Gelato Messina Is Releasing Its First-Ever Advent Calendar to Make the Festive Season Extra Delicious

Whether it's dropping Golden Gaytime-inspired Viennettas, cookie pies, Mint Slice-style biscuits, dulce de leche balm or its most-beloved gelato flavours — or just the usual frosty sweets lining its freezer cabinets — Gelato Messina sure does love giving dessert fiends a whole heap of treats. Come December, however, it's busting out 24 of them in the lead up to Christmas. Well, to be precise, you'll be busting them out of Messina's first-ever advent calendar.

'Tis the season to be jolly, and to enjoy opening tiny doors and eating the goodies within. First, the sad news for ice cream lovers: Messina's advent calendar won't need to be stored in your freezer, because it isn't filled with gelato. Next, the still-tasty news: it does come stuffed with Messina's delicious chocolate bites. (And it is recommended that you keep it in a cool, dark place, or in the fridge.)

That means that this year, you can spend the first 24 days of December eating your way through mini waffle cone bites, salted cashew brittle, coconut rough, Messinatella biscuits, panned Panettone and other Messina wares. That's all that the chain is officially giving away, because part of the whole advent calendar setup is getting a surprise daily. That said, you can also expect to find little chocolate snowmen figures among the sweets.

Handmade by Messina's in-house chocolatiers, every chocolate in the custom advent box is different — and, like all Messina specials, there's only a limited number available. In this case, only 300 calendars have been made.

Christmas fiends (and chocolate lovers) will need to order on Wednesday, October 19, for pick up from Friday, November 25–Sunday, November 27. (Yes, that does mean you'll need to exercise some self-control for a few days, to stop yourself breaking open the calendar as soon as it's in your hot little hands.)

Also like the brand's other limited-edition treats, this one is doing staggered on-sale times. Accordingly, folks in Queensland and the ACT are able to purchase at 9am, Victorians at 9.30am, and New South Wales customers are split across three times depending on the store (with calendars from Surry Hills, Bondi, Randwick, Circular Quay and Miranda on sale at 10am; Brighton Le Sands, Tramsheds, Parramatta and Darlinghurst at 10.30am; and Darling Square, Newtown, Norwest, Rosebery and Penrith at 11am).

Gelato Messina's advent calendar goes on sale on Wednesday, October 19, for pick up from Friday, November 25–Sunday, November 27. For more information, head to the Messina website.