Fabric advent calanders... what to put in?

[mamadivazback]

Hi everyone, I know it's only August but I have started getting in bits and pieces for christmas to spread the cost.

Last year I got fed up of chocolate advent calanders and sods law I eventually managed to find a fabric calnder on christmas eve in a charity shop window for £1 so I have stored it away but am now realising I do not have a clue what to put in!

I don't mind the odd piece of chocolate in it but wnated something more fun in it for my 5YO son any ideas?

Minature bubbles, bouncy ball, stickers?

I never even thought of that, he would love those :)

I also thought of putting raffle tickets in all the pockets and having a box with the stuff for him to collect a 'prize' every morning, sometimes bubbles, lego man etc and other times maybe a 'token' for an activity or trip out or sometimes just a few chocolate coins.

Don't know if that would be overkill though... :o

As well as sweets and stickers I look at the sort of things you can get for party bags. Sometimes there will be some of the "gifts" from the previous years crackers that I save and put in. If the pockets are small and your ds would enjoy it put a clue in to where he will find something a bit bigger and then have a little treasure hunt.

party bag things, stickers, bouncy balls, if they like lego, you can buy those little mini figure things for £1.99, sweeties

how about a treasure hunt for some days? spread a couple of clues over the calender, the last "door" could hide the last clue and he'll find a dvd to watch xmas eve?

oh sorry starfishmummy! didnt read your comment oops. great minds eh?

You could put a small wooden tree decoration in each pocket, the sort you see at german Christmas markets, and have a tiny tree for DS to put them on each day. This can be re-used each year, the surprise will be which decoration is revealed each day. You can often find boxed sets of the wooden decs when all the Christmas stuff is on display.

Ooooh, it all sounds so very lovely!
Where would I get one of these fabric advent calendars??

CDM, there are loads of nice ones on e-bay, 99p to £6 , or more.

WOW loads of fab ideas here, have plenty to choose from now :)

Thanks everyone.

We put a little index card in each pocket with a christmassy activity for that day;
make mince pies,
buy our tree,
salt dough decorations
make christmas cards
post cards
visit santa
christmas movie
etc etc etc

Ooh febreze I am going to do that for myself this Christmas. 'Glass of mulled wine' 'new pair of boots' 'lie on sofa reading magazine instead of doing the ironing'

In fact I am going to make one with 365 pockets in it. and an extra-huge pocket for my birthday!

I wanted a fabric AC last year but shopped too late. Does anyone know where to get a lovely one that will last and last? There are some on ebay but they look a bit tatty.

slightly off topic sorry, but for those of you hunting for a fabric ac have you thought of a wooden one? i got one last year for DD's to share, its a lovely father christmas holding a sack and in the sack are 24 draws to put little things in. we stand it on the harth in the living room and the girls love it.
we got it from our local garden centre when they started putting out their christmas bits.

Love the idea of Christmas activity vouchers.

Last year I bought a selection of felt and the DC made the characters from the Nativity for a Nativity scene (they were 8 and 9 then). We then brought the characters out of the advent calendar day by day. Some of our people were a bit big so using raffle tickets to label them is a great tip too! Thanks.

oldenoughtowearpurple you made me snort diet coke through my nose and onto the keyboard, what a bloody marvellous idea

DH and I share a fabric AC, I put 2 chocs in each pocket!

If you like sewing, John Lewis and Hobbycraft have pre-printed fabric for you to sew your own AC's. Another idea is 24 little fabric drawstring bags hanging on a horizontal length of rope/cord. Christmas fabric tends to be available from beginning of Oct. If you want your calendar to last, use fairly strong fabric. Alternatives are baby socks or mittens in festive colours which can be attached to a backing fabric. One more idea was done with those tiny metal pails Hobbycraft stock, but this can get expensive at £2.50 each, although will last a long time, can hold several sweets/novelties, and are freestanding e.g. on a sideboard/mantelpiece.

If you prefer to buy one, look at garden centre ranges, and independent Christmas shops that open in October, they seem to have more unusual and often better value ones.

Last year I filled DS's with a mixture of lego.....I bought a star wars set and by christmas he had all the pieces.

The year before it was marbles.

We have one like this - (got it in the UK though, this was the first picture I could find). It's lovely because it comes with little fabric decorations to go in the pockets, and one comes out each day to decorate the tree. I also put the odd choc coin in one or two pockets. All the other pockets get a written 'promise' e.g. bake biscuits with daddy, go swimming, watch a film etc.

We also have this Eric Carle one. It is an absolutely beautiful paper pop-up, behind each door is a decoration to hang on the tree. If you treat it carefully it can be put away and used again and again. It really does look fabulous, the pop-up tree is astounding.