trees, swans on the frozen pond, a frog on the well, and a little Santa hat hidden in almost every scene.
• 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 that lasts longer than a chocolate.

Perfect for

Kids who love bedtime stories, grandparents who want to tell a fairy tale every day, teachers, librarians and homeschool families, book lovers and storytellers, and anyone starting a new family Christmas tradition.

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 fairy tales, with origin and a fun line 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 4+ with a grown-up, 7+ on their own.

Give the little readers in your life a December full of once-upon-a-times. 📖🎄