Printable Christmas Advent Family Activity Countdown
Setting up an activity-based countdown to holidays has quickly become a beloved tradition in our home, starting with this Halloween, continuing at Thanksgiving, and now at Christmas.
The concept is that, leading up to the holiday (3 days before, 5 days before, 10 days before, etc.), kids open up one envelope per day that holds inside the description of an activity for the day. We are busy folks, so many of our activities are pretty simple (read a book about the holiday), but some are more involved (make Christmas cookies). We plan out the envelopes carefully so that we are not setting ourselves up for a complex activity on a day when that will not work for our schedule.
Here's our Christmas Countdown, and here are instructions on how to use it:
Duration: Choose how long you want your countdown to Christmas to be (3 days, 5 days, one week, 10 days, 25 days?).
Print: Download this file and print one page for each day. There are 34 ideas from which to choose, so you can leave out those that are not a good fit for your family. The file is fully editable, as well, so feel free to modify or add new ideas! If you have new activity ideas, please leave them in the comments for others!
Envelopes: Mark envelopes with the dates leading up to Christmas, one for each day of your countdown. Put one printed activity page into each envelope. Be sure to match the activities to your real life situation (so that busier days are matched with simpler activities).
Display: Display your envelopes (I use a cheap ribbon tacked on the wall with mini binder clips holding the envelopes, but a basket or box could hold them nicely, or even stick them to a surface like a mirror).
Get Started: Open the first envelope and start the fun!
The 34 ideas in here include everything from sending a care package to a soldier to buying a toy for a child in need to watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas to writing a letter to Santa. The last 10 pages are specific to where we live - in the San Francisco Bay Area - perhaps they will generate ideas for holiday activities that are local to you.
http://bit.ly/ChristmasEnvelopes
And here are links to items you might need for some of the activities you will find in the file:
Books
Grow Snow Powder ($4)
Current Amazon Lightning Deals on Toys (helpful for donating toys to children in need)
Santa bag (pack up toys on Christmas Eve to leave for Santa to take to other children) ($10)
Movies
Baker’s Twine (for hanging envelopes to wall, wrapping gifts, or wrapping baked goods) ($7)
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