Advent Calendar Ideas

Last year, I decided to start an advent calendar for the girls. I wanted one that I could reuse each year. I found a cute little house online with doors I can have kids open each day. Last year, I did candy in each of the doors. This year, I decided I did not want to only have candy in each of the doors. I did a quick internet search for ideas and found a lot of great ideas out there.

So, this year, my advent calendar has a little more variety in it. I'm restricted by the size of my doors on my house-in hindsight, I sort of wish I had picked something with bigger compartments or pockets. Here's what I decided to put in the compartments:

1. Candy- Hershey's Kisses, Tootsie Rolls, and mini candy bars. Last year, I did some hard candy like Jolly Ranchers and also jelly beans.
2. Rubber band bracelets- Amazon has an interesting selection. I found some that were Christmas themed. I also bought some that are animals.
3. Temporary tattoos- I also found some Christmas themed. 
4. Stickers- My girls love stickers of all kinds. Again, I found Christmas themed stickers. I had to cut them to size to fit in the compartments, but they worked pretty well.

I alternated the stuff so it wasn't the same things in a row.

Other Ideas for Advent Calendars

Obviously, these will depend on the size of your pockets. You could do:

Lip gloss/chapstick

Small bubbles

Bouncy balls

Finger puppets

Small Christmas ornaments

Key chains

Travel toiletries

Spinning tops

Small yoyos 

Small action figures

Pieces of a Lego kit adding up to a total kit

Stamps

Hope this list helps you- I probably should have written it a bit earlier in the holiday season this year!