Aldi mocks the $148 SKIMS advent calendar with An Advent Calendar That Skimps post comparing six cheaper calendars

Key Takeaways

• Aldi has responded to the backlash over Kim Kardashian's SKIMS advent calendar with a side by side Instagram post headed "An Advent calendar that skimps".

• The SKIMS calendar cost $148 for 12 days of small accessories such as hair ties, bobby pins, scrunchies and keychains, and SKIMS has since offered buyers refunds.

• Aldi's post claims shoppers could buy all six of the Aldi calendars it pictured for less than the price of one SKIMS calendar.

• Aldi's own 2026 range of more than 25 advent calendars, from $1.99, went on sale in US stores on 4 November.

Aldi has joined in on the SKIMS advent calendar controversy with a post titled "An Advent Calendar That Skimps", which puts the $148 calendar from Kim Kardashian's shapewear brand next to its own advent range. Without naming SKIMS, the discount supermarket set the two side by side on Instagram, with "An Advent calendar that skimps" written over the SKIMS items and "An Advent calendar lineup that doesn't" over Aldi's.

The caption read "We heard advent calendars were getting a lil skimpy this year. 👀 Couldn't be us." Aldi also pointed out that for less than one skimpy calendar, shoppers could take home all six of its calendars, adding "but hey, less is more… right?"

Commenters soon spotted the dig. One wrote "Wait is Aldi throwing shade lol 😂", another said "'skimps' is diabolical", and one said whoever runs Aldi's social media should get a raise.

SKIMS' advent calendar cost $148 and was sold as "twelve days of fun surprises", but buyers found it was filled with hair ties, bobby pins, scrunchies, keychains, a teddy bear keychain and bra strap headbands, with no clothing at all. Unboxing videos went viral on TikTok, with one passing 64 million views, critics called it the "Fyre Festival of Advent Calendars", and plenty of people said the contents looked like the things they find under the sofa when they're cleaning.

By Monday 9th November, the calendar was sold out on the SKIMS website and the brand had offered every buyer a full refund or SKIMS credit. A SKIMS spokesperson said "We have personally contacted every customer who purchased the calendar" and added "Their feedback matters to us and will directly shape how we approach future releases."

Aldi's 2026 advent calendar range includes more than 25 calendars starting at $1.99

Aldi's US business revealed its 2026 advent calendar lineup on Monday 2nd November, with more than 25 calendars going on sale from Wednesday 4th November while supplies last. Prices start at $1.99 for the Choceur Kids chocolate calendar and go up to $59.99 for the wine advent calendar. Alongside returning favourites such as cheese, coffee, hot sauce and dog treat calendars, new additions include a $29.99 Aldi Super Fan calendar filled with 12 Aldi branded items. Bridget Kozlowski, director of communications at Aldi U.S., said "Who says the best part of the holidays has to take place only one day?"

Aldi had sold a classic chocolate advent calendar in the US for years before its specialty range took off with a wine calendar in 2018. Joan Kavanaugh, Aldi's vice president of national buying, said in 2020 "We were truly blown away by our customers' response" to that wine calendar, and the range had grown to more than 20 varieties by 2020, from beer and hard seltzer to toys, crafts and pet treats. Aldi also dubbed the first Wednesday of November National Advent Calendar Day, and made "major quantity adjustments" in 2019 to keep up with demand. In 2025, the calendars went on sale on Wednesday 5th November, with the wine and cheese calendars returning alongside a new 12 Days of Beer calendar.

Poking fun at a rival isn't new territory for Aldi either. In April 2021, after Marks & Spencer took legal action over Aldi's Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake, Aldi UK replied on Twitter with "This is not just any court case, this is... #FreeCuthbert." The campaign, worked on with McCann Manchester, saw #FreeCuthbert trend at number one in the UK on Twitter twice, and the supermarket's Twitter following grew by around 30% in three days.

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