There’s nothing better than your advent calendar when you’re a child. That run up to Christmas day is just so exciting, and sometimes the run up is better than the actual day itself. I know, nowadays, we have ‘Elf on the Shelf’, Christmas Eve boxes and new trends – but for me, I wanted to focus on filling our own, traditional advent calendar for Sophia for her third Christmas. I am completely aware it’s so much easier and cheaper to buy one from the supermarket – but as this tradition was one my Mum loved to keep up when we were kids, I would love to continue and also keep it pressure-free. So if you’re thinking of doing the same this year, I hope this inspires you with some ideas.
Make-Your-Own Advent Calendar
For the creative people, you could actually make and decorate your own advent calendar – I really wish I was good at this sort of thing, but sadly not. It would end up such a mess, and you know I’m all about making the house look nice (oops). I think in years to come, when Sophia is older, it would be a good activity to paint and decorate her own perhaps – definitely one for the future. On my travels, I came across some lovely ones to decorate/make-your-own:
- Hobbycraft – Full of traditional, wooden advent calendars. Rocking horses, trees, trains – you name it.
- Asda – I thought this make your own advent calendar was a cheap but cheerful option too.
Fill-Your-Own Advent Calendar
Now we’re talking – filling your own advent calendar enabled me to be creative when I didn’t have to get out a paint brush or a glue gun. We went for this cute stocking garland from Hobbycraft – I think I was drawn to it as I like the traditional look of Christmas and I had one similar when I was younger. I plan to pop on the fireplace and just hope Sophia understands not to pull it down or eat everything inside on the first of December…
When I was looking for our Fill-Your-Own Advent Calendar, I came across some lovely luxury ones that you may be interested in – if all goes well this year, I may consider buying one of these as I think there’ll be a treasure to keep. They were from Lisa Angel, and my favourite is this gorgeous train. Lauren from Hunters and Heels recommended this shop on Instagram and I love it.
What’s Inside?
I wanted the contents to be a mixture of a chocolate treats, activities to do and experiences. Sophia has just turned two and understands now when I tell her what we’re doing each day, so I thought this would be a great way for her to get excited about things that were happening on the run up to Christmas. Some things I’ve included inside are:
Gifts
Activities
- ‘Decorate our own’ Christmas Decoration
- Colour-me-in Cardboard Princess Carriage (I wanted the gingerbread house but it was sold out!)
- Decorate a Gingerbread House (I got a free one from BakedIn on Vodafone Rewards)
- Christmas Forest School
- Make Christmas Cookies
We’ve also included experiences on what we’ve planned to do on my days off or on weekends in Decembers. Here is the full list:
So there you go, happy adventing – I really hope it’s useful and if you’ve left it last minute, you can just buy everything off this blog as all the links are there :)! I hope you all have a wonderful run up to Christmas – please let me know if you’re doing something similar with your kid’s advent calendars and any ideas for next year are greatly appreciated…. is it bad I’m avoiding Elf on the Shelf haha?
Sarah xoxox
Cosy Home Living 
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