'I spotted advent calendars in Sainsbury's and was floored by extortionate cost'

Despite the fact that Halloween hasn't even happened yet, the supermarkets are already starting to fill up with festive food and Christmas gifts, including advent calendars.

A firm festive tradition, many people are used to spending out a few pounds on advent calendars to help mark down the countdown to Christmas and to celebrate with a little treat every day in December. However, it seems the humble advent calendar is becoming a scarce commodity these days. As well as the price being ramped up for many of the chocolate advent calendars, there's now others that contain all different kind of gifts, from beauty products to alcohol which can set you back hundreds of pounds.

Now don't get me wrong, I understand that an advent calendar is going to cost more than a few pounds if it contains lots of luxury goods, but I was definitely stunned to see the cost of some of the chocolate offerings in Sainsbury's when I visited the supermarket on my latest shopping trip.

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Despite the 90g Cadbury Dairy Milk advent calendar only costing £2.50 in Sainsbury's, I was amazed to see that the Ferrero Rocher advent calendar (258g) is a whopping £17.50 this year.

Like most chocolate lovers, I do enjoy a Ferrero Rocher every now and again throughout the festive season, but I don't think the brand is that much of a luxury product to warrant this cost if I'm honest.

The Lindt Selection advent calendar (289g) is also £16 this year, while it's Tedddy AR advent calendar (250g) is £15.

The NOMO (non-dairy) Ultimate Choc advent calendar (320g) will also set you back £15 while the Tony's Chocoloney Countdown calendar (216g) is £12.

Even the Cadbury Heroes advent calendar (230g) is £7.50 this year, while the Kinder Bueno advent calendar (181g) will cost you £9.

It's not just Sainsbury's either, those who are buying the Ferrero Rocher advent calendar this year will have to fork out even more for it if they're buying it from Selfridges, with the product costing a whopping £24.99 from the retailer, meanwhile it's available for the same price as Sainsbury's on Ocado.

Once a cute Christmas tradition that was accessible to everyone just seems like another thing that is adding to the cost of a season that already leaves many people worried about financially.

The move is especially tough on parents who often have to buy multiple advent calendars for their children. Let's just hope they aren't all Ferrero Rocher fans, eh!

A representative of Sainsbury's, the Ferrero Group and Selfridges has been contacted for comment.