Terri Thompson

Every single year by the time mid-November rolls around, I think about making an advent calendar.

I’ll do a search on Pinterest, find tons of great ideas, start making a list… and then I get caught up in the busyness of life.

It never happens. It just seems like so much work.

This year is going to be different. I’m going to plan and I’m going to do it.

Not only that, I’m going to share it with you.

My goal is simple: 24 easy family activities we can do between now and Christmas. A few nights will require more work than other nights, but most will be simple like reading Christmas books in front of the Christmas tree, baking cookies, or making fudge. Let’s set up our Family Activities Advent Calendar.

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If you’re like me and have been putting off doing an advent calendar because of all the work involved, then I’ve got a special treat for you. I made a list of simple activities and created pretty printable cards that you can use in your own advent calendar.

You’ll find 36 activities and 12 blank cards. I know we all have different Christmas traditions, so you can use the blank ones for all the special things you do every year with your family.

If you keep reading to the end of this post, you can download and print your own set of cards.

Let’s talk planning.

Once I finally sat down to plan, I discovered it wasn’t that time consuming or difficult.

Start with a calendar and jot down everything that is already planned. Do you attend your church’s Christmas Eve service? If so, that will be the activity you do on the 24th. (Hint: that’s already on one of the pre-made cards!) Jot down Christmas concerts, family parties, and community events. You’ve already got some of your days planned.

Next, write down all the things you typically do each year. We always bake cookies together, make homemade Christmas ornaments, and watch some of our favorite Christmas movies.

Finally, choose some additional activities so that you have a total of 24.

Schedule these activities over the month of December. Try to keep more time-consuming activities for weekends and days where you aren’t too busy. Keep the simpler activities for the busier days.

Once your planning is done, it’s time to package up your Family Activities Advent Calendar.

Now it’s time to package up your family activities advent calendar to display.

You can find tons of inspiration on Pinterest and can adapt many of the ideas with these printable cards.

Also, if you check the list out at the bottom of this post, you’ll find some other ideas for advent calendars.

I saw so many ideas, but none of them worked for me. I don’t have a lot of wall space and wanted something small, but still festive. So, I combined a few ideas to make an advent calendar basket.

Here’s how I put our Family Activities Advent Calendar together.

I purchased simple brown paper bags and mini clothespins. I found both in the party supply section of a local store. (I’ve included Amazon links for your convenience.) I also used red and green cardstock for my labels.

Create 24 circles from your red and green cardstock. I used my circle punch to do this quickly. If you don’t have a circle punch, get creative. And if you don’t want to get creative, squares always work! Write the number 1-24 on your labels.

Print your advent activities on white cardstock and cut out the ones you want to use. Use the blank squares for your own activities.

Put your cards in each of the bags. (I’m also including a strip of this advent reading plan I found over at Not Consumed in each of our bags.) Fold the top down and clip it closed with a mini clothespin. Add your number card so you do the right activity on the right day. I found a pretty basket to pile the bags in. If you have the wall space, you can hang them on twine with the clothespins.

Are you going to make an advent calendar this year? I hope you do! I’m excited to start ours and hopefully make this a new holiday tradition. Keep it simple, keep it fun, and don’t forget to print out your cards below so you can set up your own Family Activities Advent Calendar.

For even more ideas, check out all the other participants in the Countdown to Christmas blog hop: