Advent calendar for under 5's?

[Shemozzle]

I'm stuck for ideas for advent calendar for dd2 who is 3. She can't have chocolate ones.

Last year I got a lovely dolls house in a charity shop for £1.50 and had the crazy idea to give a piece of furniture or sylvanian each day to go in it for each dd, I planned to buy all from bundles on eBay but even they were extortionate, had to buy some new, forgot to order paper bags to number and ended up having to wrap and label 48 small presents and become bankrupt in the process and swore I would just go back to ready made ones in future. Dd1 who is 9 has started collecting novelty erasers, so I will use the old pocket felt calendar we have to fill that with those easily. I could get another pocket calendar but can't think of 24 small enough gifts suitable for a 3 year old?

I've seen the playdoh, wow toys and toot toot calendars and all seem full of tat. Playmobil 123 is the only nice looking one but so expensive I'm hoping to find something else.

Any ideas of small things or any others people have seen please?

[ALemonyPea]

Fisher price do an Imaginext one, sold at Smyths, it's around £10 iirc. The theme is aimed more at boys, I think, but if she's not too bothered about what she plays with, it would be worth it.

[Shemozzle]

Thanks, just looked at the contents. She isn't particularly girly and not aware of gender stereotypes yet but I'm not keen on the content of that one for a Christmas calendar. Most days are a tool or a road sign or a traffic cone, which I don't think she'd quite understand the purpose of unfortunately.

[avocadosweet]

Playmobil 123 one has been played with all year here, got it half price on Amazon in Oct I think.

[loopyloopster]

I bought a regular playmobil set and just divided the contents into 24 parcels for mine last year...I used the nativity which was fairly pricey but figure it'll get used every Christmas. You could go for a cheaper set...?

[trilbydoll]

I made one last year and had a mixture of My little pony cake toppers (£2 for 10 from ebay), cheap finger puppets, sweets or a piece of card with a Christmassy activity on it. So it's not necessarily too expensive or labour intensive! It was all tat though

No idea what I'm going to do this year. Already thinking sweets every day might be the way to go, feels like very lazy parenting to give up trying in Sept tho!

[handsfree]

I ordered this Melissa&Doug wooden calendar which arrived the other day - it's lovely!

[debbiewest0]

Mine are really happy with the picture card ones . Not really sure when the craze for 24 presents started but the simple pictures or with the Christmas story behind each door has kept me happy and the kids for decades. Though the Melissa and Doug tree is a nice one. But not sure what toot toot or play doh have to do with advent anyway! Marks and spencer do some beautiful card advent calendars with tiny lights on too. Or maybe the idea of an "activity a day" advent calendar I saw on a different thread. Little scrolls in the felt pockets with activities on - eg. Make cookies, go for a nature walk, go to the christingle service.

[weeblueberry]

We got the WOW Toys one last year and actually my daughter, now three, still plays with the stuff that was inside. It was small toys to create a Santa's Grotto type playscene and she generally includes it in her imaginative play when using figures.

[TelephoneTree]

There's also the 24 wrapped up books thing? You could some some really cheaply?

[nocutsnobuttsnococonuts]

The last 2 years have been moshi monsters (which dd attempted to eat as she thought they were chocolate...) and lego people. But dd's share the toy one and take turns rather than me buying 48 things!

This year I'm not sure was thinking shopkins (if I can get a cheap enough deal)

they do a dairy free advent calendar think it's called moo free and can be bought online or from health stores :)

[disneyprincesswannabe]

Elc happy land? I'm debating between that one and the vtech toot toot for ds3.

[Choceeclair123]

You can get some really nice wooden advent trains and houses with individual drawers you can put whatever you like in. Have s look on eBay / online.

[Tiggles]

We have used this one for the last 14 years. Still going strong. Cost me £24 so as reusable now cheaper than a chocolate one would have been.

[eyebrowsonfleek]

You can get dairy free chocolate advent calendars of it's an allergy that's the problem.

[PrincessOG16]

I'm making a book advent calendar for my 3yo.

Each day she gets a new book to unwrap, just cheap ones from poundland or similar. She loves me reading to her so this is perfect for her

[Wayfarersonbaby]

We do the traditional picture ones! Not had a complaint from DD yet There are some lovely ones in the National Trust, on Amazon (Caspari especially), John Lewis, and Phoenix cards.