Advent Calendars
I know it seems like Christmas is still so far away, but in reality it’s only eight weeks from today. Can you believe it? Since advent calendars usually begin on the first day of December, now is a good time to prepare if you want to start or continue the tradition with your family this year!
You can use an advent calendar in any way that works for your family! Keep your advent tradition simple or really get creative and build some quality family time and special memories into each day. It can be just a fun tradition to count down the days until Christmas, or as a helpful tool to focus your family on the real meaning of Christmas (through telling a part of the Christmas story each day, lighting a candle, reading a devotional together, journaling or memorizing verses).
An advent calendar can inspire you to slow the whole season down as you connect with each other every day in meaningful ways.
An advent calendar can be themed or structured and generic versions can personalized to highlight your own special Christmas, faith or family traditions.
We stumbled on some really adorable advent calendars to add to our Christmas decor shop, so we thought it would be fun to feature them today.
You’ll find our entire Christmas decor shop here and the link to each calendar is also listed below for your convenience.
Are you planning on using an advent calendar with your family this year?
What are some of your meaningful advent traditions?
Shop all advent calendars HERE or see some of my favorites in this post!
Most of these are on sale so make sure to click through and see the promo codes or discount automatically applied!
See all my favorite Christmas decor HERE.
Shop MORE advent calendars here!
See all my favorite Christmas decor HERE.
They are so cute! Last year I made one sort of like the pom pom one above out of some fabric and felt and Pom Pom trim. :) It’s imperfect but really special to us! It took so long to hand sew it all so your post reminded me that this November I want to take it back out and add some new details that I didn’t get to last year. My girls are 3 and 5 and loved moving the star each day last year, closer to the little baby Jesus at the end. :)
Growing up we just had the mass-produced ones that had a chocolate animal behind each day’s number. However, it is still a sweet memory of my childhood! My brother and I had to take turns every other day and it was so simple but still something we looked forward to every morning in December. It truly can be the little details that your children remember fondly!
So many really beautiful ones to choose from….
I have never used an advent calendar but these are really cute! Looks like a neat tradition to start with little ones!
We love and look forward to our advent calendar every year. Hard to find cute ones that are affordable now.
My sister made me an advent calendar a few years ago and we love it!
I still remember the one we had when I was growing up. Hopefully my kids will remember ours with as much fondness!
I see none which convey the true meaning of Christmas–the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, so I’m disappointed. I made one years ago using felt, very tedious but rewarding, that told the Christmas story by different characters and symbols to be added each day. I guess I’ll be bringing it out again!
Some of these I like a lot but I always end up getting the Jacquie Lawson interactive advent calendar that I download to my desktop. Each year she features a new one plus the old one from the previous year. They are only $4. Plus it’s fun to do the activities that come with it.
Christine, I’d never heard of Jacquie Lawson before. These look SO fun and cozy!
These are all REALLY cute! We have 3 boys, and we get the Lego Advent calendars each year. They are not particularly meaningful, but our boys enjoy them. :) I’m brainstorming how I could use a pretty one… We have a large collection of Christmas children’s books, and we rarely take the time to read all of them during the Christmas season. Maybe I could put a little note with the title of a different book in each cubby, and then we could read one book per day. Hmm… maybe I should do that this year! :)
We enjoyed Advent calendars very much when our children lived at home. When we had an empty nest, I created my “grownup girl’s Advent Calendar” and bring it out each year, just for me! It’s a fun twist on the tradition that we so loved with our children. Now they do Advent calendars in their own homes. I love the Snowy House calendar!
A friend finds 24 inexpensive items that her granddaughter likes, wraps them up and ships them up to her in November. The mom takes a photo every day as she unwraps the gift or is working on the gift.
Last year, I enrolled my grand nephews in a STEM gift of the month (how to code program). And my friend is enrolling her granddaughter in a cooking class of the month. These are a bit expensive, but it does spread out the gifts over the year as well as providing kids with some learning experiences to work with their parents.
Have always loved Advent calendars…did a reverse one the last 2 years. I put a cute Christmas themed galvanized bucket in the kitchen and added an item each day to be donated to our church food bank
What a neat idea! I love it, Mary!
We use the Swedish single marked candle advent or the four separate ones but I did get the wooden farmhouse one when you posted it just a while ago. I love it, it’s really nice and a new option for every day til Christmas