“We’re not trying to reinforce gender role stereotypes,” said someone at LEGO at some point I’m sure but here we are on Day 11 with a stove. It’s actually quite nicely built featuring a four-element stove top and a glass door oven. And that gigantic frying pan from yesterday at least has somewhere to go (I’m still not opening my accessory bag). Still, I doubt a stove like this would ever make an appearance in the boy-oriented CITY Advent Calendar so having it here in the Friends set will just reinforce the stereotypes of woman belonging in the kitchen. I’m probably making a mountain out of a mole hill though. One day out of 24 in a LEGO Advent Calendar doesn’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things, right?

This was inevitable. Every Friends advent calendar set has had a pile of accessories. Previously, it was fashion accessories: bows, brushes, stars, etc. This year’s a little different in that you get kitchen accessories instead: bowls, utensils, a mixer, a gigantic frying pan, something that looks like cupcakes, and some other odds and ends. I personally can’t stand these accessories. There’s just too many of them and they’re difficult to store or put on display. Plus, in an advent calendar, it’s a bit of a cop out to just include the pre-bagged set of accessories instead of something that requires building. Might be the worst day, and this coming up on the heels of the Fiery Wreath or whatever it was from yesterday.

Your guess is as good as mine! A dish with three cupcakes and one of those cupcakes just happens to have a GINORMOUS candle maybe? A wreath with a festive candle? I honestly have no idea what this is.

Can’t have a table without some chairs now can we? You get two charis, one for each of the minidolls included in this set. Hopefully there won’t be a third minidoll figure later on in the calendar. And either the chairs are a little high or the table’s too short because they can’t really sit up to the table. Oh well, first world problems of a Heartlake City resident.

Crafting table? Workbench? Food prep area? Air hockey or ping pong table? All sorts of possibilities of what it could be. It’s outfitted in obnoxious red and pink stripes. All that’s missing is a purpose and your imagination.

Ewa. It’s a unique name and one I think is pronounced as YOO-a. A unique name for a minidoll unique in more than one way. She’s unique to this set having never appeared in any other set before. Plus, her torso print is unique as well having never appeared anywhere else before. Her leg, head, and hair pieces have all been used before but if she is truly going to be unique, I would have liked to have seen her with a different face print on the head. That torso has limited use outside of a holiday setting and switching body out for another just ends up making her look like Naya or Danielle. A minidoll shouldn’t be defined by torso alone. Anyways, at least now Mia has a buddy to play with for the rest of the days.

Now this is a build! Consisting of 13 pieces, you build a small window which is the perfect height for a minidoll to stand behind. There’s a festive wreath underneath the sill, and you get some extra white and red 1×1 round plates to dress it up a bit further if you wish. This, and yesterday’s nice little build, I can’t help but hope that the next few days will be just as nice. Here’s hoping!

Well this was an unexpected surprise! When the last few calendars would give us an animal, it would be just that, just the animal. So getting this vignette, however small, is actually quite nice. It puts the fawn in context of a winter scene which is perfect for the advent calendar. Overall, I am very pleased with today’s offering.

There’s a bad and a good to what Day 3’s gift has for us. The bad? It’s a paltry 4 pieces making up a small gift and a basket. The good? It’s not the worst. If this year’s calendar is anything like years past, there will be days where you will get a single element. So by that standard, today’s gift isn’t all that bad. You do get a spare flower piece so there’s that…

Today’s reveal is a small sled, or toboggan if you prefer. It’s a bit weird since it’s built sideways and because of that it’s really thick giving the rider a really high center of gravity. That can’t be good for sledding down a hill at high speed. Maybe tomorrow’s reveal will be a snow bluff for a soft landing. Or a first-aid kit.