Christmas Countdown: Family Advent calendar fillers

November is perfect timing to start thinking about your Advent calendar, to gather all the props you need for it without last-minute stress. And we would love to share some Family Advent calendar filler ideas that are more about giving, experiencing and bonding.

Advent is a season of expectant waiting and preparation for the most magical family celebration - Christmas. The word Advent itself was adopted from Latin adventus "coming; arrival". An Advent calendar is a special calendar used to count these days of Advent in anticipation of Christmas. There are many variations of the Advent calendar, including social media Advent calendars, and string up reusable Advent calendars. Many towns have created living advent calendars. Some Advent calendars even eschew traditional Christmas motifs and themes, focusing on the Christmas story. So there is no surprise there are so many different things that you could fill it with. But this time we made a small list of Advent calendar filers that are more about those core things of this timing. Such as sharing, preparing, bonding, and enjoying the moment or the process. These ideas can be made as small cards and mixed with other small surprises or added as an additional thing to little treats, or just be the main idea with which you fill your Family calendar. We hope it will inspire you to create more memories that will be cherished for many years.

Here we go.

24 days till Christmas: Make a family picture.

Take out our funny Christmas sweaters and props to make a fun family picture that later can be used to create family Christmas cards. If you are into it, make a short video treating. And generally, just have a crazy and funny time.

23 days till Christmas: Make some crazy hot chocolate.

You can add small marshmallows, candy canes, cinnamon sticks, and other tasty things to your calendar to make the most festive hot chocolate in the year. Get messy and creative.

22 days till Christmas: Write letters to Santa.

You can add some festive envelopes, rustic paper, and stamps to your calendar that can be used to write this very important letter. Don't forget to seel the envelope, write the address and send it to Santa. Here is the address we know:

Santa Claus
Santa Claus’ Main Post Office
Tähtikuja 1
96930 Arctic Circle
Finland

During the Christmas season, the Big Guy gets a lot of letters at the Santa Claus Main Post Office in Rovaniemi. Around 30,000. Every. Single. Day! It keeps his elves pretty busy. We had a chance to visit this post and believe me there are separate boxes for each and every country.

22 days till Christmas: Make Christmas cards.

You can add some craft supplies to make DIY Christmas cards. Or you can use what you have at home. You can also make digital cards that can be sent to family and friends that live far away. Use those lovely family pictures you already made ;) There is a free online platform to create digital designs easily. It offers many templates. Take a look: www.canva.com/templates/?query=christmas-card

21 days till Christmas: Donate toys.

Take a beautiful sack or basket and collect toys that are still in great condition but just grown out and donate them to those who do not have that much of them. It is a win-win situation. Toys will find a new home, someone will get something new to play with and someone will make some space at their toy storage. You can add a beautiful bag for it to your calendar, or just a letter from Santa/ elves asking for a favor.

20 days till Christmas: Treasure map.

Make a treasure map to find some well-hidden treasure at home or in the garden.

19 days till Christmas: Make your own ornaments.

There are plenty of ways to make ornaments from paper, old wrapping paper, pasta, etc. There are so many ideas on Pinterest. Pick the ones you like the most. You can add some supplies to the calendar or just a note.

18 days till Christmas: Car ride to your festive city/ town center.

Take a car ride or a walk in your city or town center in the evening. Look at the decorations, lights and maybe even visit local Christmas market.

17 days till Christmas: Gingerbreads.

You can add a little cookie cutter to your calendar as an invitation to do some baking together.

16 days till Christmas: Christmas story.

Add a little book about Christmas or a printed-out Christmas story to read before bedtime.

15 days till Christmas: Christmas story.

Add a little book about Christmas or a printed-out Saint Nicholas story to read before bedtime.

14 days till Christmas: Decorate your Christmas tree.

Add some ornaments to your calendar as an invitation to decorate your Christmas tree. Make it with some music hot wine and cacao. The process is more important than the outcome.

13 days till Christmas: Make a gift for a teacher.

Make a small thoughtful gift for the teacher. It can be gingerbreads or a lovely DIY card. All up to you.

12 days till Christmas: Donate food to the food bank.

Donate food to the food bank. You can add a list of things that could be donated and have a walk in the supermarket to collect them together. Christmas time is not only about getting, but also about giving. And giving can be as much regarding as getting.

11 days till Christmas: Make some snowman from marshmallows.

You can add a printed-out story about the Snowman and some marshmallows that can become one. Have fun making.

10 days till Christmas: Hang your stockings.

It is about time to start thinking about Santas visit. Hang out your Christmas stockings, make sure the fireplace is a good spot to land, or find another spot for him to enter (this one is more for smaller kids, who still believes in magic ;) )

9 days till Christmas: Make a bird feeder.

Put some bird-feeding mic to your calendar. There are so many things that you can upcycle at your home into a bird feeder. You can find lots of inspiration on the web. And there is a lot of space for creativity here.

8 days till Christmas: Movie night in PJs.

Add some popcorn or other treats to the calendar for it. Make some cozy space, gather together, and watch one of many Christmas movies.

7 days till Christmas: Outdoors.

This one depends on your location :) You could just go out sledding, building snowman, or simply having a walk in the neighborhood to get a look at all those beautiful decorations.

6 days till Christmas: Layout some carrots for Santa's reindeers.

Add some carrot or sack of oats to your calendar that could be left outside to domesticate Santa's reindeer. Just make sure they would disappear till next day ;) Magic...

5 days till Christmas: Build a gingerbread house.

How without it... Add a kit for making a gingerbread house to your calendar, or a note with a sketch of an idea of how it could look. It never looks as you planned, but it is still fun to kame it.

4 days till Christmas: A secret friend.

Make a note about the secret friend game with family member names. Each and every family member takes out one name card with closed eyes (it shouldn't be visible to others too). The name on the card is a person to whom you have to be like secret friends for the day and make it the best day for him or her without getting couth. In the evening you can gather and try to guess who was who's secret friend.

3 days till Christmas: Baking for Santa.

You could add Santa's favorite cookies or cupcakes recipe to the calendar to bake it for his upcoming visit.

2 days till Christmas: Have a game night.

Have a relaxing evening with board games in your pajamas and take out food. It was a busy time and Christmas is almost here. Take a moment to relax.

1 day till Christmas: Here comes the Santa Claus trap.

Add a trap starter kit to your calendar with some cord and jingle bells to hand on the way from the fireplace to the Christmas tree, that it would jingle in Santa would trip. Sprinkle this path with flour that you would see his footprints in the morning. And of course, leave him something delicious you have already made ;)

These ideas are very simple but sometimes when we have so much information about us it just slipes our mind, so we gathered it here. You can switch their order, you can use some of it or all of it. But we hope you will enjoy it and make lots of beautiful memories.

And if you are still on a hunt for a calendar itself, we have some of these here. Together with other Christmas specials. Take a look at our shop.

And have a wonderful Christmas season.

-NinisAndFamily