Homemade advents calendar bits and bobs ideas

[Nerdle]

My kids (aged 10 and 13) loved their homemade advent calendars this year - things ranged from a pack of chewing gum to a £2 coin, a mini pack of sweets to a lego mini figure. They really want me to make them again this year and I am looking for cool ideas. I looked in Flying Tiger this week as last year I got lots of things there, but was totally uninspired plus things were more expensive than usual.
Any suggestions welcome. I know it is May but so much to do in the run up to Christmas I like to get a head start.

I just followed a link in another Christmas thread and saw these pretties

https://www.sassandbelle.co.uk/search-results/?pricelistid=6&sessionid=224290766&searchterm_submit=go&searchterm=Christmas+

Is the size restricted by the calendar pockets/drawers or is it more like envelopes on a ribbon, or a lucky dip of little packages?

I broke my heart for several years with a wooden calendar that had teeny tiny drawers.

One of the best years, I sourced a bundle of moshi monster figures on eBay. Another year I had sat with ds poring over a Lego book and taking note of all the interesting bricks and details he liked in the pictures and I ordered them on brickowl.

Give them a tenner and get them to make one for you! Charity shops are definitely the way to go for this.

Baker Ross is a good site for craft ideas and party bag toys.
https://www.bakerross.co.uk/toys/party-bag-fillers

Are they into Pokemon ? That is really popular (judging by the queues outside Smyths) but they might get hold of them before December .
My DS would've gone for a £2 coin in every pocket supplemented with some chocolate . He'd have been £48 richer by Christmas !

Dice - normal or d&d
Playing cards
Pencil sharpener (or anything legami)
Cookie cutters
Sweets
Fidget toys/needoh
Rocks/semi precious stones (ds loves these)
A small fossil/shark tooth

For boys that age mayby Starbucks or other gift cstds?

Also travel toiletries, aftershave minis/samples lip balms

Spicery spice pouches, interesting hot chocs, mini nutellas, chilli sauces, American or Korean sweets

Tactical cards ( like a pen knife but fits into a wallet) , fire flints, paranoid bracelet or keyring, emergency cash keyring, mini torch, power pack and/or phone charger cords

Pack of cards, those metal puzzles you have to find a way to take apart, mini music box (where you wind the handle) Christmas decoration they woukd like,

I've been doing homemade calendars for years, started when the dc were tiny and it would be a finger puppet or a dino model each day out of a pack of split up. I used to save forgotten toys from party bags or magazines for the stash to.

My dds are now teens and it's trickier, especially to do it cheaply, but apparently it a tradition and Christmas will be ruined if I don't continue.

This is my go to strategy:

First I find any items that I would buy anyway - maybe a Christmas jumper if they need one for a Christmas jumper day, or new hat or gloves, those sorts of things. They can be calendar gifts. If they are too big for the calendar (ours is tiny buckets) I put a note in to tell them where to find the gift.

Then I add the sort of nice Christmassy things that will liven up December - Christmas pjs, Christmas bubble bath, new fairy lights or decorations, maybe a candle to burn, a Christmassy book. Again I try to tell myself I'd buy these during the month anyway.

Then I fill up the other days with really small and cheap things, ideally bought in a set and split up - pin badges, lip balm, stationary items. I usually have some bits left from previous years to raid.

I will give something a little bit nicer on Christmas eve as an early gift.