Most advent calendars ask something of you before nine in the morning. A serum to press in, a mask you have no time for, a mist whose purpose you have never entirely established. The M&S Foodhall Advent Calendar 2026 asks only that you open a door and eat what is behind it, which we would argue is the more civilised arrangement. Twenty-five doors, twenty-seven products, and not a single one of them wants anything from your skin.
It is also, quietly, the first food advent calendar of 2026 we have wanted to write about at length — because unlike most, it is not simply a chocolate advent calendar wearing a smarter box.
Price: £100 · 25 doors · 27 products · On sale now at M&S
The numbers
The M&S Foodhall Advent Calendar is £100 for 25 doors holding 27 products, which means two of those doors are doing double duty. M&S has not published a total worth for the calendar, so we are not going to invent one; what we can tell you is what is actually in the box, which is a more useful thing anyway.
It leans sweet, as you would expect — a 180g Choc Marks pretzel, caramel sea salt and almond nougat bar, 130g milk chocolate covered pistachios, 170g Collection Florentines, 115g dark chocolate ginger, 90g orangette, hazelnut crème truffles, malt balls, golden coins, a bubbly Santa and a hanging truffle decoration. But it does not stop there. There is a 460g bag of The Original Very Merry Munch, a 220g jar of pistachio crème, and a run of Collection store-cupboard pieces: sticky fig and hot honey chutney, acacia honey with truffle, quince and pear fruit for cheese, and a cranberry and port sauce. December’s actual cooking is catered for too, with a mini cranberry and orange panettone and a 12-month matured Christmas pudding.
Then there is the drinks contingent: a single-origin Darjeeling tea, three Collection drinking chocolate sachets, two 150ml Marksologist cocktails — a salted caramel espresso martini and a spicy mezcal margarita — and, behind the final door, a 200ml bottle of Champagne Delacourt Brut. Which is why this is an 18+ purchase, and why it does not ship to Northern Ireland.
Does it pique our interest?
Very much, and for a reason that has nothing to do with chocolate. What M&S has built here is a Foodhall in miniature — the aisle you drift into for one thing and leave with four, compressed into a box and rationed out across December. The Collection range is the thread running through it, and it is the savoury and store-cupboard doors that give the whole thing its character. Sticky fig and hot honey chutney is a genuinely good jar. Acacia honey with truffle is the sort of thing you would never buy for yourself and would be delighted to be given. Quince and pear fruit for cheese arrives, conveniently, at exactly the point in December when there is always cheese.
The sizes are the other thing worth noticing. A 460g bag of Very Merry Munch is not a token; a 220g jar of pistachio crème is not a token; a 230g chutney is a jar you will still be working through in February. This is the rare calendar that feeds a room rather than one person at a bathroom mirror. Open the Florentines on an evening when people are round and they simply become pudding.
And the two Marksologist cocktails are a lovely piece of pacing. A ready-mixed spicy mezcal margarita on a Tuesday in mid-December is exactly the kind of small, unearned treat this month is for.
What we’d change
A few doors do land more quietly than others, and it would be dishonest not to say so.
The three Collection drinking chocolate sachets — 70% dark, Belgian 50% milk, and salted caramel — take up three of the twenty-five doors between them, and a sachet is one cup. Coming as they do in a calendar that also holds a 180g chocolate bar and a 460g bag of Very Merry Munch, they feel like a pause rather than a moment, and we suspect one door holding all three would have read as generous where three doors holding one each reads as a stretch. The single-origin Darjeeling sits in the same category: a nice thing, given a whole day to itself.
We would also have liked the savoury run to be longer. The chutney, the truffle honey, the fruit for cheese and the cranberry and port sauce are the most distinctive things in the box, and there are four of them against a great deal of chocolate. Given how good M&S is at exactly this — the Collection crackers, the pickles, the things that make a cheeseboard look considered — there was room to be braver.
The champagne, finally. A 200ml bottle of Delacourt Brut is a beautiful way to close a calendar and it is, unavoidably, one glass. We would not remove it. We would simply say: do not save it for a crowd.
Full contents list
- Pistachio Star, 45g
- Choc Marks Pretzel, Caramel Sea Salt and Almond Nougat Milk Chocolate Bar, 180g
- Collection Single Origin Darjeeling Tea, 37.5g
- Collection 70% Dark Drinking Chocolate Sachet, 35g
- Collection Belgian 50% Milk Drinking Chocolate Sachet, 35g
- Collection Salted Caramel Flavour Drinking Chocolate, 35g
- Hazelnut Crème Truffles, 68g
- Pick ’n’ Marks Belgian Milk Chocolate Malt Balls, 120g
- Golden Coins, 80g
- Collection Sticky Fig and Hot Honey Chutney, 230g
- Big Bubbly Santa, 46g
- Collection Acacia Honey with Truffle, 120g
- Collection The Caramel Collection, 52g
- Swiss Truffles Hanging Decoration, 62g
- Collection 85% Dark Chocolate Ginger, 115g
- Collection 85% Dark Chocolate Orangette, 90g
- Milk Chocolate Covered Pistachios, 130g
- Collection Milk Chocolate Florentines, 170g
- Marksologist Salted Caramel Espresso Martini Cocktail, 150ml
- Marksologist Spicy Mezcal Margarita, 150ml
- Collection Quince and Pear Fruit for Cheese, 120g
- Mini Cranberry and Orange Panettone, 100g
- Collection 12 Month Matured Christmas Pudding, 100g
- Collection Cranberry and Port Sauce, 215g
- The Original Very Merry Munch, 460g
- Pistachio Crème, 220g
- Champagne Delacourt Brut, 200ml
Who it’s perfect for
The person who does the Christmas cooking and never gets a calendar of their own. The household that would rather share a box than each have one. Anyone who has done three years of beauty calendars and found themselves with a drawer of unopened minis and a faint sense of obligation. It is also, and we say this with feeling, an excellent calendar to buy for a couple — there is enough here that nobody has to negotiate over the good door.
It is less right for children, for obvious reasons; and less right for anyone wanting a pure chocolate advent calendar, because the store-cupboard doors are the point and would only be in the way. If it is the grand department-store treatment you are after rather than the Foodhall one, our Fortnum & Mason Beauty Advent Calendar 2026 review covers the other end of that same Piccadilly instinct.
Our Pique Verdict
Perfect for: the person who cooks Christmas and never gets a calendar of their own
Best product: Collection Sticky Fig and Hot Honey Chutney, 230g
Biggest drawback: three of the twenty-five doors given over to single drinking chocolate sachets
Value for money: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Watch our reveal video here:
Frequently asked questions
How much is the M&S Foodhall Advent Calendar 2026?
The M&S Foodhall Advent Calendar 2026 is £100, available now from M&S online. Free nominated day delivery is included.
How many doors and products does it have?
Twenty-five doors and twenty-seven products, so two of the doors hold more than one item.
Does the M&S food advent calendar contain alcohol?
Yes. It includes two 150ml Marksologist cocktails — a salted caramel espresso martini and a spicy mezcal margarita — and a 200ml bottle of Champagne Delacourt Brut, which makes it an 18+ purchase.
Can I get it delivered to Northern Ireland?
No — free nominated day delivery on this calendar excludes Northern Ireland.
How long do the contents last?
M&S guarantees every product in the calendar until at least 10 January 2027, and most will last longer. Check the date codes when it arrives.
Is it better than a beauty advent calendar?
It depends what you want from December. A beauty calendar is for you alone; this one is for the table. If you would rather open a door and put something out for people than open a door and apply something, this is the better box.
Where to buy
The M&S Foodhall Advent Calendar 2026 is £100 and on sale now at M&S. Shop the M&S Foodhall Advent Calendar at M&S.
Read next
- Fortnum & Mason Beauty Advent Calendar 2026 — the other great British food house, doing beauty
- Holland & Barrett Beauty Advent Calendar 2026 — the £60 one we could not stop recommending
- M&S Beauty Advent Calendar 2026: The One That Will Sell Out Fast?
Fortnum’s does the same idea at the other end of the scale, with gin, preserves and a fennel and anchovy paste among the twenty-six — our review of the Feasting Advent Calendar is here.
