Homemade Advent Calendar

After sharing my homemade advent calendar in a Reel on Instagram, I knew I had to give it a permanent spot on the blog! Here’s the backstory, I knew I wanted to do an advent calendar for the kids this year but I’m a bit of a procrastinator. So, by the time I went to buy one, the ones online I liked were either sold out or would arrive mid-December…which defeats the point.

So I looked to Pinterest of course and decided to make my own for the kids. I found a couple of cute ideas and combined some of them to make it my own.

For the supplies, I actually got pretty much everything from Target. I got cute holiday stickers and little note cards, and just a few little decorations. And then I got some small craft bags, which you can find on Amazon.

I numbered the bags with a black marker and then started to fill them! I kept it pretty simple. So in each one I put a couple of little candies or cheap trinkets, and to add a special touch I also put a small note card with a simple act of kindness for the day.

Here are some ideas for the acts of kindness! Most of them are super simple since they are still little and I don’t want it to feel like a chore. I want it to be fun for them!

Acts of Kindness:

Bake cookies for a friend or neighbor.
Give someone you love a hug.
Hold the door for a stranger.
Give someone a compliment.
Name three things you love about someone in your family.
Write someone you love a letter and send it.
Draw three things you are thankful for.
Draw a picture for someone.
Do something to make someone smile.
Leave a small gift for our delivery driver.
Visit an animal shelter and donate blankets.

The kids have already had so much fun opening up the first couple of days of the calendar! I can already tell this homemade advent calendar is going to be a tradition in our house!