24 Activities to do in Advent

Christmas is coming, but it’s not here yet. Now we are in the season of Advent, which is a season of preparation for Christmas. This is the time to go Christmas shopping, make decorations, sing Christmas carols and do tons of baking. For Christians, it is a time to go to church and meditate on Christ returning to Earth, as well as remember his birthday. The Church readings in Advent are pretty epic. To help you get in the Christmas spirit here are 24 activities to do in Advent to prepare for the most wonderful time of the year.

NB. There are a few affiliate links in this post. This means if you make a purchase using a link Sops and I will receive a commission. For more information please read our Affiliate Disclaimer.

1st December

Make or Buy an Advent Calendar.

There are so many different kinds of advent calendars out there nowadays. You have your traditional picture calendar of the Nativity scene. There is also the common chocolate calendar. Then there are specialist toy advent calendars. Plus, homemade calendars with little pockets. Or the extravagant Designer perfume or jewellery Advent Calendars for grown-ups.

The idea of Advent Calendars is to help children count down to Christmas. Children struggle with the concept of time and for many children, the Advent period can be really long and they find it hard to control their excitement. An Advent Calendar is a good visual aid for them to see how many sleeps it is to Christmas so they can adjust their excitement accordingly.

So there is no need to spend a fortune on an advent calendar for your child, I am sure they will be thrilled just to open a door and enjoy a little piece of chocolate.

For an ethically sourced chocolate calendar, which comes with a book explaining the Christmas story, we recommend the meaningful chocolate company’s Advent Calendar.

2nd December

Start Reading The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaardner

Officially you should start reading this book on 1st December as it is divided into 24 chapters, but I am sure you will catch up. This is a charming story about a girl from Norway who chases a lamb through time and space to see the baby Jesus. She meets with an angel and as they travel through Europe they go back in time and they meet key characters in the Nativity story. But this is a story within a story and there is even more to this mystery than meets the eye.

3rd December

Choose a Christmas Tree

Unless you have a reusable tree in your loft and then you can use that one instead. But for some people they like to buy a real tree every year. Some people buy their trees from garden centres. Other people go to a Christmas Tree Farm and choose their trees before it is cut down. My dad used to take us out onto the common and chop it down himself and strap it to the roof of the car. Not sure if that was legal, but he said, “the common land was for common people, and we’re common.” Rest his soul.

The latest eco-friendly means to get a real Christmas tree is to rent one. You can rent one from Love a Christmas Tree.co.uk. Instead of throwing it into the brown waste in your local recycling centre or into a chipping machine you just return it to the Christmas Tree Farm and they will care for the tree for the rest of the year. No tree needs to die.

4th December

Write and send Christmas cards

There are some people in your life whom you probably only write to once a year. Maybe it is a cousin in Australia or your best friend from school? I guess you probably even add a letter to tell them what you have been up to over the last year. I tend to create a generic newsletter that I send out with all my Christmas cards to spare my hands from writer’s cramp. Just remember to send them on time. Here is the Royal Mail recommended posting dates for Christmas.

5th December

Make some tree decorations

I have some of Sops’ homemade decorations on my tree and I know my mum still has some of my homemade decorations hanging from her tree, that I made in the 1980s. Making decorations for your family tree is a child’s rite of passage. It is a great activity to do together. I enjoyed felting some animals with my daughter a couple of years ago for our tree, when our Christmas theme was ‘Nature’. Granted, the felted animals look like a bunch of mutants, but it was fun to do.

This year Sops and I have made some clay gingerbread figurines. I can’t wait to hang them up on the tree, for a truly homemade Christmas.

6th December

Make Christmas Wreath

Every year I make a Christmas wreath for my door. I have a large wicker base and a smaller straw base to choose from. I always ask for a bag of fir branches from the Christmas Tree farm and they are happy to give me a bag for free. The fir branches work well to create an evergreen base. I don’t use holly, because it is prickly, but I do go out for a walk to collect greenery and berries. Using thin gold wire I strap the evergreens onto the base and build up from there. Sometimes I use a glue gun to glue on some other ornaments.

7th December

Write a Christmas List

Ask your child to write a Christmas list so you have an idea of the sort of things they want for Christmas. They can also write a letter to Santa too. There are some great services available where Santa replies, including the Royal Mail, but you need to get letters in the post to Santa by 10th December.

I would also recommend that you write a Christmas List for your loved ones, so they know the sort of thing you want. It’s not self-centered to do this, but jolly helpful. If you are stuck thinking about what you would like for Christmas consider your love language. Our post How to Give the Perfect Gift using Personality Types will help you. It will also help you think of gifts for your loved ones when they haven’t written a Christmas list and you haven’t the foggiest clue on what to get them.

8th December

Do some Christmas shopping

Are you a late Christmas shopper? Or do you start Christmas shopping from the January sales onwards? I tend to start Christmas shopping in November and be finished by mid-December.

A lot of people now enjoy shopping online to avoid crowds and hassle. In fact, Sops and I have created a few posts of gift ideas for babies and children to help you shop online.

60 Gift ideas for an Only Child

Best gifts for a baby’s first Christmas

Best Christmas gifts for Toddlers

However, there is nothing quite like mooching around the shopping centres and drinking in the Christmas atmosphere. Enjoy a cup of Mulled wine from a German market or a spiced coffee from your local coffee shop. Enjoy listening to the Brass band and carol singers in the streets and admire the Christmas decorations. Make Christmas shopping a joyful experience for yourself. If the fun stops, then stop. Go home and relax and try again another time. Just don’t put Christmas shopping off until the last minute or you will be stressed.

9th December

Enter our Christmas Competition

This year we have written a story featuring Lucy, Gabriel and Jidu. They travel to Tudor England at Christmas time on their magic flying carpet.

Read the story and then draw a picture of King Henry VIII and one of his wives celebrating Christmas for a chance to win Amazon gift vouchers.

Find out more on our competitions page.

10th December

Watch a Christmas Movie

What is your favourite Christmas movie of all time? There are so many great Christmas movies out there. I love American Christmas movies, but I confess I have an extra soft spot for British Christmas films such as Millions and Arthur Christmas. Maybe you can make it a Christmas Tradition to see a movie together as a family and watch one particular Christmas film every year such as It’s a Wonderful Life or Muppet Christmas Carol. You can all sing along to the songs. Maybe you can make it extra special by dressing up as characters from the Nativity or you all wear the same Pyjama set? Your child will love this tradition.

11th December

Join our Christmas quiz night – 11th December 2022 at 6:00pm

This year we are hosting our very first Christmas quiz on Discord. Meet other families with only one child. Make new friends. Win prizes and have a bit of a laugh.

Just click the image below for a link to the event.

12th December

Go Carol Singing

We have a tradition in my family whereby we sing carols around a wreath every Sunday of Advent and we would invite friends to join us. We used paraffin lamps to light the room. So I associate the smell of paraffin with Christmas. My mum created some beautiful songbooks back in the day using her typewriter and her own delightful illustrations. After we sang a few carols we would enjoy party food and drinks with our friends. It was a very popular event. Sometimes my dad would take the advent wealth to a nearby care home for people with learning disabilities and we sang carols there instead. This is a great custom to bring communities together.

13th December

Serve the Needy

This is a great season to think about those in need, whether it is the homeless or those who are lonely this Christmas. Maybe you would like to help families on low incomes by volunteering at the food bank. For more ideas on helping those in need during Advent check out our post 10 Ways to Pay it Forward this Christmas.

14th December

Bake Gingerbread

Gingerbread cookies are a delicious treat at Christmas time. The best thing about them is that you can make a batch with your child and decorate them together. They taste better when you make them together. Gingerbread is so simple to make even Sops and I can make them and we are the worst bakers in the world. Click the image below for a gingerbread recipe you can use.

15th December

Sort through old toys

Hopefully, Santa will bring your child lots of new shiny exciting toys to play with. Now is the time to sort through old toys and clothes and consider donating them to charity shops. This is a good way to show your child how to organise their belongings and to be thoughtful towards others.

16th December

Read the Father Christmas Letters by J.R.R Tolkein

These letters are absolutely charming. Tolkein wrote them for his own children from the 1920s to the 1940s. The illustrations are gorgeous and some of the letters are hilariously funny, especially when Father Christmas is talking about the Great Polar Bear. Sops and I enjoy reading this book every year together.

17th December

Create your own wrapping paper

Make some Christmas wrapping paper. You heard me correctly, make it! A lot of commercial wrapping paper you can buy in shops cannot be recycled. Approximately 1.6 billion tons of wrapping paper go to waste every year because it cannot be recycled. So, this year consider making your own recyclable wrapping paper. As our theme for Christmas, this year is Gingerbread and candy Sops and I cut out our own gingerbread people cut-outs on sponges and have been merrily pressing them onto brown paper. I did buy some really fancy gingerbread-style ribbon that cannot be recycled directly but will be used in years to come. This is a great activity to do has a whole family.

Equally use gift bags with tissue paper, or cloth, as the Victorians used.

18th December

Visit Santa Clause

So your child has written to Santa Clause and told him how good they have been. Well just to be sure that Santa Clause has received their letter you may want to take your child to see the big man himself. Not quite sure how he does it, but Santa Clause seems to appear in many Shopping malls and garden centres around the world. This is your child’s chance to convince Santa of their saintly behaviour and they may even receive an early Christmas present from ol’ St Nicholas.

19th December

Fly on your Magic Flying Carpet

Take a trip to Norway or Germany and create your own miniature Christmas market. Or maybe fly off to a warmer climate this season. Have a fun afternoon as a family exploring the culture and traditions of another country. For more information check out our post on the Magic Flying Carpet Game.

20th December

Attend a Christmas Carol Concert.

It is a truly beautiful event to attend a Christmas carol concert in candlelight. I love watching the King’s College Cambridge Carol Concert. It is so beautiful to hear the pure voices of a church choir singing time-honoured carols and listening to the Christmas story, especially when they use the King James’ Bible and use words like thee and thoust. It’s even better when you see it live in your own local church.

21st December

Make a plasticine Christmas Scene

Every year my mum would dig out her plasticine nativity set she made in the 1970’s and place it in the hallway. It was so gorgeous in its simplicity. She would place the three wise men on the steps and they would gradually make their way to the nativity scene as the Christmas season continued. So cute!

Perhaps you can make a model of the Nativity scene as my mum did. Or perhaps a winter snow scene with snow people? Just make sure you use good quality plasticine and have the modelling tools too. We recommend this set for starters.

22nd December

Host a mini Christmas Disco in your kitchen

Put on your disco light, play some funky Christmas grooves and have a disco in your kitchen with your family. Whether there are just three of you or the whole extended crew of cousins and aunts and grandparents are there, have a great time dancing to Christmas music.

One night after I sang carols with some friends at my home I put this song on and we all had a boogie in the kitchen. It was such fun.

23rd December

Put up your Christmas Decorations

My parents waited until Christmas Eve to put up the decorations after we had gone to bed. It was quite the feat. This meant when we woke up on Christmas morning, not only did we see that our stockings had been miraculously filled with presents, we also opened the door to see a wonderfully decorated tree with coloured lights shining. It made Christmas morning even more magical.

Nowadays it is popular to decorate houses quite a few weeks before Christmas day. I have a few mixed feelings about this custom, as I fear one could become a little tired of the decorations before the big day, but if you haven’t already put your decorations up yet, the 23rd December is a good time to do it.

When do you think is a good time to put up your decorations and when do you think it is way too early? Do add your thoughts to the comments below.

24th December

Complete last-minute Christmas preparations

Finally, one more sleep until Christmas. How excited is your child now? Depending on how old your child is and how organised you are, this day can be relaxed and exciting or highly stressful. Arguably, Christmas Eve can be the very day to set the tone for the rest of the Christmas season. If you have bought all your presents and wrapped them up, sent your cards and decorated the house you are halfway there. Have you prepared the food ready to throw into the oven for the next day?

Pace yourself and your family on Christmas Eve. Take your child out for a walk, or see some friends. When Sops was young we used to meet up with friends in a pub on Christmas Eve and have a drink before the children’s service in our local church. We tried our best to keep her nicely busy on Christmas Eve, but not to exhaust her, so she wouldn’t be grumpy on Christmas day.

Later in the evening set everything up for Santa Clause, read your child a Christmas story and settle them down for the night. If they are too excited to sleep try some of our tips to Help your Child to sleep at night.

Comments

We hope our ideas have inspired you during the period of Advent. Are there any traditions you carry out over the Advent season with your family? Do share your Advent customs in the comments below.