Since her family’s move to the UK, the Duchess of Sussex has continued to promote As Ever and introduce new As Ever products. This week’s new product drop? A chocolate collaboration with Compartés, the LA-based chocolatier. They made an Advent calendar. True story: I only learned about Advent calendars when I was well into adulthood. I swear they were not a thing when I was growing up, or if they were a thing, barely anyone spoke of them.
Anyway, As Ever’s Advent calendar is full of chocolate, obviously. The packaging is interesting because the “box” looks very much like Meghan and Harry’s Montecito home. What I would say is Meghan and Harry’s real home, despite this shambolic UK move. Anyway, the calendar goes on sale today for pre-order, with delivery set for November so that everyone can enjoy a month of chocolate treats. The As Ever team also posted a beautiful new photo of Meghan, dripping in diamonds. I hope our girl is safe and happy!
Incidentally, while I’m happy that As Ever is doing more with their Compartes collabs, it feels like Meghan overthinks a little bit and she likes things that are super-fancy and limited-edition. When really, her consumers would be perfectly happy with chocolate bars and any form of chocolate, in stock permanently on her site.
Photos courtesy of As Ever.
Is she overthinking things or is it that collabs can only be limited editions. Her venture into chocolate is being done with a partner who has their own products to sell.
Yeah, I don’t judge that. The partner might only be willing to do limited editions.
I love Advent calendars! Hoping to snag one of these.
LOL Advent calendars were definitely a thing in the 80s! But they were usually just basic chocolate ones that you got from the grocery store or somewhere. It wasnt like now where every store has their own and there are wine advent calendars and perfume advent calendars and makeup advent calendars etc.
I always opened mine on the respective days but my sister had self restraint and wouldn’t eat them until Christmas morning when she would come in my room and eat them all in front of me and not share with me lol. (I think I usually got one.)
A lot of this is just the technology now exists to make these sorts of fancy packaging in smaller quantities. Also you can get them relatively inexpensively from China if you plan far enough in advance. That wasn’t possible in the 1980s.
I’m someone who doesn’t really “do” Christmas, but I will buy myself an advent calendar with sweets or treats as a reward for dealing with all the nonsense.
Born in the sixties and I am a cradle Catholic I don’t remember a Christmas without an Advent calendar it was out Christmas countdown😉
“Our” not out🥴
@Becks, we always had one when I was little, although they sound like the ones you had — they were never fancy like this one.
I don’t love Xmas but would never turn down chocolate.
In the 70s and into the early 80s we had several advent calendars that were just cute (some impossibly cute) pictures under each door. I’ve kept them all. I don’t remember when chocolate advent calendars came along, the chocolate then as now can be a little on the cheap side unless you go high end, lol. But goodness knows that most kids would enjoy a treat in their calendars now.
What a great product drop! Perfect! Don’t think those worrying that they will sell their Montecito estate can rest easy. It’s such an important part of As ever’s vibe.
I am so jealous. I grew up with Advents calendars and always loved them but As ever still does not deliver internationally so I will miss this one, again.
Advent is my favourite time of the year more than Christmas. It is he build up to Christmas
I’ve already ordered the advent calendar from See’s so I really don’t need this one as well. If it’s not too too expensive I may get it anyway but considering how much her chocolate was before, I’m not sure I’ll be getting this.
Did you see her Insta story? Just so beautiful
I’ve sat out the last few drops for budgetary reasons, but with several occasions coming up, I am gonna splurge this time! Can’t wait!
Me too, if I’m on time. I don’t see a time. Anyone know?
Available now. Oh damn. This one hurt!
Yeahhhhhh 150 is a little steep but I may have ordered it anyway. I really do love that damn chocolate lol. And this seems like a better alternative than a wine advent calendar (better for my health I mean hahahaha.)
Thank you @Kittenmom. Yes, it did! I automatically thought it should be a gift at that price. Otoh I should treat myself. Lol @Becks1
Although, it just occurred to me that Aldi’s often has cheese advent calendars, and if I get one of those, plus a wine advent calendar (the one I got a few years ago was basically a half bottle of wine every night, so two glasses, perfect for splitting but what often happened was I would fall behind lol), I can have myself a little cheese-chocolate-wine pairing every night. ooohhhh.
You can just tell she smells like fresh linen and French lilacs.
Two of my favorite things.. 💞
Mine, too! We always knew Meghan as a good one.
Advent calendar secured.
I LOVE an advent calendar.
While I don’t buy everything as ever offers, I love the honey. The raspberry jam. And am so damn excited about my advent calendar.
$148 for the calendar. I’m tempted just because even though I won’t be able to eat it all myself.
There are so many high end/high price Advent calendars out there now. My SIL buys the Sephora one every year, and Bonne Maman had one with miniature jam jars ( hint hint AsEver). I bought one with different varieties of loose leaf tea a few years ago. The packaging is just as important as the product. This was definitely a splurge and love the illustration on the box. I hope she brings back the bars as well, but this type of product is perfect for the holiday season and can gauge demand based on pre-orders.
Oh that advent calendar would be a great gift for my sister, but I’m worried that the candy will taste a bit off after sitting in a cupboard for 2 months.
They aren’t shipping till November.
Sold out in less than 15 minutes. I missed it!!!😭
They aren’t sold out yet….
I don’t think so. The site is letting me put it into my cart.
Thanks to y’all, I went back and it’s still available. I found that page very clunky, so the sold out message I saw was a red herring. Whew!
I’m still annoyed that I missed out on the bookmarks last week!
Excited to have gotten mine! I love an advent calendar! 🥰
I just bought one! Not sold out yet
An advent calendar of fancy chocolates is a perfect idea for As Ever!
Meghan has to set the bar high, because if she went for the mundane she would be “savaged” and “ripped to shreds” and “torn apart” bla bla bla by the usual haters.
As things stand, As Ever is sophisticated, elegant, refined and gets excellent reviews, so the only thing they have is to whinge about the price.
And it’s not biting, since the ‘journalists’ constantly whingeing are mostly in the UK and As Ever isn’t even sold there.
I Would quite literally finish that box in three days. Maybe four. LOL. She looks stunning, as always.
Collabs are limited edition by design – it has to do with the earnings and how they get split as well as licensing. For instance – when Disney collabs with a makeup brand (which they do all the time) – the brand gets sold a license for that IP for a specific period of time. If two brands or a public figure collabs with a brand they usually get a percentage of the total sales – for as long as the contract and product is in stock and sold. So financially it makes perfect (abd actually really good business sense) why Meghan is doing a collab. She does not have to factor in manufacturing – that is done by the brand. She simply has to pay them a portion of the overall sales. As Ever is still a small brand and scaling up to manufacture chocolate would be an enormous cost. This way she gets the best of both worlds.
My company does collabs and it’s a great way to bring new consumers into the brand and these items generally have higher price points and tend to sell out. It especially makes sense for the holiday sales season.
This is so beautiful. I love it.
This is actually really pretty and I considered ordering one, but I just stocked up on the jams and the teas. I did want to make a note that the last order I received had “cheaper” packaging. The tea box looks essentially the same but the label wasn’t the smooth paper label placed on the box like before, but is instead stamped onto the boxes. The raspberry jam was also less vibrant and more of a maroon red. I took it to mean that they’ve cut expenses on some of the packaging and are probably upping production quantities. Everything still tastes the same.
Actually, I’d think that the paper on box would be cheaper packaging than stamping the logo on the box! 😀 That automatically makes the box a collectible, as it were, and becomes permanent marketing, because anyone can remove the paper/card label from an unmarked box and slap another label on it, or reuse the box with no reminder of where it came from.
So I view it less as cost cutting and more as a fine-tuning of their marketing strategy. Another form of keepsake packaging, because the stamped box is definitely more premium. I thought that the paper labels were the originals, used when As Ever just got started, because I’ve only been seeing stamped boxes everywhere, even since last year (Christmas?) or early this year.
Oh, dear. That illustration looks like a Thomas Kinkade painting.
Gotta tellya, I bought the Compartes chocolate caramels from As Ever whenever they came out. They were OK, but my biggest disappointment was how teeny tiny they were. I’m going to pass on the Advent calendar (and I didn’t grow up with these things, either).
This woman CANNOT take a bad picture. She’s just so beautiful!
There are advent calendars everywhere, aren’t there? I remember occasionally seeing them at people’s houses or elsewhere, just not in stores, as a kid. I just assumed it was a specific (unknown to me) religious custom. So now I find out I could have played all along?! Hahaha.
I have to keep mine under like $20 so I’ll have to pass. Hope y’all enjoy yours.
Advent calendars make me think of Bad Santa.
YES YES YES, I agree 100%. “it feels like Meghan overthinks a little bit and she likes things that are super-fancy and limited-edition.”
I pre ordered one. Looking forward to receiving it
I am thrilled she did her homework and is doing an ACTUAL advent calendar, which is 24 days, rather than some of these folks doing 12 days and calling it Advent (It’s 12 days of Christmas which STARTS 12/24 not Advent which starts 12/1). I grew up Catholic and Advent calendars were a big thing growing up. We had advent wreaths and advent calendars every year. I can remember making one and using yarn to tie pieces of candy to it.