Do it yourself advent calendar. Any new ideas?

[Summerishere123]

Last year we bought a calendar that you fill yourself. I'm wondering if anyone has any good ideas on what to fill them aside from chocolate?

For children?
Stickers, hair clips or bobbles, socks, temporary tattoos, jigsaws, crayons, nail varnish, craft kit, biscuit cutters, hot chocolate sachet.

Is this for kids? My friend fills hers up with a chocolate but also an activity for the day. Things like, help put up the tree, make Christmas biscuits, make a Santa plate, choose something for the food bank, give someone a hug.

We used to get little coupons in ours - things like we got to pick a film to watch in the evening, got to go for a coffee and cake in a cafe, got to go to the cinema / park of our choice / shop for a toy, or picking a treat meal out! Obviously a bit more expensive than the usual, but it was probably chocolates 4/5 times and a homemade coupon 1/5 times.

We have one of these for my DD, bought when she was tiny. TBH it was becoming very expensive to fill as she got older as I didn't want to just fill it with chocolate, but lip balms, bath bombs, scrunchies etc all add up.

When she was about 10 we started doing a mix of those little things, and also a few puzzles which when she got the answer would lead to a bigger prize. So when she was younger it was a letter a day till she guessed the word, and now she gets parts of a riddle. For those she gets a book or a pair of fluffy socks or something.

We do chocolate and every Sunday a small gift. More useful than all the little bits and cheaper overall.

Sometimes I get vintage badges off ebay for this

As PP said, 'experiences' are good - perhaps things you were going to do anyway. Make a note of what you've put in which date in case your plans change so you can swap them around.
I also used to wrap some bigger things that wouldn't fit in the pockets (such as Christmas socks or mugs which they get more use out of in early December than in a stocking on Christmas Day); put them in a gift bag and put a 'lucky dip' coupon in the stocking Or if you wanted to have them on a specific day, you can put the date on them and a coupon 'present number (x)' in the calendar.

Fidget toys are always a hit.

Party bag fillers, you can buy in bulk on amazon...useful if you have 3 Dc like me!

It depends on the age of the child though.

last year DD had all different crystals and stones. loved it!

For 4 yo we are doing, stickers, tattoos, hair bubbles, nail polish, chocolate coins, bath bomb.
On some days we will be doing activities.
Ornament to decorate the tree
Cinema ticket for movie night
Golden ticket for panto
Letter template for writing to Santa
Little santa toy for grotto visit
Cookie cutter to bake cookies

I ordered a load of gemstones and fossils from AliExpress which will fill quite a few days of ours.