Advent Calendar Ideas

We love an advent calendar, there is nothing better than to count down to Christmas.  The  numbers get smaller and the excitement rises...

Free Printable advent calendar

 

I either fall into the trap of buying cheap chocolate calendars, or spend hours looking at beautiful Advent calendars on PINTEREST that you need to sew and craft together. Then before I know it, it's January and another year without an Advent Calendar for us! 

Because we love cars, Christmas and Advent calendars ( and I'm not going to make anything that takes more than an hour)  I have collected some ideas and thought since I have them, why not share them with you!?   Here are some great ideas from people who are cleverer than me! 

 

Let the cars hold the gifts!  

I don't know about your house, but we definitely have enough cars to do this.  You know that we actually have enough cars to count down to Christmas in 2025.  

Grab your cars or dump trucks that you already have ay home and tie a little gift to the top. the vehicles can deliver a gift each day. You could stick little numbers on the cars to make them look like race cars. 

Image from recycle-eh blog. 

Car advent calendar idea
 

I'm actually tempted to wrap up some of Lucas' cars,  so he can discover them all over again.

 

Party cups.

These cups would hold some gorgeous advent goodies, and it is so easy to make - which is always a bonus in my mind.  Little dinos, cars, toys, a lolly or two. These are big enough for you to fill, and no problems storing it until next year! 

I think it would be extra cute if the kids wrote the numbers on the cups before you fill them up.  This would also work with paper bags.  

Advent calendar DIY

 

Instructions can be found at Pretty Little Party Ideas

 

Santa's beard 

This is such an adorable idea for little ones.  A little bit crafty and a whole lot of fun! No cars, but we couldn't go past this fluffy soft idea.

For every day that passes you put a cotton ball on the number and you create a bushy Santa's beard! 

Santa's beard advent calendar

 Instructions from Paper Creations by Kristin

 

Book Advent Calendar

Did you see the Book Advent Calendar that we made last year?  Simply wrap 24 books and open one each night. It's a big hit in our house. We reuse all our Christmas books and I collect books from op-shops and sales through the year. Can't wait to do that one again...and read all the books again...and of course add a few new ones to the mix. 

 

Book Advent Calendar

I don't number them,  I let Lucas decide if he wants to have a little book or a big book each day.  This year I'm not using Newspaper, it was an ecological and economical choice, but the fingers turned a little bit black when I was wrapping them.



Drive to Christmas 

We have converted our Christmas cards Christmas tree into our very own Lucas loves cars Christmas Tree Advent Calendar.    No need for gifts, this calendar simply marks down the days until Santa comes to visit. 

The kids could colour in each number - or you could use a sticker to cover each day. 

 

Download it here. 

We discovered that the stickers in the Tiger Tribe Boys favourites activity set worked perfectly.  We pretended it was already Dec 5...

Advent calendar printable
 

 

 If you are looking for things to put into all these Advent Calendars, check out or list of STOCKING STUFFERS. 

 

However you count down to the day, we hope you have a fabulous one!

Vroooom

-Helle.