One of the things that you definately need to plan for early at Christmas is for ADVENT. The 1st of December comes around too quickly and catches you unprepared to begin an advent calendar - and then you have to play catch up. You definately need to begin in November to be ready in time. (or October, or right now if you want)
I have scoured the internet to find the most lovely advent calendar ideas. I will be using a few of these over the coming years. I am so excited to trial some of them. We have a homemade wall hanging with little pockets and are a little tired of it. Last year I also bought a paper lift the flap type with beautiful pictures underneath and I love it. I had a beautiful Christmassy house type one as a child and I still remember marvelling at the pictures underneath. We used the same one for years, but I no longer know where it is.
After a few Christmases of my children using those disgusting store bought chocolate Lift the flap advent (the $2.95 brand name type ones) I banned them about 2 years ago. I had enough of the yucky white pocked marked cheap chocolate inside (how old is that chocolate inside!!??)and the fact that the windows you open each day were all Barbie, Big Brother, Ford Cars, Simpsons, Insert any popular disney movie of the year type advertising... not exactly what I want to look at each day during christmas - very few of them even had Christmas type pictures (OK ENOUGH OF MY RANT NOW - YOU GET MY POINT)
So I am happy to show you some lovely Advent Ideas you can do leading up to Christmas. I am yet to make any myself so here are pictures from the websites, please go to the links to see them to show respect for the real creators.
Mini Envelope Advent by Quietfish. Inside each envelope is an activity to do on that day. eg - make paper snowflakes, paint everyones toenails, buy a small toy to give away, Make a paper chain for the tree, set up the tree, dance and sing to christmas music.... and the list goes on. You can make up your own. I LOVED THIS ONE FOR ITS LACK OF LOLLIES!! AND IT RUNS ON QUALITY TIME TOGETHER - NOT THE BUYING OF SWEETS.
Natural Advent Stick by Kiddley. Check it out and see their ideas for "natural" items to be placed inside the packaging.. another no sweets advent, inspired by Montessori teachings... I really like this one.
Cute Box Advent and other ideas at Kiddley.
Felt Pouch Advent very cute and the pattern is there for free to use!! found at Allsorts
Cookie Tray Advent by Craftzine...I SO want to make this one.. any scrapbooking friends out there want to help me?? I might even make a few for giveaways in November - so check back then!!
Scrapbooking and Tin Advent Not sure if we can get these tins here (this is an american site) but boy is it cute!!Random Sock Advent at Family Fun
Lolly Advent This one looks tasty - try stopping the kids from eating these all at once!! good luck
Advent Town Create a whole cardboard town to hide treats/scriptures/messages in
White Paper Bag Advent This one looks very easy!! and cute... and they filled each pocket with a packet of lifesavers - because this is the reason Jesus was born for us!! Loved that idea.
Advent Ideas at Kids Craft Weekly
Hope you all enjoy these pretty advent calendars. I LOVE ADVENT!! There are so many ways you can celebrate, I might add more later about proper advent activites to do through the month of December but for today enjoy these calendars!! I am all warm and fuzzy just looking at them =)
4 comments:
I am thinking red, white, and blue right now, and your thinking Christmas. So funny to me. Thanks for the email explaining that to me again. I had forgotten all about that.
Those ideas are fantastic Bobbie. You should have alot of fun. Can't wait to see the pictures of all you end up doing.
Have a great unplugged day.
Love the calendars! So cute. We also have the homemade wall hanging with little pockets. It would be fun to update and add a new one.
We also do a service calendar. I write down 24 acts of service on little pieces of paper and each day we pick one to do. It is a nice way to spend the holiday.
Thanks for another great post. M
Thanks for the shout-out :o)
One thing I love is using new colors instead of the traditional red and green. I just used scrap book paper in coordinating patterns (stripes and polkadots) in kiwi green, deep red, and sky blue. 'Twas fun and the kids look forward to putting it up each year.
Great blog, btw.
We have an advent calendar which is a picture of the nativity scene cut up into a puzzle that Princess coloured in. It's nice but a bit drab.
I was trying to decide which advent calendar was my favourite and I just couldn't decide. They are all cute and i'll definitely will be making some/one for this year.
Thanks for the ideas.
Post a Comment