Valentine’s Day Advent Calendars Are Officially a Thing

An Edmonton chocolatier is taking the tradition outside the holidays€”and, if you hurry, you can gobble up all 24 handcrafted chocolates in the lead-up to February 14.

Few things compare to the childlike delight of ripping into a fresh advent calendar on the first day of December—oh wait, except the knowledge that you get to do this (that is, start your morning with a handily portion-controlled square of sweet, festively wrapped chocolate) for the next 23 days without judgment. Indeed, the unbridled joy that the classic advent calendar brings is so craved by the masses that, in recent years, similar products stuffed with things like wine, short stories and, well, whatever the hell you want have taken off.Which is why we say, Why limit advent calendars to the holidays? They spark joy, after all, and we—as advised by our dear friend Marie Kondo—deserve nothing less. Plus, at this point, the advent calendar is divorced enough from its Christian origins to embrace beyond December, right?So maybe Edmonton’s Violet Chocolate Company is onto something with its 24 Reasons Valentine Calendar ($65), an edible countdown to V-Day that’s loaded with the chocolatier’s award-winning sweets in flavours like spicy hibiscus, coffee sea salt and lemon blueberry hemp. In addition to holding a handcrafted chocolate, each cardboard door opens to reveal a compliment, note of encouragement or good ol’ pun that lets the owner know just how much they’re adored—which, if you’re gifting this to yourself, is really just a fab form of self-love. Let the countdown to lurrrve day begin.The Violet Chocolate Company’s 24 Reasons Valentine Calendar is available online, with options for local Edmonton pick-up and shipping across Canada.