Advent Madness
Last year we added a gift every Sunday night of Advent as we continued with our other Advent traditions. I got this idea from Linda. We loved it. The gifts were mostly things I would have bought anyway - but they were saved for these special nights....calendars, family game, t-shirts...
For years I've seen some do "Advent Calendars". Last year we tried the play mobile one and it didn't work for us.... We are not fond of cheap candy (can't do the flavors, dyes and preservatives) but I remembered that Kathy does this with small gifts....and I saw those cute calendars at Target...you know THAT story. Becki suggested some ideas in the comment section of that entry. Becki, the idea to put clues in the little boxes and still use ONE calendar for ALL the children makes this doable for us.
I have gone online and searched "Advent Calendars" - DON'T DO IT!!!! ::snort:: I quickly realized the need for extreme caught to avoid the extras adding up to a budget busting holiday. I went to Rainbow Resource and bought a few things I've been planning to get for school. The kids will like them and I'll give them on some day from the calendar box. Mike is teasing that I should plan a full blown scavenger hunt each day of the month. ::snort::
Another idea that I found in my searching is to make an Advent ACTIVITY calendar. We'll make one today. I've not decided if we'll use my stash of TP tubes...or scrapbook paper. I'm leaning to paper as we may YET make that Greek Temple and need the TP tubes. ANYWAY, the idea is that you jot down a family activity for each day of the month. I love this idea....and would probably have not bought the present calendar if I'd done the google search first. This is a post with a ton of Advent Calendar ideas that I found on Kathy's aforementioned blog. This post on Paper Envelopes made me think I could really do this in a day. I'm going to merge several ideas.....Now, go ahead and do that google search if you must, but I DID warn you. ::snort::
Here's what I need from YOU!!!! I*D*E*A*S* please. December 1st will be here in no time.
What are some fun gifts for Advent Calendars that your children have particularly loved? I'm going to have the little things from Rainbow, I know candy one day, hot chocolate, coins, coupons for future outing with Mom and/or Dad....more ideas?
Here is my STARTING list of Activities for the Advent Activity Calendar. Can you think of more? PLEASE COMMENT! ::snort:: I need these to make my Activity Calendar.
- Take a toy to Toy for Tots
- Walk to visit the deer
- Go star gazing
- Decorate an outside tree for animals - read book by Eve or Eva Hunt
- Indoor picnic by the light of tree
- Dance like Crazy to Christmas music (yeah - we're not Baptist ::snort::)
- Make ice cream Sundaes (but we sort of do this weekly anyway)
- Picnic at the Lake
- Play tickle little kids, mom photographs
- Take older ones to see Concho lights
- Go for a neighborhood walk at night and enjoy the lights
- Make paper snowflakes and decorate the house.
- Family game night (plan several)
- Candlelit bubble bath (I can dream)
- Paint our toes (boys say NO WAY)
- Bake Christmas goodies
- Bake Christmas goodies again and take to neighbors
PLEASE COMMENT!
©2008 D.R.G.