Those who do re-useable advent calendars..

[lucysmam]

What's going in them?

So far I have choc Christmas puddings, finger lights, balloon helicopters, fake tattoo stickers, clip in coloured hair extensions and some slides. On some of the days when I put in chocolate, I was thinking of putting in a Christmassy activity like bake mince pies or write Christmas cards or make rice crispy house (asda kit for a fiver)

good grief. I just do chocolate coins! are you short of things to do?

fossil, Christmas is my favourite time of year....I may go a tad ott with some of it

Sounds lovely Lucy, I think you have enough!

Mine are 11.6 and 14 lucysmam so we still do the chocolate coins and on the Saturdays, a £1 coin each for extra pocket money.

Mine has little decoration to go on a muscial Christmas Tree.

(And if/when I get grandchildren, they can share the tree)

(But not for a good few years yet)

I'll channel my enthusiasm into something else then.....wonder what's next on the list

oooh, I like the little decoration idea! I could make something to go on their little tree while dp's on afters

Chocolate and/or money - they are all far too old teenagers!

I'm doing happyland figure/ hotwheels car / finger puppet every day a choc coin and then little notes like making christmas cards, baking mince pies, watching Christmassy DVDs etc.

check out poundland. what about paper chains? obvi only the paper.

We do chocolate or gifts similar to yours. I also put the odd voucher in, not proper ones just ones saying, cinema trip, panto etc

This year I've got a pack of 20 Moshi Monster figures, to split between 2 children, and on the other 14 days they'll get a choc coin/other novelty.

One year (when DS was much younger and I was being a bit of a martyr mummy!) I did chocolate coins with the occasional treat - ie: little cards with things written on like 'bake a cake of your choice', 'hot chocolate out at a cafe', 'cinema outing' that sort of thing.

Thank goodness DS is now 12 and those days are long gone .

I put a Christmas activity in each day instead of a present - they get enough at Xmas! On the weekends or school hols it might be something like bake Xmas cookies or make decorations but on the days when we have less time it'll be something simple like read a Xmas story or sing a carol together. Often stuff you'd be doing that day anyway like a school nativity play or writing cards. I've got some great ones over the years - this sort of thing is my favourite one though I make up my own funny ones.

lego mini figures, mints, moshlings, mlponies, nail varnish, lip balm, electronic candles, batteries, candy canes, stickers, yoyos, puzzles, bouncy balls, rubbers, spinning tops, disney trading pins, charms, club penguin and bearville gift cards

I love christmas too, and I love my the dd's advent calendar. I have

Hairbands
Fingerpuppets
Plastic dinosaurs
Crocodile rubber
Party blower
Stickers
Bubbles
Hair clips
Plastic bracelet

Last year I put a different plastic farm animal in each day.

Chocolate money here. But my best friend at school used to get money (shiney coins), gift vouchers, trips and all sorts of Christmas experiences - although visits to Santa dropped out in favour of a cinema trip over time.

Always thought that was a lovely thing to do and wish I had the energy and imagination for it.

dolls house props, silly bandz, keyrings, mini sparklers, singing candles, snapz, (all supervised), trip to a museum, hot choc sachets, 20ps, mini notepads, mini pens, rings, wooden animal kits, treats for dog/cat/rabbit, glitter tattoos, mini books, tree decorations, sun lotion, mini soap, mini shampoo, facemasks, glitter spray, mini perfume, friendship bracelets, cheap pandora style charms or dangle charms (ebay, primark and poundland), novelty tissues, ds stylus's, finger puppets :-)

I got a really cool one from quality save for a fiver. I'm just doing chocolate coins but I'm deffo nicking some ideas from this thread.

Hello again lucysmam I think I was talking to you yesterday about indoor Fireworks! And I think we both indulge our children!

Anyway, last year I went on ebay and got a job lot (bundle) of petshop pets, they were old, from the 80's and really great. Cost hardly anything. I combined these, wrapped in tissue paper with nail varnish, chocolate or a lollipop, a special marble, much as others have said up thread.

My gingerbread man advent calendar has small pockets though!

MARGUERITE what is an electric candle please as that sounds great...

I love poppers - might get a couple for Xmas stockings but could fit in a calendar?

This is my first year doing a reusable calendar. Have gone for chocolate (mini kinder bars for DC and for DH green & blacks and fun size twix). I'll prob get mini toblerones for me. And at the weekends adding a Christmas thing to do ie make snow globe or bake mince pies/gingerbread house).

I'm also adding perfume / aftershave samples in first week for us and if we like them can add to Christmas list. Also adding my Baileys choc deluxe sample for me on the day we decorate tree

Ohh, I must be a mean mummy, I made an advent tree and 25 decorations and the DC get to pick which decorations gets hung on it everyday. No chocolate, no presents .

I used to do an activities advent calendar, that was always fun

I find now with the advent calendar that my three are getting a bit old (15, 12 and 10) and its more difficult to get little presents, and I like to get them the same thing just different colours so that adds an extra problem as well

My 12 year old daughter loves going to school each morning and telling her friends what she got!

I stupidly started the tradition of making up a rhyming couplet clue and hiding that in the calendar everyday which led to that day' s advent present. This meant that I wasn't restricted by size and so the DDs could get some of the things that they would need anyway(cards for friends, decorations for bedrooms, Christmas pjs, stockings, other things that a lotofpeople put in Christmas Eve hamper bur spread across advent ). This is a much loved tradition even though my girls are now 12 & 14 but the number of times I wake up at 5 in the morning with a hangover from a Christmas party and realise I have forgotten to write the blooming clue and then have to think up a bleeding rhyming couplet with a pounding head - all not conducive to peace and harmony at Christmas.