By far, one of my kids' favorite traditions (and mine!) this time of year is our Advent calendar! Since we've been doing this for years now, I've had the opportunity to try out what things have been fun and successful, what things weren't so much, what changes to make, etc. (Ex: Not scheduling a big activity - or anything at all on a weekday, or when Jose is working and not at home to help! Although, Aurora has crossed over to the Magic Maker side, so she's always a huge help with these things now too!)
What I typically do is type out all the things I'd like to try and include in our Advent calendar. I fill in our December calendar with everything else we have going on, so I can see what we need to work around. Then, I copy and paste the Advent things into our December calendar on the days they'll work. I also include the estimated cost of items I'll need to buy for the week (gingerbread house, items to bake cookies, donation amount, etc.), so it's not one big surprise expense all at once. I try to space these out throughout the month as well, so I'm not spending a ton all in one week.
Here are some of the things we try to include:
Read The Story of Christmas | Since Advent is preparing for the coming of Jesus, it only makes sense to start off with the story of why we celebrate Christmas to begin with!
Write letters to Santa | This may seem obvious, but I'm pretty sure I planned this right before Christmas Day in previous years and there was some anxiety over whether or not it would reach Santa in time. Learn from my mistake and get this one done early!
Put Christmas tree up | We're usually much better at having this done before December, but not this year!
Watch Home Alone + pizza for dinner
Visit Santa | We always go to Bass Pro to see Santa and ours is over an hour away, so this is usually done on the weekend.
Pick out toys for less-fortunate kids | We're doing this through our church this year, so we have a later deadline. In previous years, we've done Toys For Tots and they usually collect at the very beginning of December, which makes total sense but, again, learn from my mistake 😅 and make sure you schedule it in plenty of time!
Make Christmas cards for grandparents
Take items to the animal shelter
Serve at a homeless shelter | We have not done this one yet as a family, but I used to do this with my parents years ago and I can't wait to do it with my kids, once the boys are a little older.
Deck the halls with Washi tape | So much fun!!
Watch The Santa Claus + sip hot cocoa | This is extra fun when hot cocoa bombs are involved!
Watch Elf + make candy necklaces | We typically use gummy Lifesavers, Fruit Loops, the mini fudge-striped cookies, and the snowflake-shaped pretzels!
Celebrate Zoey's birthday | We got Zoey for Christmas one year, so this is always when we celebrate her birthday!
Make a gingerbread house | This year I finally got the sense to get a pre-built one!
Watch It's A Wonderful Life, while making Christmas cookies | The actual best cookies ever!
Deliver cookies to neighbors
Take cookies to police or fire station
Camp out by the Christmas tree
Take gifts to teachers
Take a bubble bath with glow sticks | The kids always LOVE this one!
Last day of school before break
Set out milk, cookies and carrots + read The Night Before Christmas
On days that we don't have anything extra, I'll put a few pieces of chocolate and a "Make someone smile today" note in there. This year, Holden saw the chocolate Advent calendars at Trader Joe's, so I went ahead and got them each one of those, instead of adding chocolate to our calendar.
Hopefully this post is helpful, if you're looking for something fun to do with the kids! Even if you don't do anything extra for Advent, finding some way for the kids (from 1-92!) to count down to Christmas Day is always fun!
Happy December, Friends!
