Enjoying the Christmas Advent Season with 40 amazing family activities!

Hello!

Looking for a new advent activity to do with the family?  Let me introduce you to our Christmas Advent Tree idea that’s full of family activities to enjoy leading up until the holiday!

It’s December and that means…Advent  Season!  What do you do to celebrate the days leading to Christmas?  We are usually the people who buy the chocolate advent calendars and open up each day to discover what type of chocolate we have.  However, by mid-December, it’s lost its excitement and the chocolate gets forgotten about.

But this year, we have decided to use the advent season to bring our family closer together before the holidays begin!  Even in a global pandemic, we have all been so busy since September with back to school/ work, putting an addition on the house, extra-curricular activities, and more!  Spending some much-needed quality family time is just the ingredient we need coming into the holiday season!

That’s exactly why this year, we put together a Christmas Advent Tree full of family activities to countdown the days until Christmas!

I am so excited to start this activity and wanted to share the entire idea with you today!  I’m hoping that this will be a yearly tradition we do as a family that will continue to strengthen and bond our family relationships over the years.

See how we set it up, and get lots of ideas for your own Christmas Advent Tree too!

OK, let’s get started!

The Christmas Advent Tree 

I’ve seen so many different ways of having a family holiday advent calendar- a printout on the fridge, activities in mini-stockings, and more!  We chose to display our advent family activities on a couple of smaller Christmas Trees!  It’s festive and only takes a little bit of DIY & time to get organized.  Plus…it totally fits into my farmhouse style & neutral Christmas decor. 

Ready to learn just how simple this DIY idea is?  In order to set-up and prepare the Christmas Advent Tree, you will require a few items:

• Cardstock Paper
• Scissors
• Jute Rope
• Sharpie
• Small Christmas Tree
• List of Ideas and a Calendar ( to look at)

The first step of organizing this activity is to create the 25 top-folded cards.  On the front of the card, I put the date and a festive sharpie line design. 

Next up, it was time to decide which fun family activity was going on each card.  I’ve included 40 different fun family activities to choose from below!  Write each activity on the inside of the card.  You are almost ready! 

Take the jute rope and cut 25 pieces and tie the ends together.  Slide them over the card into the top-fold and staple the card shut.  This way the kiddos won’t be able to see what’s on each card until the actual date! 

Finally, display them beautifully on your small Christmas Advent Tree!  Then, every day, open up the correct card and enjoy the family activity inside! 

How fun 🙂

Tips to consider:

• Remember to have the activities that take the longest on the weekends if the kids are still in school (like making a gingerbread house)
• Sprinkle in some character-building activities such as donating or random acts of kindness.
• Choose a consistent time of the day to open the card and complete each family activity.  This gives a sense of routine to the kiddos, tests their patience while waiting to open up the secret activity, and also promotes expectations & excitement too!
• Remember to space out the “big” activities so that you don’t jam them all at once
• You can always add in “extra” activities of the day- such as bonus movie days or reading Christmas Books, etc.
• Enjoy each other’s company–It’s important to have fun and build strong family bonds throughout this season!

Family Fun Activities for Your Christmas Advent Tree:

Loving the idea?  Well, here are 40 fun family activities that you can add to your Christmas Advent Tree.  This year, we had to mix it up a bit since we are still on a bit of a lockdown and certain Christmas events are just not happening. 

I hope you enjoy the list–>

1. Read Christmas Books
2. Bake Cookies
3. Make Paper Snowflakes
4. Go for a drive and look at Christmas lights (Throw on pajamas, grab a stuffie and blanket, and enjoy some hot chocolate on the tour)
5. Watch Christmas Movies
6. Donate to the Food Bank
7. Make Christmas Cards and deliver them to loved ones
8. Sing Christmas Carols
9. Drink Gourmet Hot Chocolate Recipes
10. Give a Secret Santa Gift to Neighbors
11. Make a Blanket Fort by the tree
12. Donate Gently Used Toys
13. Find Candy Canes around the Home
14. Go for a Winter Walk
15. Have a Christmas Song Dance Party (there are so many Just Dance Christmas Songs on Youtube)
16. Take a Christmas Family Pic
17. Make a teacher gift
18. Write a letter to Santa
19. Wrap Presents
20. Try drawing Santa with a blindfold on
21. Facetime family with Holiday Cheer
22. Activity- Pin the Tail on the Rudolph
23. Create a Red & Green Dinner together- plan, prepare, make & enjoy
24. Read the Night before Christmas on Christmas Eve
25. Have a puzzle day!
26. Complete a Random Act of Kindness
27. Make & Decorate Sugar Cookies for Santa
28. Have a Christmas Family Pajama Day
29. Have a Candlelit Dinner
30. Enjoy a game night by the tree
31. Do a Christmas Craft such as making DIY ornaments for the tree
32. Build & Decorate a Gingerbread House
33. Enjoy a Christmas Parade
34. Go for a walk through a light festival
35. Family Picnic Dinner by the tree
36. Complete a Christmas Word Search
37. Go on a Scavenger Hunt around town
38. Visit Santa
39. Wear an ugly sweater and Take some Fun Selfies
40. Unwrap an Early Christmas Present like new Christmas Jammies

So…which 25 activities are you going to put on your Christmas Advent Tree?  There are so many great ideas right!?!  Well, whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy your advent season and spend some great quality family time together!

More Christmas Fun!

Here are some of my past Christmas blog posts that you might enjoy reading as well–>

• DIY Farmhouse Wood Christmas Ornaments
• 50 Christmas Traditions for Families!
• Tips on How to Stay Healthy (and not gain weight) During the Christmas Holiday Season!
• Neutral Farmhouse Christmas- A Holiday Home Tour
• The BEST Christmas Farmhouse Decor for your Home

So…inspired to create a Christmas Advent Tree of your own?  Leave your comments below!