Prepping for the Christmas decorating starts weeks ahead of time. Why?
We need to be ready for the Advent Calendar.
This is our Advent Calendar:
Mittens!
At our last house, we had a free wall that I could string these across.
At this house, our wall space is very limited... and all taken. So, we went with this approach... two sections. It needs to be high enough that the kids can reach... and hopefully not easy enough for the dog to eat. Still waiting to see how many I lose this year with "crazy dog" in the house now.
I bought these mittens from a lady on eBay about 7 years ago. They are all hand knitted by her. She offered them at a little over $2 per pair! I spent $40 on all 24 mittens. I think I wiped out her store that day. See the picture at the top? Notice three red mittens in a row and one striped? That came from me not planning well. A few of this lady's auctions listed "3 mittens" in case your child lost one. I figured that was an easier, cheaper way to shop... but wasn't thinking that I'd want to hang them in pairs. Duh. Oh well. Live and learn. I've since seeing lots of mittens in the dollar section of Target.
I found little metal stars that I wired onto each mitten to represent the days in December. I attach the mittens to twine with small (craft-section) clothespins, but larger ones would've been fine.
The fun, but never-ending, part is finding goodies to go inside. Currently they are not all full... still need to find some clever goodies.
In the past, I've used:
Certificates for a "surprise package" that I pull out for them to open (DVDs, CDs, etc.)
Candy Canes
Christmas Pencils
Christmas Erasers
Chocolate Coins
Mini Chocolate Bars
Ornaments
Cards (as in Pokemon, Webkins, trend-of-the-week)
Mini craft kits
Oriental Trading toys
Any other ideas out there? Still have a few to fill.
That is so cute! I loved your story about the three mittens! This was a great idea and I'm sure the whole family loves it.
ReplyDeleteI am hosting an Advent calendar link up as part of my 12 Days of Christmas series at my Christmas blog. I would be honoured if you could stop by and link up this wonderful idea/post! You might even find some ideas while you visit!
Best Christmas wishes,
Natasha.
Great idea Christy!
ReplyDeleteAfter living abroad for over a year, its opened my eyes to the difference cultures around the world. What about using the mitten advent calendar to learn about other holiday traditions around the world??? Its probably hard to get stuff....but maybe kinder chocolate (Wegmans has them), very popular candy for children in Europe. I'll think of ideas!