At home we had a self-made advent calendar for everyone. Every year until you moved out of your home. To this day I associate it with family, love and of course tingling anticipation. Now we are parents ourselves and we pass this tradition on to our children.
There is a lot of work in an advent calendar and of course the whole thing shouldn't be too expensive. Unfortunately, this often means that savings are made on the "filling", so in the worst case, a plastic item from the € 1 store is behind the little door every day. In this case I prefer chocolate. We wish the nice little things sweeten the pre-Christmas-time and don't end up in the trash after a few days, therefore we have collected the best ideas here on how you can give lasting, sustainable joy. It is helpful to ask yourself beforehand what this special time in Advent stands for and what you hope for from it. Some ideas take a little more effort, some don't; some things are free, other things a little more expensive. We believe the mixture makes it and, above all, the intention behind it: Collect family moments and look forward to Christmas together.
Disclaimer: many of our suggestions can also be easily bought on site in the store, the links are examples. We deliberately do not use Amazon links. All links were checked by us at the time of publication. We are not liable for their content and we do not receive any money for the links.
Give time
A "child determiner day". On this day the children can decide what, when and how to do it.
Candlelight dinner without electricity
Picnic in the living room
Visit to the Christmas market
Torchlight hike
Collect fir branches in the forest
Practice a dance to a Christmas carol together (make a video!)
Attend a Christmas concert
Go swimming
Watch Christmas film with homemade popcorn
Overnight party with best friends
Drive to the library
Go to the cinema
"Family, love and of course tingling anticipation."
Tinker together
Make birdseed yourself, strung on or poured into molds. It's very easy, the video is available here.
The classic: make paper stars out of sandwich paper. here is the guide.
Make bath bombs. You can find the chemical-free recipe from household items here.
Warning, mess - but the kids will love it: a sand box in the living room with homemade ones Magic sand.
As decoration or to wear yourself: Even two-year-olds can make ring necklaces. See what you can find beautiful in the waste paper for it. The instructions are there here.
Paint Christmas tree balls yourself, this works best with finger paints. Simply "beautify" some of the existing ones. In the craft shop there are also cardboard balls (6 pieces approx. 3 €).
Design Christmas cards and send them to kindergarten friends. There are great ideas here at Pinterest.
Enjoy together
Make children's punch yourself, e.g. with Lebensbaum organic punch and mulled wine spices (at REWE)
Prepare and crunch Christmas granola, there is a sugar- and gluten-free recipehere. Grandma is also happy about it in a pretty glass.
Roast chestnuts. Yes, you can grill in winter too.
With cinnamon and speculoos one Christmas pudding cooking on my own.
For beginners and very easy: gingerbreadhouse from shortbread biscuits.
And of course: Rolf Zuckowski on and bake cookies! There's the hit mix for it here.
"Collect family moments and look forward to Christmas together."
And of course: chocolate and gummy bears. Can be found unpacked in department stores like Karstadt, in health food stores or in drugstores (not unpacked, but at least without gelatin).
Ostheimer wooden figures "Christmas World". Every day a new figure moves into the manger, the three wise men, the angels, the animals and of course Mary and Joseph with the Christ child.
Advent spiral von Grimms, every day there is a figure to put on.
Spread a small fir tree in the pot and the tree decorations on 24 doors. On Christmas Eve the top comes up. These can be "old" pendants and balls or homemade ones. A small Christmas tree of your own in the room, that's something.
A Lego or Playmobil set: every day there is a part and a piece of the instructions.
A great photo of you all as puzzle on box with 24 parts.
Feel memory, e.g. from GoKi. Instead of images, different surface structures are felt here.
Advent with a difference
I have one last idea. How about if we break the idea of the advent calendar down to its purest core? What matters most in the run-up to Christmas? Gratitude and charity. The advent calendar can be an opportunity to give children new experiences of giving - and to let them see that it triggers the same positive feelings as receiving something for themselves. Imagine if we were to stick to this old principle for 24 days: do one good deed every day. And every morning together with our children we ask the question: who can we do something good for today? Chocolate can still exist ;-)
Ideas for good deeds before Christmas can be, for example:
Share an appeal for donations from a social organization on Instagram or Facebook.
Write a card to distant relatives
Donate, donate, donate.
What other ideas do you have? It's best to write in the comments box below so everyone can benefit! And now: have fun tinkering with the advent calendar!
