I have not yet decided, how our advent calendar will look like this year. However I wanted it to be something extra special and sparkling. So I designed some nice numbers for a DIY advent calendar – of any kind.
But first, let me tell you, which kind of advent calendars my family uses – because we are HUGE fans of this kind of preparation for the holiday season.
ADVENT CALENDARS IDEAS FOR CHILDREN
Last year we had a round Waldorf inspired advent spiral, which was great. I will post some pictures, as soon as I find them. You can also have a look at some advent spirals on Pinterest. That is where I got the inspiration for that:
We also have the same cute felt calendar hanging across our living room every year. The kids love the handsome design and I like that it is not too big and also easy to fill. Inside they will find a part of a nativity story every day. I printed it out 4 years ago and since then we read it together every year. It has become a really nice tradition for us. We cuddle together and read calmly. Most of the times I have to read it even more than once, because my boys love to listen to some nice stories.
Along with the story there comes a little shiny box in which I store all the paper figures for our nativity scene. Every day my son gets to pick one figure and puts it in his wooden house to decorate his own nativity scene. This year my second son will be old enough to participate in that. So I am really exited to see how that turns out.
If you are interested in including the Christmas story in your advent calendar, I found a nice idea for you here.
Those printables are not for free, but I find them to be very cute. Or you just take it as an inspiration and DIY a Christmas story advent calendar by yourself.
As my children love reading, I also bought them an advent calendar book. Inside there are stories perfect for the advent season and especially for children, some are adventurous and some funny. We have a look at the book every day, but not at a set time of the day. The boys will pick it up and come to me as soon as they like to hear the new story of the day.
As you might have noticed, our calendars only include reading or activities. The reason for this is that I want to establish traditions and want them to have nice memories of their childhood, rather than just have something sweet to eat or more toys that just fill space.
However, this year I decided to put some small Lego parts in their calendar as well – but only on some days. The reason for this is that my boys really enjoy playing Lego and they wished for some small parts, for example a horse, a tennis rack or a skateboard. But I didn’t want to give it to them during the year, so I collected their wishes, made one big order a while ago and will now divide the parts into their felt calendar. I will make sure, however, that they understand, that those Lego parts in their calendar are only an exception and I hope, that they will not get used to it in the future. We will see 🙂
ADVENT CALENDARS IDEAS FOR ADULTS
Some years ago I made some really nice advent calendars for my husband as well. Once I made some paper packages all by myself and put little presents inside, such as small logical puzzles or little stories. I think, my newly designed numbers would fit perfectly on them and I should definitely search for those boxes.
THE JOY OF GIVING
