I have some more advent calendars for you. I think anticipating Christmas is as much fun as the actual holiday, so advents are irresistible to me.
The ones I’m sharing today are easy enough to throw together at the last minute…with December 1st being tomorrow and all!
First, I saw this gum countdown on pinterest. Here is the original link. Instead of wrapping the two packages separately I just glued them together and wrapped them as one.
They come together fast and are a good alternative to the candy calendars which are bigger {where do you put those things?} and full of cheap {plastic tasting} chocolate.
I made one for each of us. My kids, especially my 3 year old who just recently learned how to chew gum without swallowing it, loves gum. So this is fun for any age and any person really.
I got Dentyne Ice spearmint flavor but now I’m wishing I got the cinnamon instead. Meh.
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The next advent is another one that I came up with after Christmas last season.
Here is the original post.
I was putting activities + an act of service + a scripture and a song to sing, for each day in a mini-stocking advent calendar we used for a couple of years. It started to get a little overwhelming. The point of the advent calendar, to make anticipating Christmas fun and exciting, was getting lost on me.
So…I came up with this box. It’s a paper mache box from Michaels. I originally painted it differently, but settled on painting the whole thing gold so that it would appeal to my kids more. Who can resist a shiny gold box tied with a red ribbon?
There’s got to be something good inside. Right?
And there is. Each day they get to open up the box to find one of three things:
*a treat
*a fun activity to do that day
*an act of service
Each day we’ll do one, or two or maybe even all three.
I get to decide what to fill it with the night before based on what’s going on in our lives.
If we are all sick or busy – just a quick treat will do… or if we have a little more time, a fun activity/act of service might be the ticket. If it snows I can slip in “build a snowman and have a snowball fight.” And so on.
We haven’t tried it out yet, but I’m expecting great things from it.
It’s a lot less pressure for me and much more flexible to our needs, but still fills our month full of fun memories.
For the first little while the magical gold box will be on our kitchen table first thing in the morning.
But then…one day there will just be a clue on that table that will send them on a little box hunt.
And on Christmas day, the box will be hidden under the pile of presents with another special surprise. I can’t wait! 🙂
Day one is all set to go with our personal gum advents.
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And lastly. These book advents are all over blog land.
We did it last year and really enjoyed it. We even brought some of the books we wrapped with us while we traveled out of town to visit family.
We struggled at first to have enough Christmas books, but somehow over just a year we now have too many!
I doubled some days up with a couple of books.
And that’s it. I can’t believe the fun starts tomorrow!
I hope you’re having a marvelous last day of November. 🙂
Awesome! I love all of your ideas! I’m definitely doing the gum one. My girls are obsessed with gum! Thanks for sharing Delia!
These are so adorable! Thanks for taking the time to share them with us. You are a wonderful mother and beautiful reflection of Christ! Blessings!
I LOVE the idea of hiding the box with an activity/good deed/treat inside! I had ran across a good deed advent calender yesterday, but I have no clue where I would string up a ribbon/bucket garland. This is a wonderful alternative! Thank you for such a wonderful idea!
Samantha @ Little Painted Canvas
I am so excited to do all these advents too! I love the box especially because I don’t have to plan anything till the night before.
My son is going to be 2 in January and we started the book advent for him this year:) we are doing all kinds of books not just Christmas ones and he can pick a new one everyday the first one we have decided will always be the elf on the shelf though 🙂 and i figured with the books atleast it can grow with him as he gets older and than we can start getting him chapter books or magazines or whatever he is interested in at that time. i like the idea of having classic Christmas books that we like but than throwing in just plain new ones also to add to his library collection 🙂 especially the Bernstein bears books they have been my favorite since i was a kid and i saved all of them so he has all of my old ones and anytime i find a new one we don’t have i grab it antique stores and garage sales are the best for this!
I love your hidden box idea! I just settled on a different advent calendar plan for this year, but I’m gonna have to try this one next time. Can you share some of your service ideas with us? Wondering if you have any that would work for my small children (4 and 2).
So would you be mad if I copied ALL of your ideas??! I love advent calendars but have never done them! LAME! but this year I am changing that. I already started the book one which I love…but I am loving the 24 names of Jesus one….and the pictures one…and the box. oh man ALL of them!
fun ideas! I didn't know you guys did book ones too. And yea, I'm starting to realize that I'll soon have too many christmas books 🙂
I just wanted to let you know that I made your gum Advent calendars and linked to you on my blog: http://michellestinykitchen.blogspot.com/2011/12/gum-advent-calendars.html
Thanks!
LOVE all these ideas!
Just found your blog from the $5 Dinner FB share. I LOVED the pizza ideas… but the book advent calendar?!?!?! Genius!!!!! I hate the special surprise toy ones, but this is perfect for my book-loving kids and I! Did I mention… genius!!!
So I realized I never replied back to your question! I don't know if this is the best way to do it but oh well. YES i like TX. I am still getting used to some things but the people are so nice here. I do miss the mountains for sure. and I am sad that its so FLAT here. but it's a great place to raise a family and the economy is so good here compared to everywhere else. plus I LOVE my house