2nd December 2024

As is tradition, today we share all of the other Advent Calendars we are following, some of which could be quite profitable!

1) IKEA 24 Days of Christmas - you need to be following them on Facebook, and then look at their "Spaces" on the app - each video only lasts for 24 hours and tells you about a bargain you can buy in store or online. You can also visit this page. Yesterday it was 25% off stools, including this very Scandi KYRRE in blue:

2) McDonalds are giving away free food, with their Gift Tag promotion. Enter a 5-letter code found in emails, on adverts, or wherever you can find them, and you get a deal on a Main for that day and a Breakfast offer for the following morning, eg a £1.99 McMuffin. Check out the details on https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/newsroom/article/gift-drop-for-christmas.html. I'm hoping for a free Festive Pie!

3) For the Maths crowd (I know you're out there) you have a multitude of Mathsy Advent Calendars to choose from. All listed at Colleen Young's marvellous blog.

• Mathsbox https://www.mathsbox.org.uk/xmas/x.php
• Matthew Scroggs https://www.mscroggs.co.uk/
• Transum https://www.transum.org/ChristMaths/Advent.asp
• White Rose Maths https://connect.whiteroseeducation.com/advent
• NRICH Primary and Secondary

4) There was a great article this time last year that I never had time to read: "25 literary treats to read this Christmas" which takes seasonal passages in books and hopefully inspires you to read them

5) The Financial Times has a great Saturday magazine and they have asked some of their top contributors, from Nigella Lawson to Marina O'Loughlin, to give food and entertainment recommendations. If you don't have a subscription, let me know and I'll share the articles with you.

https://www.ft.com/content/7cbdb5bf-c1b6-4d93-ab4a-e3d780b1e83c

6) The M&S 12 Days of Sparks has been cancelled this year. No more free carrots! But if you check your Waitrose app carefully you might see an offer of a free packet of biscuits. Scroll down past the personalised vouchers to the "complimentary" vouchers, and loyal customers might get a treat. Don't blame me if you don't!

John Lewis also has a daily special offer on its app, running from 1st to 24th December, and yesterday was was a giveaway of Monty Bojangles chocolates, so worth checking!

7) The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, one of our top three along with the Natural History (where Adam used to have Maths lectures) and the History of Science (astrolabes! Einstein's blackboard!), is celebrating its treasures all through Advent with a calendar of highlights. First up was Hiroshige's A Snowy Bridge (1857).