Choosing the Perfect Advent Calendar: A Guide by Size and Style

Understanding Calendar Sizes

The Sellmer collection spans five distinct sizes, each suited to different spaces and purposes:

Postcard Calendars (17 × 12 cm) — $4.95–$6.95 The most affordable option and a perfect stocking stuffer or holiday card alternative. Despite their small size, every postcard calendar has 24 fully functional doors with detailed images behind each one. They're ideal for desks, nightstands, or as thoughtful additions to gift packages. Many collectors buy several each year to send as Christmas greetings.

A4 Standard Calendars (29.7 × 21 cm) — $14.95 The classic size — large enough to hang on a wall and enjoy from across the room, but compact enough for any space. This is the format Richard Sellmer used for his original 1946 calendar, and it remains the most popular size today. The A4 calendars offer the best balance of visual impact and affordability.

Large Format (42 × 30 cm) — $16.95 For those who want more detail and presence. The larger canvas allows the artists to include finer details — individual faces in a crowd scene, food on market stalls, icicles on window ledges. These calendars make a statement on a wall or mantelpiece and are popular in families where everyone gathers to open the daily door together.

Panorama Calendars (70 × 30 cm) — $24.95 The crown jewels of the collection. These extra-wide calendars unfold to reveal sweeping landscape scenes — alpine villages, Christmas markets, snowy river valleys. The panorama format creates an immersive visual experience that standard rectangular calendars can't match. Many customers frame their panorama calendars after Christmas and display them as seasonal art.

Standing 3D Calendars — $22.95 A unique format that folds open to stand freely on a table or mantelpiece, creating a three-dimensional scene. The standing calendar becomes part of the room's Christmas decoration rather than just a wall hanging. Popular for mantels, dining table centerpieces, and office desks.

Choosing by Theme

For Traditionalists The **Classic** collection features winter village scenes, Christmas markets, and snowy landscapes. These are the designs most closely connected to the original Sellmer aesthetic — the kind of calendar your grandmother might have had on her wall.

For History Lovers The **Victorian** collection recreates the ornate, richly detailed aesthetic of 19th-century Christmas. Parlor scenes, shop windows filled with toys, horse-drawn carriages on cobblestone streets. These calendars feel like opening a window into the past.

For Families with Children The **Children's** collection features friendly animals, playful elves, Santa's workshop, and whimsical winter scenes. The colors are brighter, the scenes are more playful, and the images behind each door are designed to delight young eyes. The chocolate calendars in this category add a daily sweet treat to the morning ritual.

For the Faithful The **Religious** collection centers on the nativity — the birth of Jesus, the journey of the Magi, shepherds and angels. These calendars are crafted with reverence and are popular for church displays, Sunday school classrooms, and families who want to keep the spiritual meaning of Advent at the center of their celebration.

Our Recommendation

If you're buying your first Sellmer calendar, start with an A4 Classic — it's the format and style that started it all, and there's a reason it's remained the bestseller for 80 years. If you want to make a visual statement, go for a Panorama — once you see one unfolded on your wall, you'll understand why customers come back for a new design every year.

And if you're still not sure? Buy two. One to open, one to keep sealed and frame. A Sellmer calendar is a piece of Christmas art that deserves to last longer than December.

All Sellmer calendars use biodegradable glitter and FSC-certified paper. Free shipping on orders over $50.