Christmas Holidays Advent Calendar!

Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure of being a part of a cookie exchange at my mother in law's house. There were 8 women there, including myself. It was a lovely afternoon of visiting, snacking, catching up and sharing holiday cheer.

During this time, my sister in law shared with me an idea she had for the Christmas Holidays. She is a teacher so she gets the full two weeks off with her kids. She is going to create a Christmas Holidays Advent Calendar. For each day there will be a different surprise activity planned.

My sister in law is very organized and is planning out 2 weeks worth of activities, some that require more pre planning then others and setting them all up in this calendar so each day her two kids, ages 8 and 5, will open the little door or pull a card out of the little pocket to discover what they are doing that day.

It's not done yet, and it's not mine, so obviously I don't have any pictures for you, but imagine a big piece of poster board with 14 small envelopes taped to it. On the front of each envelope is the date, from Dec 20 - Jan 2. She will then write her ideas down on little slips of paper and slip them into the envelopes.

Her ideas include things like toboganning, skating, going to the library, a baking day, a craft day, visiting friends, Christmas Movie Day, etc etc etc. Stuff you would likely be doing anyway, but by organizing it this way, into an advent calendar type thing, it adds that element of excitement and surprise for your kids and makes you feel more organized. Some people, including myself, function much better this way. It also makes you commit to doing fun things with your kids.

I thought it was a fantastic idea, and wanted to share it with you. All you would need is poster board, some little envelopes or library pockets, (which she thought she could find in the stationary section of the Dollar Store), some markers, maybe some stickers or other fun cut outs to jazz it up a bit, and some ideas of how to spend your time with your kids!

Board games, Wii tournament, building a fort (indoor or outdoor), put on a play, visit a pet store, volunteer as a family, dance contests, playgroup, children's museum, swimming at the YMCA, spraypaint the snow with food colouring and water...the possibilities are endless.

Ideas that don't have to cost a lot of money (or any money infact) but by setting it up this way, maybe you can avoid those feelings of cabin fever, or the inevitable "I'm boooooooored" that comes after a number of days at home. Especially winter days at home.

If you are lucky enough to be home with your kids while they are on Christmas Break, maybe this is an idea that would work well in your house too!

Thanks Cherie for the great idea!