Category: Ugly Christmas Sweater

50 Activities You Can Do For An Activity Advent Calendar

Activity Advent Calendar 2019

If you want to do activities with your children this Christmas in place of having a bought advent calendar, here are some ideas (actually, there are 55):

    1. Make your own Christmas calendar. Find 24 small containers, decorate them and put them together in a formation that pleases you, using glue or sticky tape. The simplest shape for an advent calendar would be a rectangle, of 6 boxes long by 4 boxes high or 8 boxes by 3. Add small knobs or buttons for handles.https://www.merrychristmascountdown.com/
    2. If you don’t want a regular shape, create several small “presents”, number them and use them to create Santa’s sleigh.
    3. Another kind of wooden advent calendar would be to use those little trucks you get in toy train sets and number those from 1 to 24 with labels.https://www.merrychristmascountdown.com/
    4. If your containers are all the same size and rectangular shape, you could paint them green and build them into the shape of a Christmas tree, for instance. A Christmas tree shape can be made by placing 3 rectangular containers side by side as the base, then adding a layer of 6 boxes on top of that, then a layer of 5 boxes on top of that, then 4, then 3 then 2, making a triangular shape, then topping the tree with the final box, making 24 boxes in all.
    5. You could be adventurous and try creating a 3D wooden advent calendar, with 24 separate boxes. Create the bottom layer as a  rectangle of 3 boxes wide by one box deep. That uses 8 boxes. Add two more identical layers on top of that to make a house shape using all 24 boxes. Now create and decorate a roof from cardboard or wooden popsicle sticks to fit over it.
    6. Alternatively, make and color Christmas shapes like stockings, stars, trees and hearts and hang them on a line with small pegs. Add a code on the back of each one and hide the coded “gifts” or activities somewhere. Or you could make bags or shapes from material and hang those on the line.
    7. Another possibility for a Christmas advent calendar is to make one using a large sheet of card, then sticking cutouts from old Christmas cards on the front as flaps to open. Again,you can write a code inside if you don’t want little fingers opening the doors ahead of time to see what is coming up. https://www.merrychristmascountdown.com/
    8. Whichever kind of advent calendar you make, number the boxes or shapes from 1 to 24 and put an activity in each container in random order (except for those that MUST occur on a particular day, such as a visit to the pantomime). Activities you could put in the box could be:
    9. Add a new Christmas decoration for hanging on the tree.
    10. A packet of pot pourri flowers or smell and some pine cones or wooden balls or shavings for making your own bowl of pot pourri.
    11. Pantomime tickets – even if you were going to go anyway, it makes it seem even more special to have the tickets appear from the advent calendar.
    12. Write or create Christmas cards for local friends or relations. (Don’t leave that one too late for cards that need to be posted.)
    13. Visit a theme park.
    14. Go to your local leisure centre and go swimming or try an activity you don’t do normally.
    15. Pick the Christmas tree.
    16. Make decorations for the Christmas tree.
    17. Decorate the Christmas tree.
    18. Visit someone who lives alone or in an old people’s home (check first that it is OK).
    19. Consider inviting a lonely neighbor or friend to join you for Christmas Dinner and create an invitation card for them.
    20. Make a small basket of goodies and leave them at a neighbor’s door with an anonymous message of goodwill.
    21. Make Christmas biscuits or mince pies and decorate them.
    22. Make a present for someone.
    23. Draw up your list for Santa.
    24. Declutter an old toy or book ready for new toys coming at Christmas.
    25. Pick out a good toy or book you could donate to a local charity.
    26. Visit the charity shop to donate.
    27. Visit Santa or Santa’s grotto.
    28. Go and see the Christmas lights being turned on, or take an evening walk to view the Christmas lights in the dark.
    29. Go out and collect pine cones for a display.
    30. Paint or decorate the pine cones with gold or silver paint. Stick them on sticks and put them in a vase as a display.
    31. Use a Christmas oil on the pine cones to make it smell Christmassy.
    32. Join a Christmas carol service or put on some Christmassy (or favorite) music and dance around the house.
    33. Buy a toy with small pieces (not for toddlers under 3 years of age) such as Lego or Playmobile and put different pieces in different advent boxes, so it builds up into a set over a few days.
    34. The twelve crafts of Christmas. Make something Christmassy on each of these days.
    35. The twelve kindnesses of Christmas. Visit someone on each day and take one of the Christmas crafts to give to them. It could be an elderly or disabled neighbor, a relative, someone in a senior citizens home, etc
    36. Look for a charity craft fair in your area and pay a visit. Make a donation even if you don’t buy anything.
    37. Write a letter to Santa and find the address to send it to, to receive a reply.
    38. Make it a “Giving” advent. Each day of advent, add a tin or packet of food to a box to hand into your local foodbank for a family that won’t have much at Christmas. Make sure you hand it in early enough for distribution in time for Christmas.
    39. Create or buy a present for a child who won’t have much this Christmas. Find a local charity that distributes these kinds of gifts.
    40. Visit your nearest library to choose Christmas books.
    41. Make salt dough and create Christmas shapes for hanging on the tree.
    42. See if a local park or facility is creating a Christmas wonderland or adventure for walking through or visiting.
    43. Get together a family date night pack with hot chocolate, popcorn and snuggly blankets and watch a Christmas film.
    44. Visit a Christmas market.
    45. Go for an evening walk around your neighborhood and count how many Christmas trees are lit and on display.
    46. Plan a Christmas Eve Box and make that item 24 on your calendar.
    47. Make reindeer food.
    48. Bake Christmas Pies for Santa
    49. Track Santa’s sleigh with Norad and watch it get closer to your house.
    50. Add a Christmas coloring page and pencils or crayons to the Advent calendar.
    51. Rock Painting with a Christmas Theme. You can make a small pile of Christmas themed rocks at your doorway. Try using glow in the dark paint.
    52. Wear family Ugly Christmas Sweaters.
    53. Make a “Santa Stop Here” sign.
    54. Print out the “Night Before Christmas” poem and read it together.
    55. Get a new board game for Christmas and play it.

How Many Days Until Christmas

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How Many Days Til Christmas?

Christmas Is Coming. It’s now nearly the end of September 2017 and only 93 sleeps to Christmas Day 2017. Check up on the top right of this post to see a Christmas Countdown Clock.

It’s HOW many days til Christmas? Yes, you read that right – only 93, and it will be fewer by the time you read this.

What are you doing to Prepare?

Do you know where you will be? Will you be having guests? How many? What about your budget? If you want a stress free Christmas, then start your Christmas planning early, ESPECIALLY budgeting. It saves that terrifying sinking feeling in January, when you look at your credit card bill.

Fun At Christmas

If you start planning early enough and your budget allows, you could get Christmas pajamas for all the family or Christmas sweaters. Some offices hold an “ugly Christmas sweater” competition each year. Start early for more fun and less stress.

You may also be able to plan a Secret Santa stash or discuss with your family that if budgets are tight all round, everyone gets a secret Santa gift, so you all can enjoy Christmas without worrying about purchasing expensive gifts you can’t afford. Some shops may have sales on now or shortly and you may be able to make some purchases early, to spread the cost.

Christmas Crafts can be very inexpensive, great fun and an easy way to keep children occupied for ages before Christmas. Many schools will help children from kindergarten on up to create decorations that they will want to display proudly at home. You can also make your own creations well ahead of time. The pine trees near me have been shedding cones all year round and I have a small box of them sitting nearby in a small wooden box that I got for free from a local shop, long with a large glass jar that had held pickled eggs. The wooden box already has red and green paper on it and the glass jar has had the label soaked off. One will make a good display and the other can hold pine cones soaked in a Christmas pot pourri fragrance, to make the whole house smell like Christmas for a very low cost.

What Sort Of Christmas Do You Want?

Whether you want a Bah Humbug! type Christmas, or a vacation away from it all or will have the whole family descending on you from far afield, start planning now and whatever your Christmas preferences, you will be able to enjoy them stress free!

35 Weeks To Christmas Day 2017

Christmas 2017

Christmas Day 2017 is on a Monday and there are 35 Sundays to go before we reach Christmas. It doesn’t sound so long until we get there, huh? Maybe now is the time to start planning if you want a stress free Very Merry Christmas this year.

Spring

It’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere at the moment (April) and conifers are dropping any extra pine cones. The earlier ones are small, the later ones are larger. If you want pine cones for your decorations, then now is the time to collect them. It’s easy enough to carry a plastic bag with you if you are walking anywhere near pine trees or even put a few in your pocket each time you are out. Store them in an open bowl to make sure they are dry and you will then have your own pine cones to add to a pot pourri with cinnamon for a Christmassy smell nearer the time or you can get gold paint or craft glue and gold glitter and decorate them ready for use around the house. Both ways of using cones are useful, they don’t cost much and you can use them as a children’s craft if you want to keep the kids busy on some weekend or just enjoy the decorating yourself!

Watch a Pine cone decorating Video

Some people are highly creative and there are a great many ideas for using pine cones in the video below!

Ugly Christmas Jumper

If you are a keen knitter and like the idea of creating your own Ugly Christmas Sweater, then now is the time to start collecting ideas for a pattern and costing out the wool. If you are not a knitter and can’t persuade anyone to knit for you, then you will be able to find Ugly Christmas Sweaters on line to buy nearer the time. It would be good to start saving for it now, if budgeting might be a problem.