We are inching toward Christmas now and I wanted to put together ideas for DIY Advent Calendars and for some fun calendars you can just purchase for the kids.
If you aren’t familiar with Advent Calendars, it is a way to celebrate the countdown to Christmas. When I was a kid, we had little box advent calendars that had little flaps you lifted up and inside was usually a little piece of chocolate.
These days the calendars are fancier (and so much more interesting) and can be filled with small treats, activities for the family to do together, pretty pictures and much more. These can be religious with stories about Jesus or secular in nature depending on your personal beliefs.
Last year I purchased the Lego Friends advent calendar for my girls and they LOVED it. Like 5am in the morning racing downstairs to open a new window kind of loved it 🙂
This year I plan to make one and I will include some fun activities for us to do and then some little treats or little toys to surprise them.
Here are a bunch of ideas for you to consider:
Simple wrapped gifts in newspaper with washi tape from Case di Falcone
Click to translate this page – this idea would work with plain craft paper, any kind of wrapping paper, bright red and white paper…whatever you like.
This gorgeous and so classic advent calendar from the Painted Hive might be my favorite.
This cute little box advent looks easy enough- get the directions from the Pretty Bee.
Advent Jar with Activities (from Mess for Less)
Small envelopes with advent activities inside courtesy of Simply Stamped
DIY Advent Calendar with Free Printable (from Yellow Bliss Road)
Christmas Book Countdown– wrap a book a day to read during the holiday season courtesy of Simple as That. I love this idea and have tons of book recommendations for you here.
Here is a gorgeous DIY advent calendar from Home Depot. This would be a really pretty way to showcase special or vintage ornaments too!
Cute little baggies in a basket courtesy of Small Fine Nest (translate the page to get the details)
Muffin Pan Advent Calendar (from Better Homes and Gardens)
25 Days of Service Advent Calendar (from I Heart Nap Time)
And here are 30 different ideas to tuck into an advent calendar with fun family activities courtesy of Add a Pinch.
Pottery Barn DIY advent calendar- this guy is $159 from Pottery Barn. You can make your own for significantly less with the directions from Lemonade Makin Mama.
Adorable little resusable burlap bags from Design Mom here.
And if you prefer to buy an Advent Calendar- here are some popular ones to take a look at.
Note the prices currently range from $20-40 per calendar. We typically don’t see big discounts on these and they can actually sell out prior to the start of December. I usually recommend buying them a little early just in case.
Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar
Mega Bloks Smurfs Advent Calendar
Hopefully you found some inspiration from these ideas.
And if you like this post, you might also like:
DIY Children’s Thumbprint Ornament
How to get a letter from Santa
How do you get the first idea translated?
Hi Emily- I use Chrome as my browser and a little pop up appears asking if I want to translate. I click yes and it is all in English.