An advent of things to do...

[buzzing]

For the past couple of years I've done one of those advent present things with a different thing to open each day. But most of it was tat that ended up adding to the piles of junk in our house & I'm keen not to make the same mistake this year.

So I thought I could do an advent of "things to do".

So far I've got things like making snowflake decorations for the windows, watching a Christmas movie with popcorn, taking a trip to look at the decorated houses near us, tickets to Snow White on Ice, making a gingerbread house, buying & decorating the tree.

But now I'm stuck! I don't want everything to cost money, and some things need to be relatively "quick" for days when I don't collect them til 5pm from school.

So, what brilliant suggestions can you all come up with?

Making cards and decorations?

Card making, why didn't I think of that... an easy one as we already have a house full of craft

Ice biscuits - pack of digestive biscuits, icing sugar, 100's & 1000's to sprinkle on top.

Make/Write Christmas cards

Use buying and decorating Christmas tree as two different days.

Oh I remember when my kids were little and we used to this, so many memories.

Make Christmas cookies
Make some Christmas ornaments
Make Christmas fudge
Write a letter to Santa
Make hot chocolate
Sing Christmas carols by the tree
Read a Christmas book
Go to a nativity at your local church
Donate old toys to a charity
Make some gift tags
Visit santa
Hang Christmas stockings
Decorate an old jumper each for Christmas, tinsel is your friend here.
Go sweet shopping, everyone gets to pick something (set a budget each)

You could also do bake own biscuits and then decorate the biscuits as two different days.

Make Christmas gifts?

Carol singing

Oh I cannot wait til my twins are old enough for these things. I bloody love a good Christmas activity!

Such good ideas, thank you!

Love the giving toys to charity idea - and had thought about doing a foodbank donation or choosing toys to give to someone else as a present. Will do some research to work out what we have locally.

Go to a carol service.
Make rainbow dust to leave out for the reindeer.
Make paper chains.

I love the build up to Christmas.

Make a popcorn garland
Make Pompoms for tree ornaments
Make an orange/clove studded pomander
Do a Christmas themed crossword or word search
Christmas themed quiz
All write a happy memory from the year down on a card you could hang from the tree.
Make a bird feeder to hang in the garden- gift to nature
Salt Dough hand prints
Make Santa slime with red glitter in
Go for a walk/drive to spot Christmas lights
Make reindeer food
Do a combination Christmas drawing, where you each have a piece of paper and fold the top so the person drawing the next bit can't see the bit before.

We always donate to a food bank & a charity, but what a good idea to donate some toys.

I'm sorry I've got nothing to add but I've come to steal some ideas! 😳

trip to a chrismas market
Walk/drive to see all the xmas lights

mulled apple juice
make paper chains
winter walk

I've got a list for ideas for when I needed inspiration.

Free printable colouring sheets, activity sheets etc from places like Santaupdate.com, DLTK or Activity Village, or homeschooling sites, are great and they are all fun and Christmas/winter themed but can have development angles as well as an added bonus.

If you do want to have a couple of "things" days, make it into a treasure hunt around the house - leave clues in the advent calendar and then in various places leading to the next place, with the treat/thing in the last spot. It's funny watching the DCs tearing around the house before breakfast so excited!

I'll find my list though and add that in another post. It's taken from ideas from a couple of places when DD was small, and I never did them ALL, a few we did lots of years, but it was great to have for those nights when I had no inspiration.

1. Write a letter to Santa

2. Colour in some Christmas pictures (free printables)

3. Make some Christmas Cookies

4. Make and decorate some salt dough decorations.

5. Watching Christmas Dvds

6. Making and decorating a gingerbread house

7. make cards,

8. do potato print wrapping paper,

9. go out and look at all the christmas lights then home for hot chocolate,

10. have a charity day when we sort out all their toys and take the extras to the charity shop,

11. bake biscuits to take to the local fire station to say thanks for working to keep us safe over christmas while we are busy having fun,

12. decorate the tree out the front with strings of dried fruit and popcorn for the birds,

13. stick cloves in oranges

14. cook some fudge/coconut ice for rellys

15. decorate xmas biscuits

16. put xmas decs up

17. choose xmas tree

18. write a letter

19. make a Christmas present for dad

20. go out and collect holly and fir

21. Make some reindeer food (porridge oats and glitter in a little jar, the idea is that the reindeer will see it twinkling from the sky and come down and stand nicely for Santa to do his thing whilst filling their tums! A lot of people spread it outside, I find a bowl is easier as the DC can see just how much the reindeer have eaten in the morning.)

22. put on Christmas Carols/Music and have a dance

23. bake mince pies

24. drink hot chocolate and watch a film (polar express)

25. Do a Christmas kindness each - just aim to do something for someone else that is just kind. Like buy the person behind you in the queue their coffee or help someone to carry their shopping or something else similar.

26. "See if you can go for a whole day without asking how many days it is till we put the Christmas tree up"

27. Make paperchains

28. make card for Nanna, Granny

29. Make some crackers?

30. Learn a new christmas song

31. Learn a christmas joke

32. Go for a walk with a torch

33. Go to Carol service

34. Wrap presents

35. Tidy bedroom

36. learn the words to a Christmas song or poem and recite to Dad when he gets home

37. Make mum a cup of tea

38. Make a bookmark

39. send a Christmas card to someone who has not found any room at the inn

40. make paper snowflakes (one of the few crafty things I know how to do!)

41. Collect pinecones, leaves and twigs to paint and turn into a centrepiece.

42. Ice skating

43. Track Santa (for Christmas Eve)

44. Read a Christmas book (How the Grinch stole Christmas)

45. Go door to door and sing Carols

46. bake stained glass biscuits to decorate the tree with

47. put baby jesus in the nativity scene if you have a nativity scene

48. make mince pies/cookies for santa

49. have a fashion show and pick the outfits that everyone should wear on christmas day

50. if it snows...you can put in, "build a snowman

51. Make a Christmas crown to wear

52. What did the three wise men bring?
    What do you think the Wise men would bring today?
    Name three things you need to make christmas pudding?
    Sing jingle bells backwards?
    Name three things that glitter?
    Imitate a turkey?
    Do 5 star jumps
    Think of 3 words that rhyme with "Yule"?
    Think up the next line of this poem:
    At Christmas time the thing I like the best

Name 3 plants or trees associated with Christmas?
Name 3 animals or birds associated with Christmas?
Name 4 reindeer?
Sing a Christmas Song
Name 5 carols?
4 3-letter words from Christmas?
4 3-letter words from stocking?
Name a carol with someone's name in the title?
Name a song with Santa in the title?
What was given on the 9th day of christmas?
In the 12 days of Christmas - how many birds altogether were given?
Name two animals in the traditional nativity scene?
Make a snowflake out of paper?
Tell the story of the first christmas in less than a minute?
Name 5 christmas foods?
Make something to hang on the christmas tree?
Think of 3 names for father Christmas?

53. Make glittery tree decorations using cookie cutters as templates to draw round on card. Cover in glue, add glitter and thread on a red ribbon to hang.
54. making some place cards/ a decoration with names for Christmas lunch guests?
55. Visit ducks in the park to wish them a very Happy Christmas and give them some bread
56. Make secret den in order to discuss secret Christmassy stuff and wrap presents
57. Plan Christmas show for Daddy/Grandma/Grandad etc.
58. watch a christmas film under the duvet
59. Read a christmassy book
60. do some Christmassy puzzles (will find some online to print off I'm sure)
61. Write cards to school friends
62. write & post a letter to the big man
63. Sing carols or Christmas songs while you do the washing up (or some other chore)
64. Have a Christmas-sy bath. Use "Christmas scented" bubble bath/bath oil/essential oils or Lush bath bombs. Think orange, tangerine, cinnamon...

I was waiting for BiddyPop to post on this, I have seen her list before and it is genius!

Celebrate the feast of Saint Nicholas on 6th December, everyone gets some chocolate or biscuits that day. Even better if the gift is the child's initial!

I'm loving this! I've seen a post on FB today for a 'reverse advent calendar' which is basically a note in each day to do, make or give something for someone else. Make a card for teacher, give a toy to charity shop, do a litter pick next to the slide in the park etc.

These are all so lovely.
But I am just going to add a cautionary note.. Firstly it adds pressure to have the 'perfect' Christmas and 24 days of activities is quite a pressure. Secondly my dc when younger wanted to be allowed to slump in front of cbbc after school especially if a later pick up. I tried jolly Christmas advent activities one year and it ended in tears when an over tired 7 Yr old threw the glitter across the kitchen cus her snowflake wasn't right and her 12 Yr old sister said she'd rather watch telly thanks...
Pace yourselves....
We are now having a advent cocktail calender.. Each day a different cocktail... Love having grown up children ☺

I agree with RedJellyBean - most days, the advent calendar in our house was just a colouring/activity sheet with a few days where it was an actual activity/craft to break it up.

The list is meant as a resource to give you ideas for different things to do - some work for some households and not for others, some work some years but not others (due to ages of DCs, other activities going on etc).

But there can be so much going on in December, that knowing the days to take it easy and just have a carpet picnic watching a Christmas movie is important, as well as being able to take advantage of high energy levels and good weather to go on a wintery walk in the local park/woods/beach to get fresh air and tire them out a little. Finding the balance to getting the active and less active days is the tricky part.

And absolutely agree re not aiming for perfection!!

It's about fun. Wonky decorations, off key singing, interesting shapes with a whole roll of sticky tape used up for a parcel - they are all part of being a DC and should be part of what we, as parents, try to allow them to enjoy.

And I'm definitely stealing RedJellyBean's adult calendar idea for when DD is slightly older!!!

We used to do this
Winter walk
Decorating pine cones
Christmas movie
Baking x4
Horse riding lesson with the horses wearing Xmas antlers
Christmas movie

at VaprousDropProfound

We only did 10 days. Was enough!

We do an advent of good deeds - these have included things like donating to foodbanks, buying a hot drink for a homeless person, singing carols at the old people's home, down to doing something kind for a family member, like making their bed or writing them a note saying what you love and appreciate about them. It definitely helps to get our focus in the right place, move it away from Christmas being about stuff.

Some of these are gorgeous