Christmas is my favourite time of the year. I love every aspect of it, so this year I decided to embrace it in the biggest way possible. Once 1st December came around, I went all out and got my Christmas freak on.
I decided to make advent as fun and enjoyable as possible; so there are four aspects to each day for us. The first, is an advent chocolate off our calendar, the second is a Christmassy activity for us to do (this can be big or small), the third is to light an advent candle at dinner and the fourth is a new Christmas book to unwrap and read in the evening. We have loved this so far and it is definitely something we will be doing again next year. If you want any ideas on how to make advent fun for all and start doing Christmassy things with your family or to remember for next year, here are some ideas below;
1. Homemade Advent Calendar. Try using interesting and fun ice trays to make homemade chocolate to wrap up and place in a homemade advent calendar. This is something we will be doing next year.
2. Advent books. Wrap up 24 books for your child to unwrap throughout December. They will look forward to a new Christmas book adventure each night. I am keeping all of the books I have wrapped for next year, and only replacing the ones they have out grown. The gift that can keep giving, year after year.
3. Give a donation to a food bank. Such a simple thing to do. We just brought a few tins of food items and a Christmas pudding and dropped the bag into a local charity shop who then gives the items to the local food bank. It helps to keep me grounded and to realise how very lucky I am to be able to feed my children this Christmas.
4. Make a candy cane picture; dip your little one's fingers into some red and white finger paint to create the masterpiece.
5. Go on a walk or a drive to look at the local Christmas lights on buildings. I love doing this and usually do it closer to Christmas because it gives people a chance to put their lights up. That way there is more to be seen and fascinated by.
6. Buy and keep for following years some Christmas toys or games to play. The boys now have some nice Christmas toys from Early Learning Centre and a couple of puzzles and games to get them in the festive mood.
7. Write and send your Christmas cards. Get your children to make their own, even when they're young its easy for them to stick some foam stickers onto a card and relatives will love the thought gone into it.
8. Decorate foam shapes and give to family members as mini gifts.
9. Write santa a letter and send to the Royal mail address to receive a nice card back from Santa.
10. Put Christmas bed sheets and Pyjamas on. There's nothing like snuggling into the Christmas spirit.
11. Make paper chains. You can buy some brilliant and cheap packs in so many shops. Or make your own out of festive paper.
12. Put tinsel and other Christmas house decorations around the house. I usually do this early on in the month, then the tree half way through. This means we don't over do things too quickly and the tree stands to survive better for being up less amount of time.
13. Have a Christmas film snuggle afternoon.
14. Give your Children a Christmas eve box, with snacks, activities and new pyjamas.
15. Make a gingerbread house.
16. Decorate the tree listening to Christmas music.
17. Make a playlist of Christmas music to help dance around the house with the children while doing the chores each day.
18. Have a toy sort out to make room for the new toys Santa will be bringing.
19. Go to your local coffee shop and order some festive drinks and treats. The children love this simple festive afternoon out.
20. Put on a Christmas film while wrapping your Christmas presents, (obviously not theirs but relatives) Get them to help pass the sellotape, or to hold the paper in place. They then become your own helpful elves and will love helping you out.
21. Make yourselves hot chocolate, or a milkshake with some marshmallows on top and a candy cane on the side. Simple evenings like this will create traditions that you can hold on to for life.
22. Bake some festive goodies, such as a cranberry cake or some gingerbread cookies in festive shapes and then get the children to help decorate the cookies with icing.
23. One morning, turn your pancakes into reindeers, adding raspberries for the noses, blueberries for the eyes and a little bit of chocolate syrup for the antlers.
24. Buy a cheap felt tree with some extra coloured felt to cut into baubles, your child will have hours of entertaining decorating their own tree. This is something you can re use year after year too.
25. Cut up some paper snowflakes. You can get all sorts of designs and templates on the internet and Pinterest.
I hope you are all able to enjoy advent with some of the festive ideas above with as little stress as possible.
What are your advent traditions? Pop a comment below, I'd love to hear from you.
For more daily doses of parenting highs and lows, follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
I decided to make advent as fun and enjoyable as possible; so there are four aspects to each day for us. The first, is an advent chocolate off our calendar, the second is a Christmassy activity for us to do (this can be big or small), the third is to light an advent candle at dinner and the fourth is a new Christmas book to unwrap and read in the evening. We have loved this so far and it is definitely something we will be doing again next year. If you want any ideas on how to make advent fun for all and start doing Christmassy things with your family or to remember for next year, here are some ideas below;
1. Homemade Advent Calendar. Try using interesting and fun ice trays to make homemade chocolate to wrap up and place in a homemade advent calendar. This is something we will be doing next year.
2. Advent books. Wrap up 24 books for your child to unwrap throughout December. They will look forward to a new Christmas book adventure each night. I am keeping all of the books I have wrapped for next year, and only replacing the ones they have out grown. The gift that can keep giving, year after year.
3. Give a donation to a food bank. Such a simple thing to do. We just brought a few tins of food items and a Christmas pudding and dropped the bag into a local charity shop who then gives the items to the local food bank. It helps to keep me grounded and to realise how very lucky I am to be able to feed my children this Christmas.
4. Make a candy cane picture; dip your little one's fingers into some red and white finger paint to create the masterpiece.
5. Go on a walk or a drive to look at the local Christmas lights on buildings. I love doing this and usually do it closer to Christmas because it gives people a chance to put their lights up. That way there is more to be seen and fascinated by. 6. Buy and keep for following years some Christmas toys or games to play. The boys now have some nice Christmas toys from Early Learning Centre and a couple of puzzles and games to get them in the festive mood.
7. Write and send your Christmas cards. Get your children to make their own, even when they're young its easy for them to stick some foam stickers onto a card and relatives will love the thought gone into it.
8. Decorate foam shapes and give to family members as mini gifts.
9. Write santa a letter and send to the Royal mail address to receive a nice card back from Santa.
10. Put Christmas bed sheets and Pyjamas on. There's nothing like snuggling into the Christmas spirit.
11. Make paper chains. You can buy some brilliant and cheap packs in so many shops. Or make your own out of festive paper.
12. Put tinsel and other Christmas house decorations around the house. I usually do this early on in the month, then the tree half way through. This means we don't over do things too quickly and the tree stands to survive better for being up less amount of time.
13. Have a Christmas film snuggle afternoon.
14. Give your Children a Christmas eve box, with snacks, activities and new pyjamas.
15. Make a gingerbread house.
16. Decorate the tree listening to Christmas music.
17. Make a playlist of Christmas music to help dance around the house with the children while doing the chores each day.
18. Have a toy sort out to make room for the new toys Santa will be bringing.
19. Go to your local coffee shop and order some festive drinks and treats. The children love this simple festive afternoon out.
20. Put on a Christmas film while wrapping your Christmas presents, (obviously not theirs but relatives) Get them to help pass the sellotape, or to hold the paper in place. They then become your own helpful elves and will love helping you out. 21. Make yourselves hot chocolate, or a milkshake with some marshmallows on top and a candy cane on the side. Simple evenings like this will create traditions that you can hold on to for life.
22. Bake some festive goodies, such as a cranberry cake or some gingerbread cookies in festive shapes and then get the children to help decorate the cookies with icing.
23. One morning, turn your pancakes into reindeers, adding raspberries for the noses, blueberries for the eyes and a little bit of chocolate syrup for the antlers.
24. Buy a cheap felt tree with some extra coloured felt to cut into baubles, your child will have hours of entertaining decorating their own tree. This is something you can re use year after year too.
25. Cut up some paper snowflakes. You can get all sorts of designs and templates on the internet and Pinterest.
I hope you are all able to enjoy advent with some of the festive ideas above with as little stress as possible.
What are your advent traditions? Pop a comment below, I'd love to hear from you.
For more daily doses of parenting highs and lows, follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
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