advent calendar

24 Days of Christmas Books Tradition – A Unique Advent Calendar Countdown

October 23, 2018 by Stacy Craft 6 Comments

Traditions have come to be one of my favorite aspects of a holiday. The familiarity and anticipation of making a special dish or doing a family activity year after year is so special.

Our newest holiday activity is our 24 days of Christmas books tradition – a simple and educational twist on an advent calendar.

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Last year I started this new countdown to Christmas for our family. I wrapped 24 Christmas books and put them under the tree. Every night before bed, the kids got to choose a package to unwrap and we read it together.

Sometimes a cup of hot cocoa or a warm chocolate chip cookie was included as a treat to go along with our book. It’s so fun!

I have tried other advent calendars in the past but it seemed like I was just spending $20 on junk that was not getting played with or used. With the books, I felt good about buying something that we would definitely use and is educational for the kids.

24 Days of Christmas Books Tradition

The best thing about this tradition is that it doesn’t have to cost a lot. My plan to obtain the books for this DIY Advent Calendar is simple and easy.

1. Use What You Have. Find Christmas books that you already have at your home. I was shocked to find we already had 19! We love books, what can I say?

2. Shop for Cheap Books. Go to Thrift stores or use Facebook/Online Garage sales to find seasonal books. I can often find these for just a dollar or two which makes it an inexpensive option.

3. Buy a Few New. I am using Amazon for this because I find their prices on books to be pretty good and they are delivered right to my door. If I am going to buy something new for my kiddos, books are always something that I don’t feel too guilty about and there are many on Amazon for $3-4 dollars.

4. Library You could even use the library to expand your Christmas book selection for free! Just make sure you use care not to get tape on the books (so that you don’t damage the cover). And be sure to keep up with the return due date so that you don’t get charged any late fees.

Creating the Christmas Advent Book Calendar

My daughter absolutely loved this activity last year. She spent tons of time picking out the package that she wanted to open.

It is like 24 days of Christmas blind bags (are your kids obsessed like mine?) with an educational twist. And instead of some dinky toy, we get to read a book together as a family.

First, find 24 Christmas books.

Next, wrap each book individually.

Each night leading up to Christmas, your child selects one book to unwrap and then you read it together.

It is so much fun! And while it may seem like a lot of work to wrap 24 books, it goes really quick and adds so much excitement to the evenings leading up to Christmas.

New Books for Christmas 2019 (2020 Update Below)

Since my oldest will be 6 this year, I am updating and adding a few new books this year. We will still reuse quite a few of the books listed below but will add a couple of new ones to keep things fresh and age appropriate.

Here are the books on my list:

Katie the Candy Cane Fairy

The Mouse in the Hammock, a Christmas Tale

Bear Stays Up for Christmas

Poke A Dot – The Night Before Christmas – This one looks like something my 2 year old will adore.

2020 Update

Here are the updates that I made this year to our library.

Splat the Cat Christmas Countdown

Cocoa’s Cranky Christmas

A Very Fiona Christmas

One Baby Jesus

What If I Don’t Want to Do 24 Days of Books?

Don’t! You can totally customize this to whatever time period that seems reasonable for you. I think 12 days would be a nice intro into this DIY Christmas Advent Calendar.

Original Books for Christmas Advent Calendar

Here are ideas for books that we are reading this holiday season or that we may purchase. After shopping our house for Christmas books, I will search some thrift stores and Amazon for a few fresh books to put into the mix. I hope you try this 24 days of Christmas books tradition!

Look & Find Christmas Bible Stories – We have the Rudolph version but I love this biblical version to remind us of the reason for the season.

Touch & Feel Christmas – I got this for my daughter a few years ago and now it is perfect for our newest little one. And my older one still loves to touch and feel the book! So it entertains us all.

Frosty The Snowman Board Book – No list is complete without the classic Frosty the Snowman. I like this one because it plays music and my kids just love to push a button!

Frozen Olaf’s Night Before Christmas – A friend gave us this book last year and it is a favorite. If you have a Frozen obsessed little one, I think they will love this book/cd combo.

My Snowman Book – Not really Christmas but I usually include it since it goes with the winter theme. It is a cute little book with vibrant pictures. I bought this a few years ago for my oldest that will now be passed down to the baby.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas – A couple of years ago, my daughter discovered the Grinch movie at Christmas time. In June, we were still watching Grinch at least a couple of times a week. Despite that extreme we didn’t ruin a good thing. We still love this book!

Llama Llama Jingle Bells – The entire Llama Llama series is so good. Those silly llamas always have us giggling.

The Berenstain Bears & the Joy of Giving – The message in the Berenstain series is a good one that I like sharing with my kids.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer – You will be reminded of your childhood while reading to your kids with this book. It is a great price too!

Elmo’s Countdown to Christmas – Lift the flap books are great to keep the attention of younger kids. This will be a new one for us but it gets great reviews.

The Sweet Smell of Chrismas – Eeek! It is a scratch and sniff Christmas book! Did you have this as a kid? Scents of hot chocolate, Christmas trees, apple pie & more.

Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas – Since the Fancy Nancy show debuted on Disney Jr. my daughter has been obsessed. The Halloween book was a winner, so this one is going on my list. There is also a Disney Jr. Fancy Nancy Ice Skating book if you don’t mind a winter theme.

Happy Holidays, Bubble Guppies – A lift flap book! We have a non-holiday Bubble Guppies lift flap book and it is always fun to read.

Weird but True Christmas: 300 Festive Facts – This National Geographic kids book would be fun for the Elementary school child. I may add this to our list in the next year or two.

The Begginer’s Bible, The Very First Christmas – A great way to teach younger kids why we celebrate Christmas. This book is such a great price!

A Charlie Brown Christmas – I love bringing some of my childhood memories into my kid’s childhood.

Pete the Cat’s 12 Days of Groovy Christmas – We have other Pete books and they are so funny. We may try this one for our preschooler this year.

Merry Christmas, Mouse – The mouse series is so much fun. I love how they do one for most holidays.

Paw Patrol Holiday Helpers – Paw Patrol is one of those cartoons that actually doesn’t get on my nerves! Here is a cute little holiday book with your kid’s favorite pups.

Just A Snowman – The Little Critter books are a cute series and always so affordable.

The Night Before The Night Before Christmas – The story of one family that is having trouble getting their act together. The author possibly modeled this after my family?! It feels like that sometime. We enjoy this funny take on a classic.

River Rose and the Magical Christmas – The Today show featured this book written by Kelly Clarkson. It also comes with a link to listen to a song recorded by Kelly.

The 12 Engines of Christmas – This Thomas the Train book will entertain both my kids which is always a win.

Christmas Cookie Day – Like many, making Christmas cookies is one of our most anticipated traditions.

This twist on a traditional advent calendar was a complete success at my house last year. Will you try this 24 days of Christmas books tradition this year? Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

If you love to give books as gifts, check out this unique baby shower gift idea.

A to Z Advent Calendar for Kids

November 26, 2018 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Advent calendar ideas have been at the top of my Google searches lately. We already have a tradition of a Christmas book countdown but I wanted to add one more countdown activity this year. Then I remembered a mom that I met in my Houston MOPS group that does an A to Z advent calendar for kids every year. It looked like such fun that I wanted to try it as one of our family Christmas activities this year.

Admittedly, it seemed a little overwhelming at first. 26 days of themed Christmas activities for kids sounded like a lot of glitter and messes and planning. But it also seemed like a great way to connect with the kids, get them excited for the upcoming season and to pass those long Christmas break days away from school.

Since this is our first year to do this A to Z advent calendar for kids activity, I will be adding pictures and updates after we complete each day. I hope you will follow along with us! If you decide to follow along use #AtoZAdventCalendar to show us the fun ya’ll have!

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A to Z Advent Calendar for Kids

Here are the things that we are planning to do during our 26 days of Christmas from A to Z. We will have easy Christmas crafts for kids to make, sing Christmas songs for kids and make simple Christmas treats that preschoolers can help with.

I am so excited to introduce this to my kids and start a fun and new Christmas tradition.

Christmas Countdown by Letter Ideas

Come hang out with us as we move through the alphabet with Christmas crafts and activities.

A is for Angel Footprints, Advent Calendar, Angel Snack and Angel Worksheets

My 4 year old was pretty confused starting out. I explained the process as best as I could and we just jumped into opening the first bag. Since the contents of her “gift” were not what I am sure she was expecting even more confusion set in but we ended up having lots of fun.

I even dressed her in an angel top that morning. Completely unintentional but I guess I was ready to get this theme going! (I assure you that there will not be a coordinating outfit for each day but that would be so much fun!).

I love her face in that picture. It looks like she is thinking “what in the world has my mom thought up now?”

Here is a glimpse of what was included in the “A” Bag. Angel worksheet and coloring printables, a baggy with 2 pretzels, a marshmallow and a gummy lifesaver, and a bottle of paint were in the bag. At this point, she thinks I am crazy.

Decorate an Angel Snack

We started off with our Angel Snack. It was simple to make with cinnamon toast and she used the decorations included in the bag to make the pretzel wings, marshmallow head and lifesaver gummy halo.

The extra toast after you cut the triangle would make great wings too. Just search your pantry for things that will work. I found the lifesaver gummy in the leftover Halloween candy and the marshmallows were leftover from our Smores obsession a few weeks back.

Angel Worksheets

After snack, I had some work to do so she moved on to her angel printables that were in the bag. She is really into connect the dots right now so I used a free printable that I found at Surfnetkids. I also printed off a couple of free angel coloring pages. This was a nice quiet time activity.

Angel Footprint Craft

The last thing that we did was an angel hand and footprint craft. We did this one after dinner because I knew it would be a little messy and take a bit more time. The pictures on this are limited because she giggled so much that I honestly just forgot about taking pictures. It tickled, painting your feet is funny, you know typical 4 year old stuff.

It did turn out pretty cute. Our Christmas angel is pink because that is her favorite color and she wouldn’t have it any other way. This was my favorite activity of the day just because it cracked her up so much.

Total Out of Pocket Cost: $0 – We had everything that I used on hand.

B is for Bow stamp painting, Singing jingle bells with Bells for Noise makers, Baby Jesus fingerprint nativity and Butterfinger Bells

By today, she was a bit more excited about this A to Z Advent Calendar! We started off by opening the bag and finding 2 jingle bells, two gift bows, a small stuffed baby Jesus (from our nativity set) and 2 Butterfinger chocolate bells.

Eating Butterfinger Bells

First the kids ate their chocolate bells for a quick snack. The baby was particularly excited that he got included on this part.

After snack, we got the bells out and sang jingle bells while ringing our bells. I was surprised at how fun they thought this was. After a few rounds (when I was done), I heard them still ringing the bells and the 4 year old singing away. They were going so crazy (maybe from the candy) that it was almost impossible to get a clear picture because they would not sit still!

Bow Stamping a Gift Bag

We used a paper lunch bag to do the bow stamping on and she plans to use this to present a gift to her grandmother. She had fun with this craft but it didn’t last long.

Baby Jesus and the Manger Finger Painting

The last thing that we did was saved for after dinner. We talked about baby Jesus. We talked about why we celebrate Christmas and then started our fingerprint nativity scene. I just drew out a basic manger and let her stamp away.

She ended up wanting to add Mary and Joseph to the picture so that baby Jesus would not be alone in the manager. Too cute!

Total Out of Pocket Cost: Technically $2.98 for the Butterfinger but they only ate 2 so that bag of candy will be used for some other upcoming things soon!

“C” is for Candy Cane Hunt, Christmas Carols Medley, Christmas tree snack, Candy Cane bath paint and Candy Cane do a dot art (& Coronation Day)

She added the Coronation day to our C day by dressing up like Anna for our “C” day A to Z Advent Calendar Countdown.

Christmas Carol Medley

I just kept adding to “C” day and it kept us pretty busy! We started the “C” bag on our way home from school by introducing the Christmas carol medley tradition. I remember riding in the car with my Dad and sister as a kid and him starting a Christmas carol medley. The rules were simple. The song had to be a Christmas song and you could interrupt at anytime with a new song and everyone had to start singing that song.

I remember having so much fun being silly and singing in the car with Dad and my sis. So I explained the rules and we jumped right into a beautiful medley. I love listening to her interpretation of some of the songs (& I refuse to correct her. She will be five in just a few days and I am savoring every moment of “baby” that I have left.)

Christmas Tree Snack

A quick, DIY Christmas tree snack was next. We went back to the trusty old cinnamon toast and I provided topping for her to decorate with. The baby didn’t get to decorate but he does love to eat our creations.

Candy Cane Hunt

After dinner, the candy cane hunt was on. I hid 12 candy canes around the living room. She ran around the room squealing with delight every time that she found one. This was definitely a winner activity.

Of course after she found them all, a candy cane dessert was in order.

Candy Cane Bath Paint

We got a lesson in listening to go with our fun on this little project. She was not listening to my instructions and got her a big handful of shaving cream to eat (she thought it was whipped cream). It was a nice time to discuss how listening and obeying your parents is expected and helpful.

But we quickly got to our candy cane fun. She mixed the ingredients (shaving cream, a couple drops of red washable paint or food coloring and some optional peppermint extract). She swirled it to get a candy cane effect and took it to the bath to play.

I heard “this is so much fun” at least 100 times. The fact that the paint turned the water pink was an added bonus for her.

We also did a quick Do A Dot candy cane printable while I was cooking dinner. It is a simple activity but helps to give me those few minutes to get dinner done.

Total Out of Pocket Cost: $1 for the shaving cream

“D” is for Dear Santa

We kept it ultra simple after having a big day yesterday! We thought about 5 things that she really wants and made a list for Santa.

It was fun and simple. And a bonus, she got to practice writing.

“E” is for Elf Crafts and Elf Hats

We used a free elf printable to create our own little elf (because we don’t have enough Elf On The Shelf going on already!).

Our afternoon snack was “Elf Hats” which are known to others as Bugles.

“F” is for Fizzing Candy Canes, Friends and Family

This was actually the day of my daughter’s birthday party so it was perfect that it was “F” day because she was surrounded by family and friends.

And because she was not letting me off that easy, we also made fizzing candy canes. This was so easy and she had fun for 10 minutes or so working on the activity.

To create the fizzing candy cane project, fill a couple of containers with white vinegar and a drop or two of food coloring. Arrange candy canes on a tray and sprinkle with baking soda.

The child can use a dropper (we used the syringe that comes with baby Tylenol) or even a teaspoon to drop the colored vinegar on the tray. They will have fun watching the white baking soda change colors and fizz up.