I know, I’ve posted this before…a couple of times! I think it’s such a great idea, instead of candy every day during Advent, since, Heaven knows, my kids get plenty of sugary treats during the Advent season. They truly seem to love getting to do an activity each day, rather than a trinket or candy, anyway. Seriously. They’re weird.
Anyway, on with the directions, so you can make one for yourself! To make it, I simply resized and printed out the Days of December page template from Stampin’ Up, then resized and printed Ali Edwards Advent Boxes from DesignerDigitals.com. I believe that Days of December is no longer available, but here’s a great alternative from Makoodle.
Anyhoo, I printed, cut, and then wrote out our list. If you would rather, you can even type the list right on the cards before you print them. I thought it was a nice touch to have my own handwriting on them, though. After I wrote the activities, I figured out what would work on which day of the countdown and glued the backs together. To make it a bit more finished, I rounded the corners of each card.
Then all that was left was to spice up the $4 frame I found at Walmart. This craft allowed me to use both a staple gun to attach the bakers’ twine and a hot glue gun for the burlap background. All that was left to do then was hanging each card with cute little decorated clothespins. I made these glittery ones myself, but I just came from Target, where they had red mini-clothespins in a pack of 20 for $1. What a deal! Oh, and I looped a wide striped ribbon around the frame to hand the whole shebang.
Voila! The hooligans will have such a great time with this!
Here’s our list, compiled from extensive research (I Googled “activity Advent calendars”):
1. Read the Elf on the Shelf book in preparation for his arrival
2. Clean out and organize toys and donate
3. Buy a toy and donate it to Toys for Tots
4. Make thumbprint tree ornaments from salt dough
5. Write letters to Santa
6.Celebrate St. Nicholas Day
7. Have a family game night
8. Make pinecone birdseed ornaments for outside tree
9. Make paper snowflakes and hang them EVERYWHERE!
10. Watch a Christmas movie
11. Do something kind and helpful for a family member
12. Focus on being kind and polite to everyone you meet
13. Read some Christmas books
14. Draw a Christmas picture
15. Make snow ice cream (hopefully!), or ice cream sundaes
16.Make cinnamon ornaments to tie on granola for neighbors
17. Decorate a gingerbread house
18. Bake and decorate cookies
19. Write Christmas notes to your teachers
20. Make ice candles
21. Drive around to look at lights and drink hot chocolate
22. Decorate birthday cupcakes for Jesus
23. Make a Christmas craft
24. Make popcorn and watch “The Polar Express” movie
Of course, your family’s list will be different…we’re certainly not the poster family for Advent activities! I’m sure you find that hard to believe…not.
Now I have to go hide this until December 1, or the hooligans will be begging to start!
