Last year instead of having an advent calendar with a piece of chocolate or mini present each day, I filled it with little slips of paper with Christmas activities. It acted like a Christmas season bucket list & was full of Christmas events we already had planned (ride a train to the “north pole,” have breakFast with Santa, etc.), fun mini Christmas activities or projects (baking Christmas cookies, making ornaments, etc.), as well as things to keep the meaning of the season in mind (donating food to those less fortunate, giving a toy to a kid who doesn’t have as many, etc.)
It was a really fun way to keep the season going strong for the whole month, and because the slips of paper all look the same from the back, I was able to switch them around if things came up and that day we’d only have time to “eat a candy cane.”
Last year’s list had more planned activities, because of the pandemic we’re not doing a lot of our regular Christmas events, but I was able to fill in our list regardless!
Below is an editable word document with a long list of ideas that may or may not work for your family this year if you want to try a similar advent calendar this season!
What do you think?