New York Giants 101st Anniversary 1925–2026 Advent Calendar

In 1925, legal bookmaker Tim Mara bought an NFL franchise for New York for $500, reasoning that an empty storefront in New York was worth that much. Before that first season ended he had reportedly poured in another $25,000 to keep the club alive. The New York Giants 101st Anniversary 1925–2026 Advent Calendar builds a 24-day countdown around the century that followed, turning a franchise history into a ritual opened one door at a time.

The design does not simply print a team logo on a Christmas box. Behind the doors sit two kinds of pieces — twelve players standing on gold bases stamped with the stylized ny, and twelve keepsakes drawn from a hundred years of Sundays: a 101st anniversary badge, a MetLife Stadium model, a championship ring marked "NY Big Blue," a football dated 1925–2026, a Giants scarf, a Statue of Liberty skyline sign and a snow globe holding the stadium. The box frames them in a snowy Manhattan under the line "24 Days, 24 Legends, One Giants Family."

The calendar box with all 24 numbered player figures and keepsakes lined up on steps in front of it, from the anniversary badge to the Big Blue championship ring.

1925 is not decoration — it is the year a $500 bet became a dynasty

The year printed beside the 2026 is the heart of the whole design, and it carries more history than a round number usually does. Tim Mara's franchise outlasted several rival New York teams, survived the Depression, and became one of the NFL's anchor clubs, and it has never left his family. The team passed from Tim to his sons Jack and Wellington, and today Wellington's son John Mara is the primary owner — the third generation to run the Giants.

This continuity is why the box's phrase about "One Giants Family" is not marketing filler. Giants support is handed down the same way: the Polo Grounds era to the Yankee Stadium years, the long run at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, and now MetLife. A grandparent who remembers the 1956 championship at Yankee Stadium and a grandchild who only knows MetLife are, in a real sense, the same fan across time — which is exactly what an anniversary calendar is built to celebrate.

Holding the calendar box, showing the snowy Manhattan skyline, MetLife Stadium in the lights and the 24 Days, 24 Legends banner.

The gold "ny" on every base is a logo the Giants once abandoned and fans demanded back

Each player figure stands on a gold base stamped with the lowercase ny, and that small mark has its own contested history. The stylized lowercase "ny" first appeared on both sides of the helmet in 1961 and stayed until 1975. The team then briefly tried an uppercase "NY" and, after moving to the Meadowlands, switched to GIANTS spelled out in bold italic capitals. The lowercase "ny" only returned as the primary logo in 2000 — a decision that drew its own debate because the team by then played in New Jersey.

Putting that exact mark on every base is why the player pieces feel like Giants rather than generic footballers. It is the emblem fans fought to keep, and it ties the twelve figures to the same identity whether they represent a 1980s Super Bowl team or the modern roster.

Giants pieces hanging on a Christmas tree, including a player figure, the MetLife Stadium model, a helmet and a pennant among the lights.

A championship ring and a skyline sign turn eight titles into something you can hold

Among the keepsakes, the ring marked "NY Big Blue" and the Statue of Liberty skyline sign do the work a trophy case usually does. The Giants have won eight NFL championships — four before the Super Bowl era, in 1927, 1934, 1938 and 1956, and four Lombardi Trophies since. A ring ornament condenses all of that into one object small enough to hang on a tree, which is a different experience from reading a list of seasons.

The skyline piece does something similar for place. The Giants have always been a New York institution played out across New York landmarks, from the Polo Grounds beside the Harlem River to the view across the Hudson at MetLife. A Statue of Liberty silhouette on an ornament says "this is a New York team" faster than any wordmark.

The alternating structure makes every morning a page from the team scrapbook

The calendar deliberately alternates between people and things. One morning brings a player on a gold base; the next brings a stadium, a ring or a scarf. That rhythm matters because it mirrors how fans actually remember a franchise — not as a clean list of champions, but as a mix of players, places and objects tangled together. A countdown made only of players would show who wore the uniform; mixing in the ring, the stadium and the skyline begins to show what a century of being a Giants fan has felt like.

The calendar on a table surrounded by player pieces, a ring and keepsakes, beside a Giants flag and a decorated tree.

After Day 24, a century of Big Blue moves onto the tree

At roughly 3–4 cm, the pieces are built for the tree as much as the countdown. The photos show the stadium, the helmet, a pennant, a football and a player in blue holding their own among the lights, and many families keep the full set together to bring out every December. That gives the calendar a life beyond its first opening: the numbering matters for one season, but afterward the pieces become a small archive of the franchise, arranged by era or simply by favorite.

Fans who want to wear Big Blue through the season can pair the calendar with the Hamilton x New York Giants Halftime Performance Football Jersey, while collectors who follow the wider acrylic-ornament line can look at the Milwaukee Brewers 2026 Brew Crew Holiday Advent Calendar for a baseball counterpart built the same way.

Written by Nadia Marsh, Collectibles Specialist at DoesignUs.