What to put in advent calendar?

[RomildasLovePotion]

I've attached a pic of an advent calendar I've made ☺️ just need to add the bias tape around the edge and some loops for hanging.

I'm trying to think of little things to put inside the pockets for my DC who are 7 and 9. The pockets are about 8cm sq so quite small.

I was going to put some chocolates in, maybe chocolate coins (maybe a couple of real pound coins too). I like sewing and was thinking of maybe making a few little felt toys as well, I've previously made miniature teddy bears. Perhaps some little decorations to hang on the tree. They like crystal tumblestones so will get them a couple of new ones.

Does anyone have any other ideas of what could go in the pockets? Either things to buy or make!

Thankyou ♥️ 🎄

Mini gel pens, mini note pads, perhaps

Looks lovely. How about stickers, badges, little figures e.g. Lego, bracelets, chains?

How about a cryptic(ish) clue to where they can find something that might not fit in the calendar?

Ive done this the last few years and always make a few little tokens which they love. One is for a takeaway of their choice, one is for a meal out of their choice (both things we do anyway), one is for their choice of cake and drink at Starbucks, one for a movie night, and one for their choice of dinner at home. I also put in one £5 note and one £1 coin. The rest is usually chocolate and sweets. The 24 December is a note saying "look under the tree" where there's a chocolate Santa.

Every year I groan when I remember I've got to get it all together but they love it so much and I will probably have to do it for the rest of my life.

These are excellent ideas, thankyou all!

@ThisIsNotARealAvo that sounds a great idea, love the idea of making tokens for treats for them. I can see how this could be something we have to do forever!

What about a few reverse calendar ideas, so some good deeds. Collect some litter/donate toys that they no longer want.

Our 10yo gets a mix of:

Lego blind bag (just two)
Very small sweets
Chocolate coin
Stickers

Also notes: about how wonderful he is, how proud we are of him, how he did X, Y or Z really well, things that he can keep and re-read to boost his confidence.

And, notes from the dog! I have read and noted down some tweets from Thoughts of Dog on twitter, and I'm going to pass them off as our own dog

I don't want to give 24 small gifts, as hair bobbles, gel pens, funky rubbers etc can be put in his stocking.

Mini bath bombs, lego mini figs (or fake lego. I got a set of fake lego star wars ones one year, and one managed a bargain ebay set of Christmas figs) you can get a box of little baubles or other tree ornaments and split them. If your children like making bracelets you could get some nice beads to string and pop a new bead in each day so it builds up.

My oldest is 14 now. Inspiration has run dry. I've got a new decoration each for the last day but the rest will be chocolate/ sweets. Just to make me feel better it'll be nice stuff, like mini candy canes and sugared almonds.

Sweets
Notepad
Arts and craft stuff
Books
Puzzles
Money
Chocolates
Candy canes
Games

Jeez, some of the stuff listed are stocking and tree gifts! Certainly books and crafts stuff. Depends on your budget, I suppose.

I always had a small choc - Aldi and M&S both used to sell little nets of choc figures that were useful for that, about 3 nets would fill the calendar for 1 year.

I used to do the treasure hunt idea with DD - roll up the first clue into the pocket and then stand back as she raced around the house to find the rest.

I also used to roll up various types of free printables a lot of days, just simple colouring sheets (going from very simple designs for very young up to quite intricate ones when older), and various activity sheets - ideas for crafts, writing practise sheets when young, various kinds of maths or science worksheets, word searches, mazes, crosswords, themed ones on subjects useful for school but with a seasonal twist, word mining (how many words can you make from 1 long word), story starters....home school websites and other websites with educational resources (NOAA, Marine Institute, zoos, Tree Council...) used to be handy places to look as well as the more general dltk/activity village type ones.

Or a note about or tickets to an activity we would do later that day.

I’d put a combination of sweet treats and Christmas decorations. Then reuse the decks each year.

@elQuintoConyo

Jeez, some of the stuff listed are stocking and tree gifts! Certainly books and crafts stuff. Depends on your budget, I suppose.

I would agree with this, you don't want to go too all-out on the advent valendar and not leave anything for stocking.

OP i would stick to various chocolates, a few real coins and notes/vouchers as suggested. Leave things like books and craft stuff (which surely would be too big to fit in an advent calendar anyway!?) For their stockings