Fill your own advent

[ParentallyUnprepared]

Please could I have ideas for things to put in the pockets of an advent calendar for a 13 month old?

Trying to avoid chocolate things as someone will buy him an advent calendar.

So far I've got Christmas socks, some Christmas bath toy things from Dunelm and a book.

So, another 14 days to fill!

Thanks.

I gave my DS for his first Christmas his favourite rattle wrapped up as one of his presents.

DD 4 raised her eyebrows at this, gave me a sideways glance and kept her poker face.

Needless to say DS was none the wiser and loved his present.

I 100% agree but I feel stuck doing it. I feel enthusiastic and then I realise it's a massive ballache in reality.

The elves fill the pockets every day.

Oh god. Shootmenow

Oh well, good luck! How about adding some jokes/memories/sweet wishes from the elf on pieces of paper for some days - and for your 6yo? My ds loved getting compliments written down on pieces of paper in a jar...

Oh, top tip I just remembered - if anything is too big for the pocket, put in a piece of card with a clue or an arrow and hide the item. Ie 'behind the fruit bowl '. Fun.

How about some food items in lieu of chocolate e.g. those "organic" wafer things or Ella's kitchen bars if he likes those.

Buy a small happyland characters set and split it up, you can often get them on eBay/marketplace. This animal set is cute and they work out about £1 each.

These are cute. Thank you.

I know you're all sick of me but I've found these. Which one is better?

https://www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/christmas-character-playset-d9549.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwzNOaBhAcEiwAD7Tb6PMErXi3otzFwNgALzmlRmFZkqc1xKebw-kefwg55SGgdPBI6nQnxoClmUQAvDD_BwE

www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/christmas-skittles-d9847.html?refSrc=47813&nosto=productpage-nosto-2

I don't want to spend this much but how cute is this?!

www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/soft-nativity-set-e6939.html?refSrc=35433&nosto=productpage-nosto-2

The skittle are quite big. Might be difficult for a 1 year old to lift and quite high risk of clonking themself or someone else on the head 🤣🤣 I would go for the characters myself. How big are the pockets/drawers of the advent calendar?

I'm doing one for my 10m old- she might not care but I will enjoy it. We brought one from Amazon that's little hessian bags so a bit bigger than some of the others.
She has a set of mini Disney books that I'm splitting up, some Lanka kade animals, Christmas bibs and socks. And then some tissue paper to fill any leftover ones as she loves tissue paper!

My 10 month old had a homemade advent calendar last year 🤷🏼‍♀️ we brought him a little Christmas tree and put mini baubles in some of the drawers, a few snacks that he liked in others and if we had a Christmas activity then I wrote a little note on a piece of card. Not in the least bit bothered if people think it's OTT- got some lovely photos of him pulling open the drawers and it's the start of a family tradition :)

Exactly. I like the mini baubles idea

I do a fill your own one (though I do one for both kids to share, this year they’ll be 5&2) and some days it’s just a bit of paper with an activity written on. I got some Christmas spoons and they go in a pocket with ‘make hot chocolate’, tiny Christmas cookie cutters and we make biscuits, some days it says ‘watch a Christmas film’, ‘make Christmas cards’ ‘decorate the tree’ etc.
I plan it in advance so baking is a weekend, decorate the tree is the first Saturday in Dec, making cards is early enough to get them posted, I make sure we have marshmallows for the hot chocolate.
I also put in things like stickers, this year I’ve got temporary tattoos, some gliders so we can have a competition, a Christmas hat/hairband/T-shirt ready for dress up days.

I really enjoy it and I hope it becomes a tradition that they look back fondly on when they’re older.