Though its origins are religious, you probably know the advent calendar as a humble grocery-store product that features chocolates hidden behind 24 perforated cardboard doors.

That sugary countdown to Christmas dates back to the 1950s when the first chocolate versions came on the scene. Cadbury started mass marketing them in 1971 as tools to engage children with the Christian tradition of Advent, says Canadian marketing expert Robert Warren, who closely follows Christmas trends. 

“What we’ve seen now is it’s become grossly commercialized,” said Warren, who currently teaches marketing at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

Today you can buy an advent calendar containing almost any product you can imagine, from Lego to whisky, ice cream to jewelry, sex toys to fishing lures. Adding to the hype are influencers whose TikTok videos show them unboxing luxury advent calendars with eyewatering prices like one from Dior that costs $11,000.  

WATCH: An influencer unboxes an advent calendar that costs $11,000 Cdn

Warren told Cost of Living it’s part of a pattern known as “Christmas creep,” where businesses begin marketing holiday-related products earlier and earlier in the year so that consumers ultimately spend more money.

“What you’re seeing is, as all these different brands start to figure out ways to reach customers earlier into that Christmas season, the advent calendar became an easy way to do that,” said Warren.

Plus, younger consumers value the experience of opening up a little something each day, he says.

That’s certainly the case for 26-year-old Maya Warwick Brunelle in Montreal. Her mom moved to Vancouver, but the last three years has sent her an advent calendar — the Bonne Maman one featuring 24 tiny jars of jam — and gets the same for herself.

Although they won’t be together at Christmas, the advent calendar provides a way for them to stay connected over their shared love of jam. And they both like reusing the glass jars.

Retailing around $60, it’s a far cry from the Dior calendar, and even farther from a jewelry version by Tiffany’s worth a reported $112,000 US.

“It’s a nice little treat every day,” said Warwick Brunelle.

Limited-editions up the appeal

Some of those treats include limited-edition jams only available once per year, and that’s “a very typical marketing tactic,” said Lily Lin, associate professor of marketing at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C.

This sends a message that “if you lose out, you might regret it,” said Lin. “If it’s widely available, it’s not as exclusive.”

But there’s some other marketing psychology behind this as well, she says.

“A lot of it is that anticipation up to…