Advent calendar of 'promises' or similar

[doradoo]

So in the hope of keeping costs down and plastic tat out of the house - I'm trying to come up with a list of 24 'promises' or fun things which we can do as a family - or for the DC to do - to go into a fill your own calendar.

DC are DS1- 10, DS2 - 7 and DD1 - 4.

So far, I've come up with the following:

• an extra hour on tablet/pc
• hot chocolate / marshmallows and a movie
• pick your favourite supper

but quite frankly am struggling for ideas - anybody got any suggestions for other things to add / directions to go?

Walk through town spotting Christmas trees/lights
Picnic/tapas supper on the floor sitting on a blanket
Baking Christmassy foods - mince pies/sausage rolls/ Christmas biscuits etc.
Choose a Christmas film to watch

Have a search for advent activities on here. There are some brilliant lists.

We start with what's on anyway - school party, seeing Santa, getting tree, making cards, carol service

Chores - get house ready for Santa (basically clean up!), put up decorations, lay table on Christmas Eve ready for dinner next day

Then add in a simple thing on busy days - Christmas story, film, have hot chocolate, bubble bath (someone else suggested adding glow sticks), shiny pound coin to go to shop and choose treat

Craft stuff - making cards, snowflakes, paper chains

Go for winter walk and collect greenery to make table or mantelpiece decoration

More elaborate stuff like ice skating, pantomime

theimaginationtree.com/2014/11/25-ideas-the-kindness-elves.html

Make home made pop corn

Walk in the woods

Bike ride (not v Christmassy tho)

Learn how to make mummy a G&T

Cute Elves
Meant to add that on Christmas Eve ours says this bit of schmaltz

"It's Christmas Eve! Enjoy your presents.
Remember how much we love each other and that is the greatest gift of all."

baking (sweets, cakes, biscuits), decorating the tree, ice skating, cinema, posting cards, dancing to Christmas music, treasure hunt for gold coins, doing a good deed for your teacher, Christmas story, make some mince pies for neighbour / granny / teacher, make christmas pizza (only use red, green and white stuff), sleep out under the tree,

Brilliant - thanks all, but keep them coming :)

Bake a cake/gingerbread men/mince pies. Smush-in (each person has a bowl of vanilla icecream, in the middle of the table are little bowls with chocolate buttons, jelly sweets, raisins, sliced banana whatever. Help yourself and smush it all in!) pancakes for breakfast! Make some salt dough decorations for the tree.

StarGirl that is such a lovely website I have had much inspiration from it, thank you.

You're welcome.

Website is thoroughly wonderful stargirl Thank you!

We:
Make mince pies and donate to local old peoples home
Stick cloves into oranges (cloves are VERY sharp!)
Bake
Letters to Santa with crisp walk to post box
Sort out old toys for charity shop

2 sleeps to go!!

Lovely idea, which I am sooo nickin'.

Just to add to the already lovely ideas, make pancakes., look at the stars, write a worry on a piece of paper then burn it.

This year I am using the nativity set as part of the advent celebration. I have a royal blue piece of material on a table. On the material there will be gold card stars - one for each day (the four Sunday stars are larger than the rest). The figure of Mary will move a star each day. That star will be stuck to the window. When she reaches the stable the window will be full of stars.

We do a variety of things.

As PP said, start with the obvious expensive stuff you are doing anyway so pantomine, trip to the pictures, iceskating, visiting santa, doing a santa run. Also getting the tree and decorating it is a biggy. According to DD1 the best thing about the tree is decorating it.

We do crafty stuff like paperchains, making a decoration for the tree, making a pomander (my favourite).

Baking like gingerbread, playdough (with mixed spice or almond essense, red or green food colouring and lots of glitter in it), decorating the cake, hot chocolate, popcorn.

We have a few christmas DVDs and stories, advent calenders others have given them, candle lit bath, star walk, walk in the woods.

I try and fit in some 'thinking of others' activities so we make fatboys for the birds (which DH has never eaten), get a toy for the local Christmas toy appeal, I'm thinking about getting them to help me do a shop for the local foodbank this year as well.

We have an advent calender that has little pockets. In each pocket is a photo from previous Chistmases or a note about a favorite Christmas memory, or a picture of a fondly remembered gift from the past. I wonder if you could mix in some of this sort of thing rather than having just activities.