If you have re-useable advent calendars...

[lucysmam]

What's going in the pockets/drawers this year?

So far I have

Novelty pens
Hot chocolate sachets
Sheet face masks
Golden nuggets chewing gum
Hair bobbles
Mini sewing kit
False nails

I need a few more bits then I'll fill the rest with chocolate coins/things to do.

Any suggestions?

(My girls are 12 and dd2 will be very nearly 10 on Christmas day).

Simple pictures work when DC are young, building to reading words and later working out clues (I’ve given maths problems to work out - evil!!) as they get older

I got a bit carried away with this last year for my 5yo boy, and DH.

I ended up with a shoebox for all the things that didn't fit and numbered tickets in the drawers.

Highlights were a lego set split over a number of days, plastic dinosaurs, craft bits (e.g. stuff to make a bauble), fossils, Mr men Xmas books. The best thing I did for DH was probably a £5 greggs voucher to get a few bacon rolls on the way to work.

The books have been read all year, the dinosaurs have been well played with, and the fossils are in the collection. The rest was mostly tat and a bit of a waste really, considering the cost.

After my dad died I tried to overcompensate and I bought 6 toy type advent calendars now we have a wooden reusable one that I painted myself and I fill it with freshly baked biscuits, vouchers like pp and fun games. It's absolutely much better for us this way. There are some lovely ideas here.

@KennDodd it's not particularly huge, honest! It's upstairs & dd2 is in my bed atm but I will try and post a pic tomorrow. The pockets are big enough for hair bobbles, novelty pens etc to stick out the top of.

My own otoh, is a rather large refillable Christmas tree with pockets that my Mum made for me. I've toyed with the idea of repairing it for a while but never got round to it. Maybe I ought to do that when the decs come out.

@BatleyTownwomensGuild I pick up the odd bits to fill some of the pockets while I'm out and about. They'd get bobbles and pens anyway so may as well have them wrapped up in there. & I don't do a present in every day; my mum used to but I worked out the first year of dd1 having one that many of the 'things' didn't get used so try to stick to useful ish stuff then choc/things to do.

@Curious2468 where is the gemstone pack from?

@PandaG your advent calendar sounds lovely :)

(The thread opened on pg 2 so I'll go back to page 1 now...thank you all for the ideas!)

Oh, I think it opened properly I'm reading pg 2 now so that must have been pg1!

I’m putting in forfeits from the elf this year

Ours has tiny pockets. They hold a Lind'or beautifully. With three of us we take it in turns to have a day so we carefully load the pockets with the favourite flavour of the person who will get it.

Ours has been around since my DC were little (they'll be 20 and 17.6 by Christmas)

There's a little musical tree with tiny hooks . Each drawer contains a decoration. they take it in turns to hang up each day
I put a couple of chocolate coins in , keep it simple

This tree will get passed on as a family heirloom, DD has put 'dibs' on it