DIY advent calendar fillers

[Mamagotskills]

I have a 9 yo girl and 3 to boy and would love not to just fill them with plastic tat, likewise don’t want to spend a fortune. Any ideas?

I’ll fill half the boxes with choc coins so looking for some treats for the rest

Last year DS was too old for a toy one (we'd previously had Playmobil etc.) so I got him a wooden one. But the drawers on it are teeny tiny! Some of the days I put a £1 or £2 coin in, others I'd put one sweet and then I told him where the rest of the packet was! For lots of the days I put a folded up piece of paper with a 'treat' written on it. "Half an hour extra on the Playstation". "Half an hour extra time before bed". "Dinner can be whatever you want tonight". "Family movie - your choice" (that was within reason obviously!) That sort of thing, and it went down really well, he loved getting the little slips of paper!

Ive been given a bag of mixed up lego from a friend who has too much (and her SIL gave it to her... endless lego loop!), but my 9yo has no idea.

I'm planning on putting a handful of a certain colour into a baggy everyday with a note of something xmassy to make, eg all white with black/orange bits = make a snowman; lots of green/bit of brown = make a xmas tree.

Should keep him occupied for ten minutes and the lego can be absorbed into the rest of his collection.

You could also put in cryptic puzzles so they can find that day's chocolate coin, or whatever. eg 'today's sweet is in the room with the logs . but not the chocolate kind!' = bathroom

Bath bomb
Socks
Xmas pjs
Treats/tokens for things like:
Decorate tree
Make gingerbread men
Hot choc and Xmas film
Bonfire

I also do slips of paper for some of the days with a Christmas based activity: choosing the Christmas tree, decorating the tree, a visit to Father Christmas (pre-Covid), watching a Christmas film together, writing letter to Santa, trip to panto etc. etc.

I always include a small chocolate as well.

For days when I don't have an activity, I buy small things from places like Tiger or The works. They do little craft kits (make a small decoration etc).

Lego minifigures, socks, key rings, mini toiletries, wooden animals,