Add Some Extra Fun to Your Holidays: Advent Calendar

Perhaps it's silly, but I thrive on the planning and anticipation and dreaming that lead up to an actual event, especially celebrations. What could be better than having a little mini celebration every day? NOTHING! And if you make one of these, you will have a reason to be excited every day. I am loving all the fun different homemade advent calendars. I want to make them all. If only time and money would permit... But, anyway, here are a couple of fun ideas that I am doing/have done.

Christmas Countdown

What you will need:
25 fun surprises
enough little boxes and such to package surprises (I used little party favor boxes from the wedding section of the dollar store)
a sharpie marker
some fun stickers
paper(wrapping paper works great)
glue (gluesticks are my favorite to work with)
scissors
tape
love :) Here is a list of things I used in my Christmas countdown advent:
candy
party favors
mini pens
lip balm
cupcake wrappers
cookie cutters
a puzzle
socks
microwave popcorn
necklaces
blank Christmas cards
More Ideas:
crayons
card games
a yoyo
jacks
books
keychain
lotion
hand sanitizer
Christmas ornaments
tiny toys (matchbox car, squinkies figures ect)
A CD (Christmas music would be perfect!)
A movie
Scrapbook supplies :) (tiny inkpads, buttons, stamps, small paper pads)
stickers
gloves
a scarf
nail polish
makeup
post-it notes
pens & pencils
hair clips, ponytail holders, barrettes
beef jerkey
snack packs of chips or crackers
deodorant
perfume
mini cereal box
a gift card
a hat
hot cocoa (the packet kind)
mini flashlight
measuring cups or spoons
office supplies (paper clips, tape, ect)
If you want to include something big, just put a note telling where to find it
Pretty much anything tiny/small you can think of

Tips
The dollar store is a MUST for this project. It's full of small inexpensive items, especially the party favor area and holiday rows.

One tip while you select your surprises is that your surprise doesn't have to be something tangible, it could be something like "tonight go look at Christmas lights as a family" or "Sing Christmas songs together" So, even if you can't buy lots of items, you can still have a fun surprise each day by doing those kind of things.

I put a note with many of my items to explain what to do with them, like with my cookie cutters I put my favorite cookie recipe and instructions to make cookies together as well as suggesting sharing some with neighbors. Or like with some tiny foam airplanes, I gave instructions to have a contest to see who could make theirs fly the farthest.

Here is one last thought, Candy is great, but I feel that just getting a treat every day isn't much of a surprise, especially after the first couple of days when you know what's coming. Plus the holidays are full of all kinds of treats without adding more. I think things like printing a Christmas story to read and activities you can do together are WAY more fun and meaningful and they can build memories that can last forever. So, include some candy, it's fun tasty and easy, but don't get carried away.

Putting it together
Assemble the little boxes or bags to put your surprises in. I cut out circles of Christmas paper and put heart and star cutouts on top, then I used the sharpie to write the numbers 1-25 on each cutout (you could use cute stickers computer printouts instead). Then glue them onto the boxes. Then fill them with your surprises.
*(Now, when I made my countdown calendar, I forgot about the whole "count down" concept, you know like on the first day of December there are 25 days till Christmas. If you want to actually "count down" the days, you will want to start with 25 as the number on your first surprise and then end with 1 on Christmas. If not, then you can do like me and simply match the number on the package to the date on the calendar)

I had a few things that wouldn't fit into my boxes, but were still fairly small, so I just wrapped them in wrapping paper and glued the number cutout onto the wrapping paper. If this ruins the aesthetics of things for you, just put a note telling where to find the surprise in the little box instead and everything will stay looking uniform and tiny.

Displaying It
I included instructions as my surprise for the first day. I put them in an envelope and glued the number cutout on top of that. Then, because I was giving my Christmas advent to someone who lives far away, I put everything into a big box and wrapped it up, then placed the instruction card on the top.

I gave instructions to hang my surprises on the tree. I think they are cute and small and would be perfect there. If that's not your thing, I've seen some way cute countdown displays hung on clothesline with clothespins.

That's really all there is to it. If 25 surprises sounds like way to much work for you, consider doing "The 12 Days of Christmas" then you only have to do 12 things.
Happy Fun Surprise Giving and Getting!!!