Advent Calendar and Advent Activities

Advent Calendar and Advent Activities

Thrifty Thinking

Back in 2011 a friend gave us an Advent calendar (shown above and below). Her daughters had placed sweet treats in every box for each of my kids to enjoy during the days leading up to Christmas. It was a very kind and festive gesture. My kids eagerly anticipated each day and enjoyed opening up each box. The following year we filled the calendar with candy, but last year we did something a little different. Instead of our kids looking forward to getting candy (which still makes regular appearances!), we decided to incorporate some activities as well as some gifts to help build the anticipation of celebrating Christ’s birth at Christmas.  

So for the last two years my husband just puts a little strip of paper in each box with the activity ideas in them. When that particular day is done, the box of the day gets flipped around to a Christmas picture as you can see above. The activities are subject to change, but for the most part we stick with what’s written. They range from really simple to really involved. You’ll see that we love movies and singing. They’re a huge part of our family’s Christmas traditions.

If you don’t have miniature boxes to fill and flip around like our calendar has, you could get creative with envelopes, a calendar with sticky notes, or really the sky’s the limit. Have fun with it! Our kids take turns getting to open the box of the day at breakfast.  Doing it at breakfast enables them to look forward to the activity throughout the day, and they love it!  After all, looking forward is what Advent is all about.

Also I love that the Advent activities are mostly frugal. This just isn’t about spending a whole bunch of money. It’s about making memories and enjoying each other all in the eager anticipation of celebrating the birth of Christ.

Last thing: the number beside each activity reflects the day of December on which the activity will be discovered by our kids! So if you know our kids, leaning in and peering around, “shhhhhhh!!!!!!!,” don’t tell them that on December 4 we’ll be watching A Charlie Brown Christmas…or anything else. It’s all a big fat secret. Fair enough? Good. Here’s our list!

List of Advent Ideas…in Order

1. Read the Christmas story from Matthew 1:18-2:15.
2. Watch White Christmas.
3. Sing “Joy to the World” before dinner and talk about the words.
4. Watch A Charlie Brown Christmas.
5. Watch It’s A Wonderful Life.
6. Make a Christmas card for someone else while Dad reads from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
7. Collect one dollar from Dad.
8. Sing “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” before dinner and talk about the words.
9. Have Mom and Dad share a Christmas memory.
10. Eat an extra dessert.
11. Watch The Family Man.
12. Have a family Christmas concert.
13. Do someone else’s chores…to be like Christ.
14. Sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” before dinner and talk about the words.
15. Sing “Savior of the Nations, Come” before dinner and talk about the words.
16. Attend a Christmas concert.
17. Collect two dollars from Dad.
18. Sing “Silent Night” before dinner and talk about the words
19. Sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” before dinner and talk about the words.
20. Make Christmas cookies with Mom.
21. Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
22. Go Christmas caroling.
23. Eat an extra dessert.
24. Go for a Christmas light drive.
25. Read the Christmas story in Luke 2:1-14.

There you have it: a Sarr family tradition replete with 25 ideas you’re welcome to steal. So what about your family? Did you do anything fun during Advent when you were young? What does your family do now? We’d love to hear your ideas in a comment below. And let us be among the first to say…MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

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