2023 LEGO Employee Gift revealed!
Posted by CapnRex101,
LEGO has produced exclusive sets as gifts for their employees every year since 2008, usually marking anniversaries within the company, or celebrating its history.
In recent years, these sets have been distributed to ambassadors as well and I was pleased to receive the newest addition to the series yesterday.
Not everyone will necessarily have received it yet, so we are keeping the article spoiler-free as viewed on the homepage. However, you can view the whole set below...
4002023 Gingerbread House is an unusual employee gift in some respects, lacking the obvious anniversary branding or historical connections common among these sets. On the other hand, the first LEGO Advent Calendar, suitably numbered 1298 Advent Calendar, was launched in 1998, so 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of this event!
I wonder whether DOTS has influenced the customisable gingerbread house design too, which would be a nice send-off for the theme coming to an end this year.
Since we are already covering five Advent Calendars and lots of 2024 sets over the next few weeks, it might be difficult to cover this set as well. If there is interest though, perhaps I will publish weekly updates or something like that.
What do you think of the 2023 employee gift? Let us know in the comments.
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35 comments on this article
That's a big set for employees, but I like it.
But not for me:(
Would love you to publish a review, either weekly or on Christmas eve! Cheers
Oh, it looks lovely! Yes please to a review, even it it's just one on Christmas Eve.
I bet it doesn't taste as good (or bad, depending on your preference) as real gingerbread!
I would love to see a feature of these builds if you can find time in your holiday schedule!
Best Lego advent calendar?
These employee gifts just make me jealous. Please don't mention them :)
Looks like the famous Wooden Duck is one of the minibuilds, so maybe the other ones are references to LEGO’s history.
@Ridgeheart said:
"It looks, as the kids these days would say, hella dope, wiggity-wack (but in a good way), and also, the bizzomb-dot-com. For reezy.
I like it, even with the stickers!"
Are the kids you know from the 90s?
I used to drive by Enfield, CT twice a month, and I decided to make the drive over to the Lego headquarters for once just to go see it. (There's not much there--it's a small-ish campus in an industrial park in the middle of nowhere. They did have some giant bricks outside that I posed in front of for a photo.) I did see employees walking out with goodie bags once, so I'm assuming they got corporate gifts for some occasion.
If I were still making that trip, I'd be tempted to stand outside with a sign: "WILL TAKE UNWANTED EMPLOYEE LEGO GIFTS."
Kinda ugly.
@Lego_Prime said:
"Looks like the famous Wooden Duck is one of the minibuilds, so maybe the other ones are references to LEGO’s history."
There's many which are a nice touch!
would be cool if this set also could be built as the X-Wing set from a few years back. Looks similar. Gingerbread X-Wing!
@Ridgeheart said:
"It looks, as the kids these days would say, hella dope, wiggity-wack (but in a good way), and also, the bizzomb-dot-com. For reezy.
I like it, even with the stickers!"
These days???? Hahahaha
What sort of an employee do you need to be to recieve these sets? Is it literally anyone who works for lego (from store staff, to managers, to designers and business peeps) or is it head-office types only? Feels like there would be a ton more floating around, although I know technically you're not meant to re-sell them...?
@Ridgeheart said:
" @person_that_uses_brickset said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"It looks, as the kids these days would say, hella dope, wiggity-wack (but in a good way), and also, the bizzomb-dot-com. For reezy.
I like it, even with the stickers!"
Are the kids you know from the 90s?"
I mean, in what situation would it be BETTER to say "why no, all the kids I know are from 2010 and onwards"? That would be like, totally gnarly, my dawg."
Well that took a turn... but I suppose you are right.
I, for one, would enjoy seeing the mini builds in this set covered similarly to the other Advent calendars. In fact I think this would be a much more unique and interesting calendar to cover than the usual fare.
Wow, I never realized that the first calendar had such a meaningful set number!
@Andhe said:
"What sort of an employee do you need to be to recieve these sets? Is it literally anyone who works for lego (from store staff, to managers, to designers and business peeps) or is it head-office types only? Feels like there would be a ton more floating around, although I know technically you're not meant to re-sell them...?"
I'd assume anyone. I got the holiday gift as a LEGO brand store employee in 2013. My friends who still work at that store have not mentioned anything changing since!
Very cool. If not daily builds post, then maybe a comprehensive mini build review at the end of December?
@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"I used to drive by Enfield, CT twice a month, and I decided to make the drive over to the Lego headquarters for once just to go see it. (There's not much there--it's a small-ish campus in an industrial park in the middle of nowhere. They did have some giant bricks outside that I posed in front of for a photo.) I did see employees walking out with goodie bags once, so I'm assuming they got corporate gifts for some occasion.
If I were still making that trip, I'd be tempted to stand outside with a sign: "WILL TAKE UNWANTED EMPLOYEE LEGO GIFTS.""
Better do it soon before they all high-tail it for Boston :(
This is the first employee gift I'll be receiving! Excited to build it because it seems pretty unique and not the kind of build I was expecting. I love the concept, though :)
Definitely would like to see the mini builds get covered. As others have said, the covering the retail advent calendars isn't that interesting to me. We can find those builds just by looking at the set pictures or the instructions. This set has actual secret builds that I'm sure many are eager to see!
Great idea for an employee gift! Though unlike previous years' sets, which I know many employees have held onto until Christmas actually arrives, I expect this one would be best to start building well before Christmas so that the main advent calendar build is ready to use in the lead-up to the holiday!
A fun thing about this is that since it seems much more robust than your typical cardboard advent calendar box for consumers, it'd be that much better to hold on to for future years. You could even change out the "rewards" for each day to something new (Lego or otherwise) each year!
Darn cool, but the employee gift I'd like to get my hands on is still 2010-2. I loved the Games line...
@MisterBones said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"It looks, as the kids these days would say, hella dope, wiggity-wack (but in a good way), and also, the bizzomb-dot-com. For reezy.
I like it, even with the stickers!"
These days???? Hahahaha"
How_do_you_do_fellow_kids.jpg
Forget the other advent calendar sets and only cover this one :)
That’s a sweet - no pun intended - employee gift!
This is neat! Not really my cup of tea, but it's about as festive as a holiday gift is gonna get which I really admire. I think this works better as an employee gift than some of the previous ones that also highly appealed to fans of certain themes, like the X-wing or temple of celebrations. Not that it's too big of a deal since they always end up on the aftermarket in large quantities anyway, but I surely envied everyone who got their hands on one of the best ninja temple sets along with all the golden anniversary figs! Until I caved and ordered a sealed copy last week, that is. I will probably pretend like I earned it while building on Christmas' eve.
Go on, cover this one! It would be a group reveal for all of us on here.
I think it would be fun to see more coverage of this set. I'm curious what all the mini-builds will be. And I'm so envious of all the employees who got one; this is one I'd love to have myself.
Please review if possible!
It's fantastic, but I will not able to get it!!
I really dig the overall concept. The design and execution could use a few tweaks. The idea of a re-usable Advent scene though…it needs to be created as something for consumers to purchase.
It’s a severely missed opportunity for an annual product theme that absolutely could be built off of with Advent insertions either using the existing Advent brand products and adjusting them slightly. Even could incorporate stuff at a store level and on kids areas on the LEGO site to go along with a product like this.
The daily mini-builds in this are fantastic for anyone into LEGO history like I am. Please, do cover them when it's done.