Many people tend to confuse Advent calendars with the terms “cruelty free” and “vegan”.
These two terms have become increasingly common in recent years, largely due to the growing demand for vegan beauty products.
Although these two labels are often used interchangeably, there is a significant difference between them.
Cruelty-free’ means that no animal testing has taken place, while ‘vegan’ means that the products do not contain any animal ingredients or by-products (including honey, milk or beeswax, for example).
So an advent calendar can be vegan AND cruelty-free.
If beauty and cosmetics brands were the first to take up this animal cause, gourmet products (chocolates, cereals…) are now joining them.
To identify beauty or gourmet advent calendars that fall into one or both of these categories, look for the labels on the boxes (Vegan Society, Vegan Approved, Vegancert, VeganOK or Leaping Bunny…).