Advent Calendar Christmas Tree...

Last December I was inspired at a MOPS meeting to create an advent activity calendar for the month of December.  Instead of the traditional candy treat, each day is filled with a fun Christmas activity for your kids/family to participate in.  I tucked this little nugget of information in my brain and promised myself that I would start this tradition with Lucy the following year.  Even though I'm still in the trenches of having a new baby...I was determined to make this promise a reality for Lucy (and June) this year!  I didn't want to spend tons of money on an advent calendar, so after searching Pinterest, I decided to make my own.  I combined a few different ideas I saw online...and after a botched attempt of hanging the little envelopes on ribbon over the mantle (they were too heavy for the ribbon), I ended up with what I call an "Advent Calendar Christmas Tree!"

I ordered the number printables off of Etsy (they were like $3.50)...printed, cut and glued them on miniature treat bags/envelopes from Michaels.  I bought mini clothes pins from Michael's, tied bows around each one with red ribbon I already had, filled each envelope with a Christmas activity and hung them on our kitchen tree.  I think I spent around $15 for the entire project!

Coming up with 25 activities was surprisingly not that difficult.  I'm sure our activities will evolve each year as the girls get older, but for now while they are super young, I need to keep them simple...and cheap!  When planning for each day, I looked at our December calendar and thought through the potential activities for each day accordingly.  For example, on Tuesdays and Thursdays (the days I work), I knew I'd need super simple activities that did not require much planning ahead of time (i.e. eat a candy cane, wear Christmas PJ's, read Christmas books by the tree, etc.).  On the days I'm at home and on the weekends when Josh is at home, I planned more crafty activities or fun outings (sit on Santa's lap, look at Christmas lights, ride on the Polar Express, etc).  I even incorporated events/parties that I knew we would attend (i.e. my nieces annual hot chocolate party).  I made a list of the 25 activities I came up with and highlighted the ones that I needed to plan for ahead of time (i.e. get supplies)...like decorating a gingerbread house, making Christmas cookies, Christmas crafts, etc.  So far it's been a huge hit.  I know Lucy will probably "get it" more next year, but it's never too early to start a new tradition!  I'm so excited to do this with the girls each year.  Yes, it takes some planning ahead of time (and a little bit of money and errand running)...but it really was not that hard and will hopefully make many fun memories for our family in the years to come!  My goal is to capture each day/activity with a picture, but we'll see if that actually happens.  So far so good with days 1, 2 & 3...