I love coming up with new ideas to celebrate the Holidays all month long with the kiddo!
This year we decided to make an advent tree! Picked up the kit with the bags at Ikea – can really use any kind of bags though.
We cut a tree shape out of cardboard, covered it in wrapping paper and attached the 24 bags with ribbon. Cut two slits into the cardboard to attach them. Was super easy and quick, didn’t cost very much to make and it’s something we can reuse year after year!
I’ll be filling the bags with all kinds of little treats – craft supplies, things I would normally put as stocking stuffers. This way she gets a surprise every day. I’m going to make myself a master list though – some of the items are too big to fit in it so I’ll just put a note in to find the gift in a certain spot, sort of like a treasure hunt. For things that will be time consuming (games etc.) I will save those for the weekends so we can enjoy them right away.
You can put anything in there – books, notes promising a special activity or outing (baking cookies, time alone with each parent etc.), coupons for treats, candy – whatever your family would enjoy. Can even do it for the whole family too, theme everything around things everyone would like. If you don’t have kids, put in treats like coffee and special cookies – or for pets you could do the same too.
Another fun tradition is to get 24 books – either buy them, pick some up used or even just take a bunch out from the library. Every day take out a new book and have some family reading time. Get cozy as a family and read away – or if the kids are older, read a chapter a day for the month.
Here’s the tree before the bags were added – very simple, I’m sure people could come up with fancier ways. You could even cover it in felt and do envelopes instead with a little piece of Velcro too.
We hung it up on the wall with a wire – just took down a picture and replaced it with this for December.
What are some of your favourite holiday traditions? Do you do an advent calendar or anything similar. What would you want in your very own advent calendar?