# Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar — user reviews > 335 indexed App Store user reviews of Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar by Jacquielawson.com, rated 4.90/5 from 20,387 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/jacquie-lawson-advent-calendar/id6745843326/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/jacquie-lawson-advent-calendar/id6745843326.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 18,689 · 4★ 1,082 · 3★ 306 · 2★ 121 · 1★ 189 ## Newest reviews (18 of 335) ### 3/5 — What happened to O holy night *2026-07-22, version 1.0.3* Where is all the Christmas songs that used to be on here ### 2/5 — Something missing *2026-01-10, version 1.0.3* Compared with previous advent calendars the Christmas Village seemed to be missing something. I felt a lack of engagement with the cottage, not enough activity to keep me revisiting. There were fewer interactive features, those little touches of interactive festive magic, dotted around the main scene, and an atmosphere that felt flat due to the slow arrival of the various village buildings. It certainly didn’t feel as magical as in previous years. Hoping for a return to the old JL format for the next festive season. ### 3/5 — Disappointing Year *2026-01-06, version 1.0.3* I have used the calendar for five or six years, and I felt this one wasn’t quite up to their usual standard. There was not much to do in the cottage without any presents (and the textile patterns for decorating were kinda crazy!). I missed being able to tap on different things throughout the village and have them change or move (like the lights or trees in the past). Unfortunately, this was the year my family decided to each get one and do it as a group, but there was very little for us all to share or interact with. ### 2/5 — Hard/ impossible for friends to open when gifted Advent calendar *2026-01-06, version 1.0.3* The developers really need to make a much much much simpler way to open these calendars . It used to be very simple but for many of our friends ,some children , some adults, over last few years they can’t figure out how to open it when it’s sent as a gift. It leads to great frustration and even resentment! My sister and I have purchased these for ourselves and many friends for many years since the Jacquie Lawson Advent calendars began. This year, six friends couldn’t open them, and three asked to not send it to them anymore because each year they can’t figure out how to open them! Each year a few friends ask to not send it so our list gets smaller each year. I had to spend a lot of my time in person and by phone with two friends to help them open it. In years past, several friends didn’t open it because you can easily get to a step where it seems you have to pay for it!!! They wondered why we sent them a gift they had to pay for! What a scam…there should never be that option. Really frustrating gift. I hope they read this and take it to heart. ### 2/5 — Sloppy copy & paste job with added ChatGPT *2026-01-03, version 1.0.3* Normally I love the advent calendar but this year it was so poor. Some of the graphics failed (dog with no ribbon, puzzle pieces missing) but also the word search was a copy job from last year - what has the Louvre to do with Christmas?! The houses were crass ChatGPT efforts that didn’t match the scenery and ruined the beautiful woodland scene. It was also such a shame to have no build up in the room. I miss the craft and dedication to details of previous years. ### 4/5 — Not my favorite *2026-01-03, version 1.0.3* This felt like the least imaginative of the advent calendar apps so far. The last three were so impressive, and a large part of that was the specificity of the theming. Edwardian England had a manor house with animals on the grounds to discover. Paris had the iconic buildings of the great city, Parisian trivia to learn, and French music. But this app so far seems like...generic Christmas? My kids all enjoyed it as usual. They really enjoyed the snowball fight, sleigh game, and ball-dropping game. I did like the sweater design game. ### 5/5 — An annual tradition *2026-01-01, version 1.0.3* Family and friends know that it’s the holiday season when they receive their link to the new calendar. We are always eager to see the new location. We exchange screenshots of our decorated rooms, trees, etc thru the season. The games are varied and fun. Highly recommend ### 3/5 — Disappointed. *2026-01-01, version 1.0.3* I look forward the calendar each year, but this year was weak and lacked creativity. Aside from finding elves and the snowball fight, there wasn’t much interaction. Nothing to click in the windows, no presents, not much action in the cottage scene. Compared to Paris last year and the Edwardian calendars 2025 was not up to the task. Sad. ### 5/5 — Season Cheer *2026-01-01, version 1.0.3* A great way to ring in the new year! ### 3/5 — Advent Calendar *2025-12-31, version 1.0.3* Jaqueline has been around for many years. I stopped subscription for years but now I’m back. I love her cards and advent calendar they do not disappoint. Highly recommend ### 5/5 — Christmas magic *2025-12-31, version 1.0.3* The JL advent calendar delivers pure Christmas magic every year, and this one was no exception. It is loved by several generations in our family. I agree with other reviewers that it was disappointing not to have the presents in the cottage, if only for an easy way of finding all the different games and crafts. But this is a minor quibble, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the calendar again. Please keep it up! ### 3/5 — fun daily activities but some glitches *2025-12-29, version 1.0.3* I have purchased the advent calendar for years. They are all beautiful and fun. We love this app. Especially the card games, tetras, the beautiful videos, the elf hunt, the music. I like making the snowflakes and trying to build Santas by doubling the cookies, penguins, elves and reindeer, etc. We like the fun festive activities but we also like the more serene church scene videos and the darling manger scene (and the caroling from past years). However, this year was a little disappointing and even annoying, for several reasons. I did email Jacqui Lawson at “help” to describe the glitches in the games, but nothing was fixed. 1) there were no gifts in the “home base” house. Not even under the tree on Christmas Eve or St Nicholas Day. Nothing changed inside the house from day to day except the appearance of the little ceramic village model buildings on the bookshelf. Boring. This is quite different from previous calendars, where gift-wrapped books and games would suddenly appear on most days. Also, the light inside the house was constantly the same, never dimming at evening, and the scene outside the window was always the same, never changing the weather or light. 2) Also, the games in home base have more glitches than expected. The tetras style game on the ottoman in the “home base” occasionally shows a completed row of marbles where there is actually one marble missing. Tetras also shows the wrong blocks occasionally. For example, a 3x3 block suddenly becomes a 2x2 block when placed into the board. 3) Also, the jigsaw puzzles in the home base, once completed, are immediately covered by a dialogue box so you cannot even see the finished puzzle picture. Annoying. We should be able to look at the finished puzzle as long as we want, before clicking away. 4) out in the village, the snowball fight game is set at such a speed that one cannot play for more than a minute, if that, and it is not enjoyable, because of the speed of the snowballs and the number of snowballs coming simultaneously. This game could be fun, but it needs an adjustment dial, for players to adjust the speed. 5) Ditto on the speed of the santa’s sleigh game, trying to avoid flying into trees, balloons, etc etc. too fast. 6) there was a glitch in the christmas jumper / sweater decorating activity. None of the three sweaters had an “on display” button so there was no way to select Ps . Still a beautiful calendar and a hit for the children in the family. I would like the cookie decorating challenge to come back, from last year in Paris ### 5/5 — From Oregon USA *2025-12-28, version 1.0.3* Fantastic work, detail, and entertaining. Happy New Year’s to all of you. ### 5/5 — Loved It! *2025-12-27, version 1.0.3* Have loved the calendar this year! All the wee details, the background music etc. Have really enjoyed the selection of games and know I’ll be playing some throughout the year! And the elves…love searching for them! Thank you for such a brilliant advent calendar this year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ### 3/5 — Disappointed *2025-12-27, version 1.0.3* Not as good as prior years. Less cottage goodies - no presents, games, etc. added during the month. ### 5/5 — Advent calendar *2025-12-27, version 1.0.3* Not as many games as before but still enjoyable ### 4/5 — Lovely *2025-12-27, version 1.0.3* Been buying JL advent calendar for many years and it is a real treat. Slightly disappointed this year with the daily videos and games coming with each new house appearing rather than via a gift in the main cottage. It makes the cottage rather redundant given you can play the games and change the decor in the days before 1 December. In an ideal world, I’d like the houses to appear each day but the videos and games to come from gifts in the cottage. ### 5/5 — Jacquie Lawson Advent calendar *2025-12-27, version 1.0.3* I had this for a present instead of a chocolate calendar and I’ve absolutely loved doing this every day of December. There’s games, tasks and you can even design your own house! I think most would love it! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Disappointed *2025-12-31, version 1.0.3* Very disappointed with this years advent calendar The previous years 2024 and 2023 had lots more characters to click on on the home page This year none except trying to find Father Christmas The previous years elves were a delight. ### 1/5 — Always buggy, but this year is worse. *2025-12-31, version 1.0.3* The solitaire game does not reliably draw three cards. The ten in a row regularly doesn’t recognize 10 in a row. Every year, I find bugs in the games, but this year is worse than ever. The art is adorable, as always. My kids enjoy it. Updated to add: so much is buggy. The coloring pages don’t work at all. It’s really frustrating. I guess most users don’t actually do the activities (that’s the only way I can understand the almost 5 star rating of this app). My kids want to play thoroughly and I wish they had a QA department that had the enthusiasm of a 9yo to ensure their code is up to snuff. Disappointing. ### 1/5 — Disappointing *2025-12-24, version 1.0.3* Have been getting these since the first of the advent calendars. Really disappointed with this year's, not nearly as good as previous ones. Too many of the days simply open an old game rather than a video clip . Lazy .Most of these games were available in previous years in the house. Also hardly any of the fun features by clicking on windows and other items .All in all much poorer quality , won’t bother in future sending to all my friends and the family as have done to date. ### 1/5 — So glitchy this year! *2025-12-23, version 1.0.3* And boring… it’s lost all of its magic. Can’t believe how glitchy it is though! Keep looking for an update but nothing. Have been buying for years and they have been getting gradually worse. Won’t be buying again ### 1/5 — Not up to standards *2025-12-20, version 1.0.3* This year’s calendar is such a letdown compared to prior years. There aren’t enough activities unique to the village to make it interesting. For example, the 20th revealed a Christmas cookbook, one which in prior years was on the bookshelf before the month started or was wrapped as a daily present in your house. There are no presents this year, either. It is one big letdown. ### 1/5 — Too complicated *2025-12-17, version 1.0.3* Way too complicated. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do. ### 1/5 — Big Disappointment *2025-12-16, version 1.0.3* Too many games & not enough videos. ### 1/5 — Issues on day 4 *2025-12-13, version 1.0.3* Enjoyed calendar so much last year gave 3 people gifts and purchased one for myself. On day 4 I encountered issues I am not able to correct. I have sent a message for assistance but have not had a response yet. ### 1/5 — My review *2025-12-11, version 1.0.3* I think it’s a really really really really really good app but I hate how you have to pay for it I just want to enjoy it not having to pay to make more people enjoy it please try and make sure it doesn’t have any money included because now I cannot play the app but it’s a really good app ### 1/5 — What happened???? *2025-12-11, version 1.0.3* This is always one of the highlights of my holiday season, but this year they were dialing it in. Everything feels recycled, the village is boring, and there are no presents to open every day. The cottage itself is dumpy with terrible decor and nothing much to do. Paris was outstanding, and London and Sussex were amazing. This one is just plain boring as if everyone went on vacation and just threw this together. And worst of all, my favorite Santa game now has blinking eyes on all the elements, which is just creepy! Thank goodness I can just replay Paris. Please team do better next year, because I know you can do stellar work. This is just not up to par. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Advent Calender *2026-08-22, version 1.0.3* I play with the calendar and games all year. I’d like a spring or summer calendar with games, videos and activities to celebrate the beauty of those seasons. ### 5/5 — Charming interactive Magical Village *2026-07-31, version 1.0.3* I’ve been a Jacquie Lawson customer for ages, I absolutely love the creativity in the advent calendar villages. You can experience the fun year round if the mood strikes. Enjoy! ### 5/5 — Jackie Lawson rocks!! *2026-07-08, version 1.0.3* I am the mayor! ### 5/5 — I Love the JL Advent Calendar! *2026-04-09, version 1.0.3* I can’t remember how many years I’ve been doing the JL Advent Calendar, but I look forward to it every year! It’s well worth the money! Every detail is top notch! The interactive activities are so much fun! I love that there is a surprise everyday! There are elves to find each day! There is a new addition/surprise to/in your apartment everyday. There are many options for decorating your apartment to your liking! I enjoy interacting with my pets! The games are fun! I’m enjoying it so much that I still visit my apartment everyday and we’re heading into April! 😃 I decorate the tree and the apartment to match other seasons. You can still interact with the pets as well. 😁 ### 5/5 — Christmas all year long!! *2026-02-19, version 1.0.3* Oh, what fun!!! ### 5/5 — Never too late! *2026-02-07* Due to the miracle of Christmas, I wasn’t able to open this until my birthday which is 立春, February 4th. Never mind🤗it is ‘the gift that keeps giving”🙌 ### 5/5 — Fun to do *2026-01-23, version 1.0.3* The graphics are great. I enjoy the daily activities. ### 5/5 — Holiday Fun *2026-01-20, version 1.0.3* Totally impressed with this game. It’s creative, relaxing, and fun. I hope next years is nice too. The artwork and design is beautiful. ### 5/5 — Billions of things to do *2026-01-08, version 1.0.3* Happy happy happy I was sad when Christmas ended tho Huge huge dissapointment 😔😞😞😞 luckily Christmas is coming next year too so I’m somehow happy ### 5/5 — Absolute joy! *2026-01-03, version 1.0.3* Wonderful escape from the harsh realities of the world - I just love every single part of the Jacqui Lawson fantasy. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-09.*