I know that some of you may already have turned off your curiosity because you feel it’s just too early to start thinking about Christmas. Well I must disagree with you. After all Christmas is not just a one day holiday, it is a whole season holiday starting with the first Sunday in Advent. Even if you are not religious, you can follow along on twenty four days leading up to Christmas.

For years, I made Advent Calendars for my children and the time to start thinking about them is now! If you spend a little time each week doing the “hard” part, when the First of December rolls around you will be all set.

The hard part is finding little items to put into little packages that will be displayed for the children. Each package gets labelled one, two, three and so on until you have a total of 24 little packages for each child. This is also what takes the most time. But I find that if you start early and do maybe four of five packages a week, you will have what you need ready for the First of December, without sweating or loosing your calm.

What I find so wonderful about this tradition, is that it seems to make it a little bit easier for the children to get through the month of December, with small packages to be unwrapped everyday.

What are in those packages? Well let me give you a list, and then I’m sure with a little thoughtfulness on your part, you will come up with other ideas as well.

Shoe laces (pretty funky colored ones), barrettes, hair elastics, rub on tattoos, pencils, erasers, nail polish, fruit flavored chapsticks, gel hand warmers, socks, beads and baubles, candy, or chocolates, Lego men/women, balloons, little dinky cars, funky note paper, stickers, and this is just to get you started.

You can make 24 little packages, some square boxes, some using toilet paper rolls, some with flattened kleenex boxes or templates to make little parcels or even some pretty envelopes. You can mix them up, or do them all the same, whatever style suits you or your child the best.

Label each one with a number and then stack the lot on a nice tray or create a backdrop for the parcels shaped like a Christmas tree and use the ribbons to attach them to the background….

Each one can be different for each child, so that they will know which is theirs, use the child’s favorite color on all the packages to that they are color coded. You decide which way you would like it to look.

Either way, you will find that from the smallest child to the oldest, they will be looking forward to their own Christmas Countdown with joy!

If you are feeling particularly crafty, there are many books available with great ideas for Christmas and little gifts that will warm your heart. Christmas is a time of joy and surprises, so start early and watch the magic unfold.

Diy Christmas Bits & Pieces Die-Cuts-Advent

And if you find that you just don’t have the time or the energy required to do these Calendars yourself, you can always buy one already made!

Schleich Christmas on The Farm Advent Calendar Set

Or if your child loves Lego, they come out with a different Calendar every year!

LEGO City Town Advent Calendar Stacking Toy

LEGO Friends Advent Calendar Stacking Toy

Images from Pinterest

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Olivia Morris is a writer with many talents. She is passionate about many subjects and loves to share her knowledge and experiences on the internet. In particular she enjoys sharing details about the products she loves and recommends them thanks to her own personal experiences. In recent years, Olivia has become a passionate and experienced gardener and enjoys sharing her knowledge with you. See more about Olivia on her profile at The Writer’s Door. See more of her work at her website.