Friday, December 16, 2011

Christmas Advent Calendar

This post has taken me awhile to do, simply because I have been oddly uninspired after the initial thought of making an advent calendar. I really hate when that happens because the project will just sit on my table mocking me. Some projects I can set aside for months and months until inspiration will strike but my son was the driving force to get this finished. I'm still not 100% happy with the project but I have a whole year to redo it if I choose to do so. In the meantime, I have something that my son is happy to work with for the season, and really, that's all I care about. Though if you have any suggestions on how to better embellish the box, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Here are some photos of the box and a few cards for your reference.






Here is a list of the 24 activities I used:

Shop for a Christmas Tree
Hang Stockings
Visit a park decorated for Christmas
Decorate the Christmas Tree
Set up the Nativity and read the Christmas Story
Make a Paper Garland
Make hot chocolate and watch a Christmas movie
Wrap Presents
Read " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas"
Go Caroling
String popcorn and cranberries
Take a child shopping for toys for someone else
Make a Snowman (use pillows if no snow)
Write a letter to Santa (or a soldier overseas)
Make a gingerbread house (use graham crackers for younger children)
Make paper snowflakes
Read a holiday story together
Take a drive to look at Christmas lights
Make cards and deliver to neighbors
Donate toys or clothes to a charity
Visit Santa
Make squirrel food with stale bread, peanut butter and nuts
Decorate the mantel
Bake cookies

To make the labels for the cards, I printed the activities into a spreadsheet, with each cell at2.25: wide and 2" tall. I used a text color similar to Olive and a CTMH font called Tall Pen.

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