Christmas Activity Advent Calendar Cards

When my first son was still a baby, a coworker of mine told me about her Christmas Activity Advent Calendar. She made cards for each day of December, each with its own simple Christmas activity written on it to do with her girls. They included baking Christmas cookies, donating food to the local food bank, and reading the Polar Express together. I thought this was such a sweet idea, and I knew I wanted to do this with my kids when they were old enough!

Fast forward to today, and I've been doing this for four years now. Read on to see how I put it together and for a free printable of the cards I use! This year, I let the the kids help with cutting out the cards and gluing them on to cardstock, so they have an extra "home made" touch (ie: Type A mom had to suck up the imperfections and go with it!).

Materials:

• List of activities (see link to my free printable, below!)
• Blank December calendar (get a free one here)
• Scrapbook paper or cardstock, cut into small cards
• Advent Calendar with pockets or doors (we have this one from Pottery Barn Kids)

Instructions:

1. Start with a blank December calendar, and fill in all the activities you know you'll be doing already. Schedule those in and write them down on your cards for those days! These types activities for us include:

• Visiting Santa
• Attending the local Festival of Lights parade
• Setting out milk and cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve
• Going Ice Skating with friends
• Lighting the Advent Wreath each Sunday

2. Figure out which days of the week are the most hectic for your family, and fill in
"easy" activities on those days. (Repeating these a few times is fine!) For us, these include: 

• Drink Hot Cocoa
• Draw a Christmas Tree
• Read a Christmas Book
• Watch a Christmas Movie

3. Include the kids in the spirit of giving to others by including gift giving to others as well as acts of charity. I pick one day of the week (Thursdays, for us) to do such activities so it becomes a weekly thing.

• Deliver food to the local food bank
• Pick out gently used toys to donate to children in need
• Purchase gifts for families on our church's "Angel Tree"
• Wrap a gift
• Mail a Christmas card

4. Fill in the other days as you like!

5. Write the activities onto your scrapbook paper or cardstock. I printed out the attached PDF and used the print-and-cut feature on my Silhouette Cameo, but scissors work, too! The kids then glued them onto red cardstock, and I added them to our Advent Calendar's pockets.

Check out the link below for a PDF of the cards I created (using some simple, free clip art from the internet for my pre-readers). Feel free to print them out and use them in your Advent Calendar! I just love how my kids look forward to this every day. It's so fun to see them truly enjoy the simple ones, like making and enjoying a cup of hot cocoa together! The simpler, the better. And the best part is that once you plan it ahead of time, you don't have to worry about coming up with a new idea each day (ah-hem, Elf on the Shelf!).

Here's the PDF: Christmas Activity Advent Calendar Cards

Merry Christmas, and may these simple activities add to the joy in waiting for the coming of Christ!

XOXO,

Rox