Christmas Book Advent

[HollyGolightly4]

I'm looking to put together a book advent for my 6 month old. The idea is, I'll put it together this year and we'll be able to reuse it for hopefully the next 3/4 years and then beyond as family traditions (i can make tweaks if there are sone wonderful baby books for example!) We will hopefully read one book per night.

Do you have any firm family favourites that your children love(d)? Or ones that you think are must include.

Do you think this is a good idea, or would it be better to intersperse with decorations, clothes etc?

I'm a bit overexcited! But would also be nice if I could source good quality second hand books to keep it eco friendly!

Are you wanting festive stories or any?

vinted have lots of pre loved books often in bundles

Great question- i should have been explicit. Festive books please (Christmas, winter, other festivals that belong in December!)

I'd like to curate it a bit more, but I will look at vinted, thanks.

lovely idea have a look on vinted perhaps?

Theres the “that’s not my” Santa/reindeer/penguin/snowman range

we have Christmas poetry books

i have a box of Christmas books I’ll see where it is and photo for you if I can get to it as we’re in the middle of a massive home project so lots of stuff not where it usually is!

I used this blog: https://bookadventcalendaruk.wordpress.com/

Ahhh thank you 😊 I love the 'it's not my' books and would appreciate any photos too

This website looks lovely! Classic Raymond Briggs of course 😃

Ah, I love Christmas books for younger dc, so many happy memories!

These were our favourites.

The Snowman
Father Christmas (the Raymond Briggs one)
Stickman
The Other Goose
Santa's Beard
The Tomten
The Tomten and the Fox
The Jolly Christmas Postman
Father Christmas needs a Wee
Lucy and Tom's Christmas
Mog's Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Alfie's Christmas
The Winter Bear
The Night Before Christmas (we have the Robert Salbuda one, which is gorgeous)

Honestly? They’re 6 months. A book advent is a little OTT. What I have done over the years is get a Xmas book or two and as they grow up you end up with a collection of Christmas books that then become yearly favourites to be read again and again. But to buy 24 books for a 6 month old? Madness

For very young there is a touch and feel Nativity book which is lovely.
https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/touchy-feely-the-nativity-book-fiona-watt-9781805314271

Or “that’s not my” series have many- Santa (whose sack is too scratchy!!!), Robin, Elf, Reindeer etc. I’d just pick one tbh as they’re not great after the baby stage.

Toddler years you have classics such as Mogs Christmas by Judith Kerr or Spots first Christmas. Or Kippers Christmas Eve.

Then as they get older the Alfie and Annie rose series is lovely with a few Christmas stories. Richard Curtis also has Xmas books- That Christmas and The Empty Stocking.

There is a funny one called Jesus’ Christmas party which mine loved as the wee innkeeper gets more and more cross
https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/jesus-christmas-party-book-nicholas-allan-9781849415262

So try to not go overboard this year- start a December tradition where they get Xmas PJs and a book and maybe small other Xmas themed item (plate etc) to enjoy over December. And come back for book recommendations to suit their interests each year?

Thank you, I love this list!

Yes, I didn't know if it was a bit ott!!

I will say though, we're a house that values books very highly, so they wouldn't be a one year and done type thing, they'd become christmas essentials!

They're a very precious first born however, so it probably is more for me than them 🤣

I think there are a lot of things about Christmas that could be seen as ott. I don't think the op is doing anything wrong in buying a few good Christmas books that will last for years, and it seems a bit harsh to rain on their parade!

Sorry but there is nothing OTT about this - I speak as a mum of older kids! You will create a lovely tradition that you can enjoy (and then cherish memories of) for years. 6m old babies should absolutely be read to and with. There is solid scientific evidence to support the idea this strengthens bonds between caregiver and child and supports their emotional development and sense of security and happiness.
Some brilliant suggestions here but I haven’t spotted Dear Santa by Rod Campbell.
Rachel Bright’s All I Want for Christmas is gorgeous and my DC loved reading it together.
There is a beautiful version of The 12 Days of Christmas by Jane Ray and any version of The Night Before Christmas is wonderful. (Little ones might not understand it yet but the rhyming verse is wonderful for them to hear).
I’d pop in a Nutcracker book too, perhaps one with sound buttons as these are really fun for little ones (there’s a Story Orchestra one I think).
For when DC is older, there’s a fabulous Xmas book in the Claude series plus How Winston Delivered Christmas (both by Alex T Smith). I also love the Christmas chapters in the Children of Noisy Village books!
Wishing you many years of happiness with this, OP, and any others inspired to do the same 🥹

I think it is a lovely idea and not OTT - books are wonderful - I still have the Christmas books I have bought over the years even though even my grandchildren are growing up fast.

I just meant that 24 books bought when her baby is young is OTT and they’d enjoy new Christmas books each year instead, building up to having a big collection. And looking back you can see the year s/he loved animals or the year they were obsessed with cars etc by the books chosen. Plus the classics added in as the time comes. Rather than it all being for the sake of opening a new book each day when the baby is literally unaware of the concept at all.
Im honestly not bah humbug in the slightest!

We just had Christmas books collected over the years that went away with the Christmas decorations and came back out each year.
We also had a large cardboard advent calander that had a tiny book relating to the Christmas story behind each door.
Oh and another one who loved Jesus’ Christmas party. We actually did it as our Infant Nativity concert a couple of times.

You absolutely need this https://www.abebooks.com/Nativity-Christmas-Holiday-Book-Kids-Julie/32481820028/bd. It’s illustrations are heaven.

It’s out of print now so Abebooks it is.

Not for 6 months as flaps to open that could rip but for the future cat family Christmas is a lovely Christmas book for young kids. It’s been a hit in our house for years now.

I'm doing the same for my little one who will be nearly 2 this Christmas. Check out charity shops, I've bought 8 Christmas books in the last couple of weeks and 6 look brand new. All on 4 for £1 offers!

Can I suggest choosing a very nice version of The Night Before Christmas to feature for the 24th each year? We got a beautifully illustrated one with a wind up musical tune on the front cover last year for LOs Christmas Eve box (we didn't do book advent last year) and that will now feature every year.

It's saying not found?

One festive book my children loved was The Mousehole Cat by Antonia Barber.

@HollyGolightly4 Sorry, I don’t know why that is.

Try here https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Julie%20vivas&sts=t&tn=nativity&ref_=search_f_hp for the list.

That's worked @thesandgroper! Thank you!

I’ve done this for DD, usually I just have a big box of Christmas themed books to pull out but she’s 2.5 this year so I’m going to wrap them all individually this year for a bit of bedtime excitement. ignore people saying it’s OTT, Christmas is so magical when you have little ones.

The lovely thing is at this age you could just get them any Christmas themed story and they’ll listen and enjoy it. When my daughter was 1.5 she wouldn’t tolerate the longer books and just liked the interactive ones 😆so I’d recommend getting a few interactive ones in ready for the future!

Ideas:
where’s Santa Claus
where’s Mrs reindeer
that’s not my… books
There’s a little elf in your book
The Christmas bear (axel scheffler)
Peekaboo Christmas

I wouldn’t go too overboard with the interactive books as they do grow out of them after 1 or 2 years but definitely have some in for while they’re small (I realise that sentence is contradictory!)

then there are the classics such as the night before Christmas, the jolly postman Christmas version (although this would be a few years into the future) and I’ve seen a huge pull out Nosy Crow Christmas Street book that looks incredibly fun that I’m going to get my daughter this year.

Oh thank you so much for these!