Celebrating Advent with Kids: Joyful Ideas for Every Day

The world feels so dark right now. Every day there is a new headline that breaks my heart and makes me fear for my children & those growing up with them. The heaviness of life feels like more than I naively expected for this season of young (can we still be considered young?) parenthood.

But Advent is here. And celebrating Advent with kids may just be the most wonderful part of the whole year.

As parents, we are the magic makers for our kids each holiday season. I know now (thanks, mom & dad) the time and energy and stress that comes with decorating and un-decorating, prepping, planning, and preparing to make magic happen for each holiday.

The to-do list tries to take over, and yet I want to fiercely protect Advent as a time of sabbath. A time of preparing for the joy and the hope that is coming at Christmas.

It feels harder this year, yet also so much more necessary.

What Advent Really Means for Kids

Yes, I’m married to a pastor. And yes, he’s very into theology. So yes, we call the time leading up to Christmas “Advent”, not Christmastime. Christmastime starts on Christmas Day. Semantics (theologics??), but y’all, it makes all the difference.

I was just talking to my sister and found great comfort for both of us in the fact that if Advent feels hurried, we still have 12 days of Christmas that don’t even START until December 25th. There is time, my friends.

Even before I was a pastor’s wife, I grew up celebrating Advent with those cute little paper Advent calendars, opening up a square each day to find a new picture. Side note: this totally feels like the equivalent of the “I walked to school 4 miles uphill each way – in the snow” compared to today’s Advent calendars full of toys or candy or legos for 24 or 25 days of December.

I also remember lighting our Advent wreath each night at dinner and fighting over who got to read which devotional. (Obviously I got the 1986 one because it was only fair as the eldest daughter born in 1986.) As a kid, it felt like it took Christmas morning foreverrrr to arrive. As a mom, this whole season goes by in a blink.

Enter being intentional with celebrating Advent with kids.

Taking time to prepare our hearts (& our homes) for Jesus’s birth. Finding wonder in the waiting. Marking these sacred days with more than just stress and hurry. Instead with joy, prayer, and a focus on baby Jesus.

Making even the normal Christmas traditions of decorating the tree, buying candy canes, looking at Christmas lights, and baking Christmas cookies part of this beautiful preparation.

For us this doesn’t mean that we don’t do fun (often commercial) Christmas traditions or activities. We do MANY – we just tie it to Advent. Here’s how we do it!

Advent Calendars & Daily Traditions

We have many Advent calendars we use each season. My mother-in-law has always collected them as well, and now each year they gift the kids with one of the fun toy-filled calendars according to what the kids are into that year.

We’ve done several years of Lego Advent calendars, gem stones, Squishmallows, Barbie, jewelry – the possibilities are literally endless. She buys & wraps these and the kids get to open them after Thanksgiving to prepare for December 1st (although Advent doesn’t often actually start on December 1st – this year it’s November 30th!).

We also have & love the Melissa & Doug Christmas tree and a Pottery Barn Kids pocket Advent calendar. They used to fight over the tree (but now have a system) and as they’ve grown, the things I put into the PBK calendar changes year to year, but this is the biggest piece of how we celebrate.

Each year we also use an Advent devotional to guide our celebration. We use several, but one that I think is so easy & accessible for everyone (even if you’ve never celebrated Advent before – maybe especially so!) is Little Way Chapel’s Family Advent Guide. It’s only $12 for a downloadable guide and we use the same one year after year and just adjust the dates!

This guide does an incredible job of explaining Advent, the celebrations along the way (St Nicholas Day & St Lucia Day are two of our most favorite days in December!), and why it matters. In the author’s note, Alyssa says:

“In the guidebook, you will find an explanation, background information, and instructions for each day. These are merely suggestions–do not be overwhelmed! It is up to you to decide what will work for your family. Remember, Advent is about getting ready for the birth of Christ, but in a slow and deliberate way — not in a frantic and overwhelming way. This Advent guide is meant to be savored and enjoyed. It is not meant to be one more thing on your to-do list.”

Could not possibly love it more and 100% how I use it.

Fun Ideas for Celebrating Advent with Kids

This is the fun part! Or the fun part of planning for me, at least.

I love to take the Little Way Chapel guide, our December calendar, and the list of activities / traditions I want to make sure we do this season and combine them to make the most fun, joy-filled, and still practical (!!) Advent calendar for our family.

Celebrating Advent with Kids: favorite activities

Decorating the Christmas tree – I put the note from the Little Way Chapel guide + their new ornament in the Advent calendar to get them excited for this day. LWC includes a Christmas tree blessing that I love to use once the tree is fully decked out.

Local Christmas Parade – I put glow bracelets and/or hot cocoa mix in the calendar to prepare for parade day!

Christmas Light Night – Hot cocoa mix or candy canes in the Advent calendar with a note that we’ll be changing into pjs and taking a drive to look at Christmas lights tonight!

Baking day – Sprinkles or mini Christmas m&ms or a new cookie cutter to signal the excitement to come.

Homemade orange ornaments or garland – This is one of the days & explained activity in the Little Way Chapel guide, and my kids love this one!

Make blessing bags for the homeless – Another fan favorite for our kids. They love making the bags, I love having them on hand to share when needed, and I know they truly are blessing those who need it the most.

Celebrating Advent with Kids: favorite days

St Nicholas Day – There is SO much info in the LWC guide, but this is one of our favorite days all season! Put your shoes by the fire place or front door the night of December 5th and find treats in them the morning of the 6th!

St Nicholas usually leaves bags of gold chocolate coins, a clementine or orange, a candy cane, an Advent or Christmas book, or other small treats. We love using this gift as a chance to build our Christmas book / puzzle / game collection, or for Christmas clothing they’ll wear all season. One of my other favorite parts of this day is the suggestion to go through and clean out toys and unused items to donate to others – just as St Nicholas gave to people in need.

St Lucia Day + St Lucy buns – okay, maybe THIS is our favorite day. We have both an eldest daughter and a Lucy, so jury is out on who gets to “be” St Lucia every year, but we all love celebrating by learning about St Lucia & enjoying St Lucy buns!

Specific Family Christmas Days – “today is Craft Christmas!” is honestly all you need to say when it’s about to be a day o’ family Christmas fun.

You’ll notice that I’m often using the Advent calendar as a way to prepare the kids for what is to come, or gifting little things (hot cocoa, glow sticks, candy canes) that I would’ve bought for the events anyway.

I do buy a few little Christmas treats to put in the calendar throughout Advent or to gift on St Nicholas Day. These are usually either things they need this season or Christmasy things that are better gifted before Christmas Day. A few favorites are below!

Celebrating Advent with Kids: favorite little gifts

Chapstick – holiday or a random favorite for the winter weather

Holiday nail polish and nail stickers – I secretly love that I get to share this one, too…

New Christmas shirts – If you’re buying them anyway, why not include them as a gift?!

Holiday socks – may as well use them for the whole season!

Candy canes – the ultimate go-to if you’re racking your brain the night before.

Christmas fidgets – Nee Doh always some great Christmas options, often sold together as a set, which is great for multiple kids!

Holiday gel pens – fun for school & at home!

So many more to choose from, but I truly don’t have to buy very many gifts once I’ve prepared for the activities and specific celebrations we have throughout the month!

That said, I still can’t believe we’re already in the first week of Advent. I have no idea how we got here so quickly. Do you celebrate Advent? What are your family’s favorite ways to celebrate this season?