Advent Calendar Activities + Printable

I love an Advent calendar. The idea of anticipation building each day of the month until we get to celebrate the greatest gift of all, the gift of a Savior.

Now we all know that the holidays are crazy with so many things to do so for me the Advent calendar is low stress - it's little experiences that enhance what we're already doing for the holidays and it's more focused on ways that we can "be the gift". One of my big parenting hills to die on is raising grateful kids and that's one of goals of this Advent calendar. Focusing on gratitude for what we already have, keeping eyes open for people around us that are hurting or in need, and just being grateful for each other.

Last year I shared the way we do our Advent Calendar with you all through Instagram and had so much interest in offering the printable cards that I made for ours and I'm happy to report I've got them for you ahead of time this year!

Download them here

I am offering them for free to you for being apart of my amazing community.

But if you find this to be a valuable resource to you, I never turn down a thank you cup of coffee. (Or I'm @shelbygoodman on Venmo)

There are 2 pages of "Be the gift" ideas - many submitted by you all when I asked for more ideas the other week!

There are 3 pages full of low stress, activity based ideas that you can pick and choose which ones work best for your family's calendar!

I've also included a blank page for you to print and write in your own if there are ones you want to include that are unique to your own family!

Here's a glimpse at what some of our activities looked like last year:

Suggestions for small gifts or items to include that you may already have or are easy to get:

Hot chocolate or fun marshmallows, a card game, a cookie cutter, ornaments, new markers, a bath bomb or bubble bath, fun ribbon, small gift cards, small toys, etc.

We use this Advent Calendar made by Gathre (25% off right now with BIGNEWS25) and love it for it's quality and simplicity. You can trim the printable cards to fit most advent calendars though.

The older my boys grow, every year I see them get it more. The real meaning. The ways to think outside of themselves. Seeing the consistency start to pay off is a gift itself.

Wishing you and yours a beautiful, meaningful Advent season.