A fill-it-yourself advent calendar sounds lovely in November and can feel like a second job by mid-December. It helps to stop thinking of it as twenty-four presents. Mix three kinds of filler and most days cost little or nothing.

A mix that keeps it manageable

Out of 24 days, aim for roughly:

  • 8 tiny objects, each small enough for a paper bag or an envelope
  • 12 activity slips, each a piece of paper that says what the family will do that day
  • 4 shared treats, something for everyone to eat, watch or open together

Put the objects on school days when time is short, and the two or three bigger activities on weekends. Check your own calendar before you assign anything. A slip that says “bake cookies” on the evening of the school concert only causes trouble.

Tiny objects

Pick eight from this list, or use your own.

  • Stickers or temporary tattoos
  • A novelty eraser or a Christmas pencil
  • A hair clip or a pair of fun socks
  • A cookie cutter (pair it with a baking slip later in the week)
  • A bouncy ball
  • A small tub of modeling dough
  • A new ornament to hang on the tree
  • A key ring or a zipper pull for a school bag
  • Bath crayons

For more than one child, put in one item each or choose things that can be split. For children under three, leave out the bouncy ball, erasers, hair clips, key rings and anything else small enough to fit in a mouth.

Activity slips

Most of these are things you would do anyway. The calendar gives each of them a day.

  • Write a letter to Santa
  • Bake cookies
  • Watch a Christmas movie with hot chocolate
  • Drive or walk around to look at the lights
  • Make paper snowflakes for the window
  • Choose a toy to donate
  • Call a relative or a friend and sing them a carol
  • Have breakfast for dinner
  • Wrap presents together
  • Make a card for a neighbor
  • Camp in the living room by the tree
  • Read a Christmas book by flashlight

Write a few easy spares, such as “choose tonight’s bedtime story”, and swap one in on a day when the original plan won’t happen.

Shared treats

  • A packet of hot chocolate mix for everyone
  • Popcorn for movie night
  • A Christmas picture book for the whole family
  • A jigsaw puzzle split across several days, a few bags of pieces at a time, to finish on the 24th

Popcorn is a choking hazard for children under four, so give the youngest something else.

One thing across many days

A set can fill a week of bags. Split a pack of wooden train track, a set of building bricks, a box of large lacing beads or a winter village scene into parts, so that each day adds a piece to something bigger. One set is usually simpler to buy than seven separate items. Check the age range on the box, and avoid water beads entirely in a home with young children.

How to hang it

You don’t need a wooden calendar with drawers. Twenty-four paper bags or envelopes clipped to a length of string with clothespins do the job, and so does a row of numbered envelopes in a basket. Number them clearly so even the youngest can find today’s.

Fill it in one sitting

Lay out the 24 bags in order, with your December calendar beside you. Place the weekend activities first, then the objects, then fill the gaps with easy slips. Do it in one evening, and it is done for the month.

If you start late

Nothing says a calendar has to begin on the first. A twelve-day countdown from the 13th, or even a one-week version, gives children the same ritual with half the work or less.

Shopping list

Check what you already have at home, then check things off as you go.