Our Activity Advent Calendar (And Some Activity Advent Ideas!)

Corey and I have always done an activity advent calendar of some sort. We’ve done a lot of different of versions over the years, but when we first moved into this house we started doing an advent Christmas tree. It’s the perfect easy DIY activity advent calendar and today I’m showing you all the details of our calendar, along with some advent calendar activities, and printable advent calendar cards for you to use for your own calendar.

I know. It’s basically like Christmas has arrived early. You’re welcome.

Our Activity Advent Calendar

If you’ve been reading here for a while, then you’ll know that advent calendars are kind of my thing. I love creating bucket lists for just about every season, but I take my Christmas advent calendar very, very seriously. We’ve done a lot of different versions of the advent calendar over the years – from taping some paper to a door, having a list on the fridge, and even an empty frame with envelopes strung across. We’ve landed on using a mini tabletop tree in our entry to hold our advent calendar activities, but honestly, you can do anything.

The basic idea behind the activity advent calendar is that every day leading up to Christmas, we grab an envelope from the tree, open it up, and do the activity inside! It can be anything from baking cookies to going to see Christmas lights. The only rules are it has to be festive and Christmas-y!

It brings our family so much joy every year, and I always get so excited to put it together. It’s a tradition I hope we keep forever and ever.

Important Tip!

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the best strategy with an advent calendar is to keep it as simple as possible. I’ve tried to use more elaborate methods and go really big with the activities, but we always end up feeling burned out and overwhelmed. I knew it was time to take a step back when we found ourselves feeling obligated to complete the advent activities and not excited to do them. So now, I stick to mostly simple things that are easy to accomplish with just a few bigger activities thrown in.

I don’t know why, but for some reason when a little card tells you to stay in your pajamas all day it feels way more exciting than when you just do it on accident.

I’ve also learned that repeating activities can be a great thing. I’m a huge fan of baking Christmas cookies, so we usually set aside at least 2 or 3 different days to make a couple of batches.

Normally I’d never bake that many cookies all at once, but when it’s Christmas you have to.

Santa says.

How I Organize Our Advent Calendar Activities

I’ve been doing this for a loooong time, and I’ve learned a few things the hard way. Here are my tips for making this the most successful it can possibly be:

• Keep a calendar on your computer or in your planner where you write out the entire month’s activities. I just use a Google Drive spreadsheet. Each Sunday evening, sit down and review the upcoming week and make changes as necessary. Every year I have to swap around a card or two because we’ll get invited to a last-minute party or have a change of schedule. It’s much easier to keep things organized if you double-check everything weekly!
• Monday through Thursday when the kids are in school, keep the activities really simple. I try to avoid too many things that require us to leave the house during the week. Those are the activities most likely to end up getting skipped!
• Consider the things you’re going to be doing anyways and make them advent activities! I always have a card for things like writing a letter to Santa, taking a photo with Santa, and baking Christmas cookies. We’d be doing these things no matter what, but they feel more special when they’re on an advent card!
• Start planning now! The key to success here is to plan early! Even if you only plan one week at a time, you’ll feel much more on top of things if you start planning it as soon as you can. I book things like movies and Trail of Lights tickets as early as I possibly can so it’s done and I don’t have to think about it again until the night of the activity.

Our Advent Calendar Activities

Now let’s get to what you’re really here for – what the heck do we actually do?!

Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Here’s a big ol’ list of 50+ advent calendar activity ideas to get you inspired!

Advent Calendar Activity Ideas

1. Christmas scavenger hunt
2. Write a letter to Santa
3. Bake cookies
4. Watch a Christmas movie
5. Visit a Christmas festival
6. Go to a drive-in theater
7. Go see Christmas lights
8. Breakfast for dinner by the tree
9. Visit Santa and take a photo
10. Go shopping for Christmas gifts
11. Attend a cookie decorating class
12. Have a family date night
13. Decorate gingerbread houses
14. Have a family board game night
15. Have a pajama day
16. Make a Christmas ornament
17. Read the Christmas story in the Bible
18. Snuggle up and read Christmas books
19. Dance and sing Christmas carols
20. Cut out paper snowflakes (or make a snowflake garland!)
21. Make homemade hot chocolate
22. Make reindeer food
23. Do a Christmas craft together
24. Make a popcorn garland
25. Drop off treats for neighbors
26. Have a snowball fight (use balled up paper if you don’t have snow!)
27. Make a blanket fort and watch a movie
28. Go see a Christmas concert
29. Cookie day
30. Go ice skating
31. Random act of kindness
32. Donate some toys
33. Do a Christmas puzzle
34. Play video games together
35. Wear matching Christmas pajamas
36. Make Christmas cards
37. Let kids cook dinner
38. Light Christmas advent candles
39. Put up Christmas decorations
40. Color Christmas coloring pages
41. Have a gift wrapping party
42. Take a family photo
43. Eat candy canes
44. Hang mistletoe
45. Make cinnamon rolls
46. Have a sleepover under the Christmas tree
47. Visit a nursing home
48. Visit an animal shelter
49. Make a treat for local firefighters
50. Create care packages for a homeless shelter
51. Do a favor for a friend
52. Make s’mores
53. Snuggle by the fire
54. Host a Christmas party
55. Donate food to a local food pantry
56. Donate toys to Blue Santa
57. Make a homemade gift
58. Dring eggnog
59. Buy gifts for your teachers
60. Make homemade fudge
61. Decorate sugar cookies
62. Family walk
63. Marshmallow fight!
64. Have a themed movie night (Polar Express, Elf, and The Grinch are all great for this!)

Printable Activity Advent Calendar Cards

Whew. Are you feeling inspired and Christmas-y yet? I know I am.

But wait! There’s more!

I’ve got a free printable set of activity advent cards for you to make things even easier. Just click the link below, print them out, and you’re good to go.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE ADVENT CALENDAR PRINTABLE CARDS.

There are 24 cards with activities (we usually just put “Merry Christmas” on the last one), and a whole page of blank cards for you. They’ll download as a PDF file so you can just print what you want.

I hope you have just as much fun with this little tradition as we do!