An Advent Calendar is always a special way for my family to celebrate the Christmas season. We look for a special Christmas calendar each year. This countdown calendar for Christmas focuses on bringing the family together and spending time with each other.

Printable Advent Calendar put together with clothes pins
Clever Easy Idea for Advent Calendar

Just print out this advent calendar, assemble it, and be ready for a month of fun and togetherness with your family. Read on for fun activities, and more fantastic calendar ideas.  You might even want to make homemade Christmas gifts.

What is an Advent Calendar?

Advent Calendars are such a fun way to bring your family closer during the holidays. I love to count down the days to Christmas with them. With fun advent calendars, each day is always a surprise of what advent activities we’ll be doing next.

Advent is traditionally marked as a season that anticipated the birth of Jesus Christ. The word “advent” is Latin for “coming,” and the start of the season can fall between November 27 and December 3. Most modern Advent calendars start on December 1 and have holiday-themed activities.

It makes me stop this busy season and take a moment to make memories with my family. I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy this time with your families!

DIY Advent Calendar

This printable kid’s Advent Calendar counts down to Christmas with a fun activity each day. What a great way to celebrate and countdown to Christmas with your family every day for the month of December.

Christmas Advent Calendar on wood plank with free printable dates attached with clothes pins.

This Printable Advent Calendar is modern, full of color, and sure to brighten up any space in your home this holiday. This specially designed calendar is easy to put together and a great way for you and your family to spend some time with each other and assemble the mini envelopes, and get each of you thinking about what you’d like to do for each day of the month. There are plenty of blank cards to add your own ideas.

printables

envelope template

Calendar Assembly

This is how easy it is to assemble the envelopes together. This is quick and easy.

  1. Download and print the envelopes, insert activity cards, and blank insert cards if you are going to use them.
  2. Cut out all of your envelopes and fold the tabs, the middle, and the top of the envelope.
  3. Put glue on the tabs and fold over the envelope, pressing firmly on the sides so that the tabs and the front of the envelope stick.
  4. Insert your activity card and fold it over the top of the envelope.
Scattered activity cards top card says decorate Christmas cookies

For the activity cards, there are 25 that are all ready to go and you can simply print, cut them out, and insert them into an envelope or there is a page of blank activity cards for you to fill in for your own homemade advent calendar ideas.

Activity card insert and envelopes attached to a wood back ground with twine and mini clothes pins card displayed says Play a game

Advent Calendar Activities

Here is a list of fun activities for your Advent. All are great ideas that can be Christmas themed or just family-oriented to help you spend more time together. Every day your family can have a fun surprise.

  • Play a game Family game nights are a favorite at our house
  • Decorate Christmas cookies Here is my favorite sugar cookie frosting.  It is smooth creamy and oh-so delicious! I promise you it really does make the very best sugar cookie.
  • Have a special friend for dinner
  • Turn glass ornaments into beautiful keepsakes and show off your child’s artwork. Make Christmas ornaments
  • Make hot chocolate and read Christmas stories
  • Decorate a Gingerbread House
  • Play cards
  • Drive around to see neighborhood Christmas lights (put hot cocoa in to-go cups and put on PJs)
  • Watch a Holiday movie
  • Roast marshmallows in the fireplace
  • Do a Christmas craft
  • Have ice cream sundaes with special toppings
  • Have breakfast for dinner
  • Handwrite letters to  friends that live away
  • Write something nice about each family member on a slip of paper and place it under their pillow
  • Bake Cookies
  • Buy a gift for someone in need
  • Make a handmade gift
  • Memorize a bible verse
  • Write a letter to Santa
  • Cut snowflakes for the windows
  • Color a Christmas Coloring Page
  • Make a family video
  • Decorate a paper bag or paper to create special gift-wrapping is a fun project for kids.
  • Do something nice for a neighbor
  • Decorate the Christmas Tree
  • Do a puzzle together
  • Play Christmas Charades
  • Build a Snowman out of paper with this free printable snowman template. It only takes a few simple supplies to create the cutest snowman decorations.
  • Draw Santa and Christmas Trees
Envelope with ornamens adorning it and a larger ornament with the number 5 printed on it

Megan from Short Stop Designs has created this darling printed advent calendar just for you! Now you are ready for family fun all the days leading to Christmas.

I am hoping this printable advent calendar helps you enjoy each other and slow down this holiday season and spend time together.

More Best Advent Calendars

I love to make advent calendars and have made several over the years. Having a Christmas countdown leading up to Christmas also makes fun holiday decorations! Look at all the fun DIY Advent Calendar ideas you can make yourself. What a wonderful keepsake!

Nativity Advent Calendar

nativity calendar printable with a donkey, sheep, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.

DIY Fabric Calendar – Another cute and clever use of wooden clothespins and your brightest bits of fabric!

DIY fabric advent calendar held with clothes pins and wooden numbers

Felt Reindeer – Hang your reindeer on ribbons by using clothespins for the antlers. So much fun to fill with treats and toys.

Easy Reindeer Calendar cut out of felt and attached to a ribbon with clothes pins with number tags

Paper  Stockings  – cut this out with your Cricut or Silhouette cutting machine (free cutting files)

Hanging Paper Stocking Advent Calendar hanging from red zig-zag ribbon with numbers printed on red stocking in white

A cutting machine makes quick work of cutting out vinyl numbers. Use a heat press to put them on premade bags and felt garland. This makes an easy Christmas advent calendar full of holiday cheer.

DIY advent calendar muslin numbered bags on felted ball garland

Little Birdie Felt Calendar – How cute is this free template? What a great Christmas ornament idea, too!

Little Birdie felt advent calendar. Birds are cut from different colors of felt attached with string and uses beaded numbers.

DIY Tree – I just love the rustic look of this one!

DIY Advent tree calendar made from scraps of wood attached to look like a tree and different packages hunk from knobs for each day.

Felt Jesse Tree

Felt handing from a dowl with a green felt Christmas tree with buttons sewn on to hold ornaments representing each day with pockets below

Felt Calendar

Beautiful felt calendar pockets tied closed with ribbon and paper tags for the dates

Recycled Cans

Recycled can painted red with white circle and red number in the center. they are hung with a wire loop tied with twine for second level attached to a branch

Recycled K-cup Christmas Tree  – You could also use toilet paper rolls

Recycled k cup advent calendar. The cups are attached to a green cardboard Christmas tree with colorful paper tops on cups and gold glitter numbers

Christmas Tree with wooden boxes

Advent Calendar featuring tools

Wooden yard stick advent calendar. Tacks are in yard stick to hold attached items for each date. This one has tools and candy

Christmas Book Countdown – This is such a fun 12-day calendar. You can’t go wrong with a selection of classic books to cozy up with!

12 colorful fabric bags with black numbers to hold books for a countdown to Christmas. A stuffed Grinch is sitting on a stack of books.

Gingerbread House

Gingerbread house felt advent calendar

The story of the Nativity – A nativity theme with the manger scene is a traditional way to count down to Christmas.

Nativity with items cut from felt.

Use this Christmas stocking pattern to create an Advent Calendar to use year after year. This one could easily become a family heirloom.

Christmas stocking advent calendar sewn attached to ribbon with red clothes pins with wooden numbers glued on.

Advent Calendars to Buy

So many perfect Advent calendars for kids! If you are looking for something to purchase, how about these for this year’s calendar?

I would love to keep you fully stocked with creative ideas, yummy recipes, fun crafts, and loads of free printables. Subscribe to Skip to my Lou to get new ideas delivered to your inbox. Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram for all my latest updates.


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Comments

  1. I have used these cards and envelopes for my family’s advent calendar for the last 4 years and it’s been so fun. My kids look forward to it every year. Thank you so much for sharing these free printables!

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