Advent Calendar & Toddler Activities

 With a little over two weeks left until Christmas, I wanted to share our advent calendar & activities that we have been doing to count down to the big day. I got this advent calendar on clearance last year after Christmas & was so excited all year about getting to use it!! I hung it in the playroom & love how festive it is!

I planned these activities in advance, knowing a few things that we had going on during the month & of course, to avoid doing anything elaborate on busy weekdays. I wrote each activity down on a piece of paper, folded them up & stuffed them in the advent calendar stockings. Some came with little gifts (stickers, hair bows, etc.) but mostly they are just activities. Here is our list! :)

24. Decorate the Christmas tree!

23. Help daddy hang Christmas lights outside. (This one included red & green glowsticks to play with & bring to the bathtub after).

22. Color pictures to send to grandparents.

21. Wear reindeer antlers & go surprise daddy (with coffee!) at work.

20. Washi tape decorations on the wall! See picture below, Harper loved this!

19. Stickers! Decorate wrapping paper & wrap presents. This was a total shitshow, but I think she really had a lot of fun with it.

18. Breakfast with Santa. My husband's company puts on this event every year, it was all fun & games until it was actually Harper's turn to sit on his lap. She totally lost her shit when I tried to hand her over, so we snapped this quick pic & hit the road.

For the record, she calls him "Salty," which is definitely fitting after seeing her reaction to him.

17. Drive around to see Christmas lights in the dark. Harper LOVED this, we will probably do it once or twice more before Christmas.

16. Make S'mores & dance to Christmas music.

15. Christmas play at Church, wear your pretty new bow!

14. Make & decorate Christmas cookies.

13. Go see baby sister (ultrasound!!) & bring treats to the doctors/nurses.

12. Bring toys to the toy drive (and get a donut while we're there!)

11. Make snack necklaces & watch Elf.

10. Visit animal shelter & deliver doggy treats.

9. Make Gingerbread houses.

8. Grandpa comes to visit! Put on our Santa hats & go pick him up from the airport.

7. Make hot chocolate (chocolate milk for Harper) & Christmas popcorn.

6. Go to the bookstore to play & pick out a new Christmas book.

5. Make homemade red & green playdough.

4. Festive breakfast today! Make Christmas waffles.

3. Write a letter to Santa & a birthday card for Jesus.

2. Make cookies & reindeer food to put out for Santa tomorrow.

1. Candlelight Christmas Eve church service & open special present under the tree.

Next year when Harper is a little older, I'd love to incorporate more about the meaning of Christmas, with stories to read each day. So far, we are loving all of the activities & it has been such a fun way to countdown to Christmas.

Wishing you all a very merry Monday!!