Grabby 24 Days of Advent Calendar Joy Review: A Pen-Heavy Craft Countdown With Real Projects

Introduction

Advent calendars for crafters have become a crowded field, with every brand trying to out-design the last. The Grabby 24 Days of Advent Calendar Joy stands out with a drawer-style cityscape box, guided projects for the first time in the brand’s calendar history, and a genuinely large haul of pens, markers and watercolors. At $99, it is $10 more than last year’s version, so the question is whether the contents justify the jump.

First Impressions and Box Design

The box itself is the first thing that earns points. Instead of a flat panel of doors, you punch out small boxes and slot them into a three-dimensional city scene, which then acts as the dispenser for each day’s drawer. It is a unique, well-executed idea, and the assembled result looks genuinely impressive. It is arguably a little wasteful in principle, but since the box gets reused as the display, it feels purposeful rather than throwaway.

One small flaw: the number 24 sits at the bottom of the scene, so it disappears from view once assembled. Beyond that, the layout is essentially flawless. Also worth knowing before buying: the contents are listed on the back of the box, which does spoil the surprise somewhat.

Days 1 to 7: Watercolors, Paint Pens and Ornaments

The calendar is organized into projects this year, a first for Grabby and a meaningful improvement over last year’s random assortment of supplies. Days 1 to 3 form the first project: watercolor coloring bookmarks with cute house patterns, a monthly painting calendar, and a reading tracker, supported by a QR-code coloring guide. The bookmarks pair with a pocket set of 12 essential watercolors plus a water pen and sponge. Grabby’s watercolors have a strong reputation, and the set is well chosen.

Day 3 adds two acrylic markers in gold and silver. Grabby’s paint pens are among the best in this category, and these hold up to that standard. Day 4 brings a generous stack of customizable paper ornaments you color yourself, a clear upgrade over last year’s pre-decorated versions that came with no instructions at all. Days 5 to 7 round out the project with dual-tone felt-tip markers (effectively eight colors), glitter gel pens in coppery and metallic shades, and fat bullet-nib glitter markers in blue, purple, yellow and orange.

Days 8 to 14: Markers, Fineliners and a Mini Sketchbook

The second project spans days 8 to 12 and centers on a cute mini watercolor sketchbook, supported by dual-tip alcohol markers with a brush nib on one side and a chisel on the other, in colors like orange, gray, luminous green and tennis-ball yellow, plus red, yellow and blue. Days 9 and 10 add fine liner drawing pens, and the project includes a QR-code tutorial, which is another addition over last year.

Day 13 is a fun change of pace: shrink-style plastic charms shaped like a bear, an elf, a robot and an owl, with beads to hang them. Day 14 brings extra-fine-tip acrylic markers in red, blue, yellow and green that are UV resistant and water-based, though the plastic nibs are less refined than the felt-tipped versions.

Days 15 to 24: Note-Taking Pens and Fridge Art

The pen count keeps climbing. Days 15 and 16 add more acrylic and glitter markers, with the latter technically belonging to the shrink-charm project. Day 18 delivers erasable ballpoint pens in pink, blue, turquoise and standard black. Days 17 to 20 form another project built around a small dotted bullet journal, and day 19 is a genuine highlight: a dual-purpose note-taking pen with a writing tip on one end and a highlighter on the other. It feels excellent in hand and is the kind of pen you will want to buy more of separately.

Days 21 to 23 make up the final project: four small magnetic canvases to decorate and stick on the fridge, plus a set of juicy brush-tip pens in eight colors and a dual-tip pen combining a bullet nib with a fine tip. Day 24 closes with a launch preview of Grabby’s brand new dual-tone highlighters, with two colors per pen and a small chisel nib, making you one of the first to try them.

Testing the Supplies: How They Perform

In use, the standouts are the glitter gel pens, which produce a beautiful finish and earn a wholehearted recommendation, and the glitter markers, which apply smoothly and evenly. The brush pens remain Grabby’s best product: juicy, easy-flowing and genuinely pleasant to use, easily the favorite of the entire box. The alcohol markers perform well, though some colors go on slightly patchy, possibly due to the included paper rather than the markers themselves.

The shrink charms turned out to be a delight. After a brief 59-second QR tutorial, the shapes shrink in a toaster oven in about 30 seconds and come out genuinely cute, even if slightly uneven. The projects give the whole calendar a sense of purpose that was missing in previous years, and everything across the 24 days works together, so any pen can be used on any project.

Things to Consider Before Buying

The honest caveat is that this is a very pen-heavy calendar. If you want a broad variety of art supplies, paints, or scrapbooking materials, this may not be the right pick. Last year’s calendar included acrylic paint, watercolor paint and assorted scrapbook supplies, while this year leans almost entirely into pens and markers with a distinct lack of random stationery extras.

The $99 price is also a fair jump from last year’s $90, though given broader price pressures it could have been higher. The listed contents on the back of the box remove some of the mystery, and the cityscape assembly takes time and may feel excessive to some. None of these are dealbreakers, but they are worth weighing against how much you enjoy pens.

Buying Advice

This calendar suits crafters who love pens, markers and guided projects more than loose supplies. The addition of six projects with QR-code tutorials transforms it from a pile of random items into a structured month of crafting, which alone makes it a major step up from the previous year. If you prefer paints or scrapbooking materials, look elsewhere; if pens are your thing, this is one of the strongest craft advent calendars available, even if it is now sold out and you may need to hunt for the individual pen sets separately.

Conclusion

The Grabby 24 Days of Advent Calendar Joy is a clear improvement on its predecessor: better projects, better structure, a more exciting box, and a deep bench of quality pens and markers led by excellent brush pens and glitter gel pens. It will not suit anyone hoping for supply variety, but for pen lovers it is one of the most enjoyable craft advent calendars of the season.