Advent Calendar Ideas for 2023
Just in the nick of time, I’m here with some advent calendar ideas for this year! I didn’t think I would get this post together but here we are! Still looking for ideas? Hopefully, you find some here!
There’s a lot more than 25 because I like to have extras in case I need to adjust things depending on what’s happening that day. Sometimes unexpected plans pop up and I don’t want to be tackling baking with 4 kids on that day so I have to swap in an easier option.
I’ve also divided them into categories. I try to pick an evenish number from each section for variety. Enjoy!
Art/Craft
My youngest child is 8 now so we’ve moved on from the basic Christmas crafts to some that are more involved! We also do a lot of art around here, so I tried to think of some ideas that we don’t already do regularly.
Gelatin Block Printing: We have done this once before, and I thought it would be fun to do with a Christmas theme! You can use the prints for so many things: Christmas cards, art to hang on the wall, wrapping paper, collage materials or backgrounds for other art, etc. Here’s a tutorial I found with lots of info.
Mosaic Baubles: One of my girls likes mosaic, but the others have not tried it yet so I thought they would enjoy this. You can buy or make clay, wood, or ceramic 2D shapes to mosaic on, or 3D baubles. If you’re in Australia you can get these from Kmart or Spotlight. Here’s some more info on how to get started with mosaic.
Fabric Baubles: Remember making fabric baubles? We made these at school, but I’ve never made them with the kids. Here’s a tutorial.
Make a Wreath: We have some leftover florist tape and wire from making flower crowns for spring equinox, so I thought it would be fun to make our own wreaths from the plants we have growing around us! Here’s how we’ll do it.
Polymer Clay Christmas Earrings: Everyone likes wearing Christmas earrings in December so I thought we’d make some!
Christmas art class online.
Sewing
We all like to sew here and it’s so satisfying making something you can wear or use! There are tons of free Christmas patterns. These are the ones we’ll be picking from this year, either for ourselves or to gift to others:
Reading/Writing
Research an interesting Christmas custom from another country and tell everyone about it over dinner.
Have a Christmas poetry teatime.
Christmas writing prompts (if you google this, there are tons of ideas).
Write a letter to a family member you haven’t seen for a while.
Start a list of things you are grateful for, add to it each day of advent.
Performing
My kids all love to perform, so of course we have a section for this, LOL.
Christmas Eve Play: This is a Christmas tradition. The girls put on a little play on Christmas Eve (with any cousins that are around too).
Christmas Carol Sing-Along: Look up carols on YouTube with the lyrics and have a karaoke-style sing-along.
Christmas Carol Dance Party: Break out the disco light and dance to Christmas tunes. The Spotify ‘Christmas Pop’ playlist is good for this one.
Make up a Christmas dance and perform it.
Film and edit a music video for your favourite Christmas carol: They are going to love this idea!
Cooking
Make coookies to leave out for Santa.
Make and decorate Gingerbread houses.
White Chocolate and Candy Cane Fudge.
Community Events
Ice skating with friends.
Christmas food festival with friends: This is our end-of-year celebration with our homeschool group this year. We are each bringing a traditional Christmas dish from another country and having a feast!
Go and see the Christmas lights.
Go to Carols by Candlelight.
See a Christmas show.
Connection
Write one thing you love about each member of your family on a piece of paper and put it in a jar. Read them out over dinner tonight.
Do a random act of kindness for someone today.
Read Christmas stories by candlelight
Watch a Christmas movie together.
Treasure hunt: My kids love a treasure hunt. We recently watched a season of The Amazing Race and so we’ve planned a treasure hunt with that theme all around the city. It’s going to be epic!
Gifts
New matching Christmas pyjamas (we always get these on Dec 1).
Christmas activity books.
Hide a candy cane or chocolate in the tree to find (great for a busy day where you don’t have time for an activity).
And that’s it! What have you got planned this year? What’s your favourite advent activity?
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