30 Advent Calendar Ideas (+ FREE Printables!)

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Christmas is such a magical time, filled with fun activities, traditions, and events.

A tradition my boys make sure we keep each year is to have an advent calendar.

My three boys all love it! They love the ritual of opening something up and getting whatever prize is inside.

There are so many options for advent calendars nowadays. From the easy chocolate filled ones to fun advent calendars filled with toys such as legos, or playmobil there isn’t a shortage of advent calendars that have already been filled.

Plus, there are several other kinds where you can buy a reusable advent calendar, you just need to fill it with something. Or you can even make your own advent calendar.

So, if you have one that needs to be filled and you don’t want to go with an item or maybe, you want to mix it up with some days prizes and some days activities, check these Christmas advent calendar ideas out!

I have several (30 of them to be exact!) fun advent calendar ideas that are super fun and a great way to start some of your own holiday traditions.

I know coming up with ideas for your advent calendar can seem daunting. Especially, when you are staring at a blank piece of paper when planning it out. Or am I the only one still using paper and pen to plan things?

Many of these advent calendar ideas for kids don’t require much prep or cost on your part, so they are super simple to do.

As a heads up – for the movies if you don’t currently own them, make sure to check Netflix and Amazon Prime to see if you can stream from there. Another thought is to check your library and try and check it out there.

Advent Calendar Ideas

Make Hot Chocolate

Go Ice Skating

Eat Candy Canes

Make a Gingerbread House

Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Watch Elf

Sing Christmas Carols

Read a Christmas Book

Bake Cookies

Make reindeer food

Write a letter to Santa

Make a Christmas List

Do a random act of kindness

Drive and look at lights

Decorate the Christmas tree

Make an ornament

Make paper snowflakes

Go sledding

Get Pictures with Santa

Read a story about the birth of Jesus

Make a snowman

Watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Watch Frosty the Snowman

Donate a gift o someone in need

Make a gift

Donate food to a local food pantry

See a Christmas show or play

Make a Christmas Slime

Go sledding

Play a board game

So many fun ideas! And so many of these advent calendar activities require no prep work and are quick to do.

A Fun Homemade Advent Calendar

If you don’t have an advent calendar, an easy way to do this, is to use paper sacks.

The Christmas countdown is for 24 days, so you’ll want 24 paper sacks.

Write 1 on the first sack, 2 on the second, and so on until you’ve written on all 24 bags.

Print out these advent calendar ideas, then cut the advent calendar pieces apart and put them into the paper bags.

You can fold the tops of the bags over or staple them closed. The choice is up to you.

Do you Count Up or own on an Advent Calendar?

A common question is which order to open the advent calendar doors (or bags). With an advent calendar you are counting the days until Christmas. You start at one and go up to 24.

If you are wanting some advent printables, make sure to input your name and email below. We have some great advent activity printable cards just for you.
You can find these printables advent cards here.

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