Christmas Jigsaw Puzzles 2026: Advent Calendars and New Releases

This is every Christmas jigsaw puzzle for 2026 that we would put on our own table, side by side: four jigsaw advent calendars, the new 1000-piece scenes from Ravensburger, Gibsons, Jumbo and Falcon de luxe, three festive picks from House of Puzzles and Cobble Hill, and two larger-piece builds for evenings when your eyes have had enough. We have written longer posts on several of these ranges and link to them below. Here we stick to what each puzzle is, who it suits and how it builds.

Jigsaw advent calendar 2026: four calendars compared

A jigsaw advent calendar is 24 doors with a small puzzle behind each, one a day from 1 December to Christmas Eve. There are four this year, and they differ more than the boxes suggest: the pieces per door, the style of picture, and whether the days add up to one scene. The table gives the short version.

Calendar	Pieces a day	What the picture is	Who it suits
Ravensburger Christmas at Home 2026	56	An illustrated Christmas townhouse with a family scene in every window	Families and gentle daily builds
Wasgij Christmas TV Special 2026	54	Santa's day at Hollybush Studios, and you build what happens next	Anyone who likes a puzzle with a punchline
Jan van Haasteren Advent Calendar 2026	Not stated	A comic Christmas market that grows stall by stall	Jan van Haasteren fans and detail spotters
Falcon de luxe Christmas Comes to Town	42	Victor McLindon's painted market square with carousel and tree	Traditional painted scenes, shortest daily sit-down

The Ravensburger Christmas at Home 2026 is the gentlest of the four: 56 pieces a door, and an illustrated Christmas townhouse where every numbered window shows a scene of family life. Someone is baking, a cat sits on the rooftop, a dog waits by the front door, and snow-dusted trees stand either side. It suits a household with children, or anyone who wants a daily puzzle without a puzzle-sized commitment.

The Wasgij Christmas TV Special is for people who like a joke with their puzzle. Santa is booked onto every festive show at Hollybush Studios, sprinting from a cook-off to a game show with a director in a yellow shirt bellowing at him, and each door holds a 54-piece scene from that day. As always with Wasgij, you build what happens next rather than what is on the lid, so the fun is guessing the punchline. Each door is small enough to do over breakfast, and we opened all 24 doors in our Wasgij advent calendar post.

The Jan van Haasteren Advent Calendar 2026 is a Christmas market that grows stall by stall as December goes on, until the whole comical scene is finished on Christmas Eve. Stallholders shout their wares, children tug at sleeves for gingerbread, and somebody has dropped their shopping. Jan's regular troublemakers are in the crowd as usual. The piece count per door is not stated, so pick it for the artist rather than the numbers.

The Falcon de luxe Christmas Comes to Town has the smallest daily count, 42 pieces a door, and the most traditional picture: Victor McLindon's painterly market square with carousel horses mid-spin, a tree nearly as tall as the shopfronts and Santa stopping in the crowd for anyone who wants a word. It suits someone who wants a painted scene and the shortest morning sit-down. All four are in our advent calendars collection.

Ravensburger: the Limited Edition and three village scenes

Christmas Limited Edition No.30, Santa Takes a Break is number 30 in Ravensburger's yearly Christmas Limited Edition series, at 1000 pieces. If you collect the series, this is the one to add to the shelf this year.

My Haven No.14 Christmas Shed is the indoor scene of the year: a glowing tree beside the fire, stockings hung, fairy lights across the ceiling, a coffee table crowded with candles, a snow globe, a nutcracker and an open book with a hot chocolate to hand, and a cat stretched out on the hearth. The sheer number of objects and overlapping textures makes it a genuine challenge, so keep it for when you have a few evenings clear.

Coastal Christmas by Georgia Breeze covers her folk-art harbour in snow, with a full moon, Santa's sleigh across the sky, fishing boats strung with lights and carollers on the quay; it sits in the medium range, with the dark sky slowing you down and the shopfronts speeding you up. Christmas Town is the matching village, with a bandstand of carol singers, a toy shop, a bakery and a red Royal Mail-style van under a starry navy sky. All four are new for 2026, and every winter release is in our Ravensburger 2026 round-up.

Gibsons: a numbered Limited Edition and a snowy Tower Bridge

A Christmas Wander is a snow-covered village street on a December evening: two couples with children trailing, a boy on a red bicycle teetering past, a golden retriever bounding ahead, a snowman by the pub and a black cat on the path, with a church spire behind. The snow gives you large cool-toned sections to place first, and the figures and buildings fill in around them. It is a Limited Edition with a unique numbered certificate in the box.

Tower Bridge at Christmas by Richard Macneil puts the floodlit bridge behind a crowd on the South Bank: wreaths on the lamp posts, pigeons underfoot, a Jack Russell pulling on its lead and a red double-decker crossing in the background. Every figure is seen from behind, which gives it a you-are-there feel rather than a posed one. Both are new for 2026; the rest of the season is in our Gibsons round-up.

Jan van Haasteren and Falcon de luxe at 1000 pieces

Christmas Mall by Jan van Haasteren is two floors of a shopping centre where everyone has left it to the last minute. Santa is dodging a runaway mobility scooter, someone is fitting a tree topper from a ladder that is clearly too short, and the escalator queue runs off the edge of the box. Shopfronts, tinsel, coats and carrier bags make for a lot of colour to sort, and a poster is included to keep track of who is doing what to whom. Get it out once the decorations are up.

Christmas Cheer by Matt Edwards is a village square on Christmas Eve: the postman on his last round, Santa handing gifts to carol singers, a child on a sledge coming in fast, two robins in the holly border and a red phone box behind Santa. The warm orange and gold against blue-white snow makes colour-matching easier than it first looks, though the tree lights and snowy rooftops will keep you honest. It marks Falcon de luxe's 50th anniversary.

House of Puzzles and Cobble Hill: three festive picks

Christmas Market by Tracy Hall is a single wooden chalet hung with paper stars and painted baubles, its counter stacked with candles and snow globes, with gingerbread hearts, a bratwurst grill and a mulled wine barrel down the row. The stall goods hand you dozens of small colour blocks to sort into; the night sky and cobbles are the plainer stretch. Finished size 69 x 48cm. Our House of Puzzles 2026 post covers the rest of their year.

From Cobble Hill, Doodle Town: 12 Days of Christmas hides the twelve days among hundreds of tiny doodled characters in a cartoon town, so it plays like a search-and-find. Christmas Visitors is a living room on Christmas morning with the French doors open and a pack of dogs and cats crowding the doorway to watch two snowmen, while a golden retriever sleeps on the sofa by the tree. Both finish at 69 x 49cm, and both sit in our Christmas puzzles collection. This year's releases from every brand are gathered in Christmas Puzzles 2026.

Easier builds for tired eyes

Two of this year's releases use bigger pieces without shrinking the picture. Christmas Memories by Janice Daughters is an open scrapbook of keepsakes in Gibsons' 500XL format: a nutcracker, a cuckoo clock, Father Christmas cards, a teddy bear, a Yorkshire Terrier and fabric swatches, all on pieces larger than standard. It is still a proper build, and the collage layout will have you hunting for the right patch of tartan more than once.

Coming Home for Christmas is Ravensburger's Large See and Hold format at 500 pieces: a figure walking home along an icy lane, a vintage car, a snowman in a cottage garden, a lit tree outside a thatched inn and a stone church tower under a violet and rose sky. If someone in the house has given up 1000-piece puzzles because of the strain, hand them this one.

Christmas jigsaw FAQs

When should I start a jigsaw advent calendar?

On 1 December, one door a day through to Christmas Eve. The daily puzzles run from 42 to 56 pieces, so each one fits over breakfast or after dinner, and the last door opens on the 24th.

Which is the easiest Christmas puzzle here for tired eyes or less time?

Coming Home for Christmas from Ravensburger: 500 pieces in the Large See and Hold format, with strong contrast between the amber cottage windows and the sky. Christmas Memories in Gibsons' 500XL format is the next step up. Among the advent calendars, Christmas Comes to Town has the smallest daily count at 42 pieces a door.

Which is the hardest?

My Haven No.14 Christmas Shed, for the sheer number of overlapping objects and textures in one room. Doodle Town: 12 Days of Christmas runs it close, because hundreds of look-alike doodled figures and the white snow between them turn it into a search-and-find, and Christmas Mall by Jan van Haasteren is the busiest colour sort of the lot.

What is the Ravensburger Christmas Limited Edition No.30?

It is the thirtieth puzzle in Ravensburger's yearly Christmas Limited Edition series, at 1000 pieces.