My son is almost begging me to start ours before Halloween has even ended, so I know how excited having one ready and waiting id for him. A homemade advent calendar or 25 Days of Christmas countdown calendar doesn’t have to be a monumental task that leaves you feeling so overwhelmed that you end up doing nothing. It also doesn’t have to be a store bought one either! If you have wanted to make your own homemade Christmas countdown calendar, we have great ideas for busy families.

HOMEMADE ADVENT CALENDAR IDEAS FOR BUSY FAMILIES

The last thing you need for the holiday season is another activity that makes everything more rushed and busy! I had always wanted to put together an advent calendar for my son but was neither crafty or well prepared. I don’t think you need to be either with some of the homemade advent calendar ideas I am going to show you right here.

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There is a small bit of prep for these countdown calendars but not a whole lot! Some just require printing a few pages and being mindful of the activities! I like simple, and I like using what I have. Or I like to be able to pick up a few things at stores I am already going to, namely the grocery store.

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Plus, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO SOMETHING HUGE EVERY DAY! There are plenty of times when I left out a packet of hot cocoa and baggie of mini marshmallows and that was good enough! Or I decided to declare a pizza day and have a picnic by the Christmas tree. That one is always remembered.

My son loves the activity advent calendar ideas as much as he loves the crazy unplanned ones I throw in as well. Each morning he can’t wait to check the spot to see what will be happening that day.

Below you will find a list of simple ideas you can throw in to make your homemade advent calendar fun and easy to pull off. Getting your tree? Make it your countdown activity for the day. Write it on the card!

CHECK OUT ALL OUR HOMEMADE ADVENT CALENDAR IDEAS BELOW

ADD AN ELF {BUT NOT A CREEPY ELF}

Do you have an elf to enjoy with your countdown? I don’t mean that creepy elf either! Just a friendly one that hangs out to enjoy the season.

I purchased a small {inexpensive $3} one after the start of our homemade advent calendar, but this year he will be arriving on the 1st. Our elf is wrapped below. This year we purchased these awesome kindness elves. I am so excited about these little elves!

What makes for a good homemade advent calendar?

USE WHAT’S AVAILABLE!

The best part is you can do a little of all of them too because you will already have what you need. You can base your homemade advent calendar off of the items in your house, the places you will go, the activities you already do. Plus you can add a few new fun things based on your available time.

NO JUNK PLEASE!

What I did not want to do was end up buying was a bunch of junky little novelty items that would just get strewn around the house. I want our countdown activities to be meaningful, family centered, and hands-on! Science activities, LEGO building, family adventures, and experiences that will be remembered and asked for again and again. Hopefully passed on to future generations too.

KEEP IT SIMPLE!

You do not need a Pinterest worthy set up. This thinking can derail your chances of setting up a homemade advent calendar pretty quickly. Some items that make it fun include, a mini fake Christmas tree, small paper bags, gift tags, and cards. You can pick up these items or get creative with what you have. I have pictures of everything below too.

MAKE IT HOMEMADE!

Some of the fun ideas or themes for your homemade calendars could be building with your LEGO collection, setting up a Christmas themed science lab, engineering with STEM challenge cards, reading Christmas books, participating in random acts of kindness, or incorporating your already planned holiday festivities.

WAYS TO SET UP YOUR HOMEMADE ADVENT CALENDAR IDEAS

How can you present your homemade advent calendar that’s really simple? Check out these ideas. Click on links in red!

CHALKBOARD SIGN

We also used a small chalkboard easel with the day’s number on it for our family countdown last year where we would leave out a special treat, a note about what we were going to do that day, or a new Christmas book or movie to watch. This was really the simplest way to incorporate what we would do anyway into a countdown calendar for our son. You can see some of the examples above.

ARTIFICIAL TREE

First, check out our Christmas tree idea for our Christmas Science Themed Countdown Calendar. We used an artificial tree with clothespins and numbered cards with activities written on them. Check out the complete Christmas science activity list here for great ideas.

Or clip a card to your large Christmas tree every day!

PAPER BAGS

Here’s our LEGO Homemade Advent Calendar! We used the bricks we have. Use our daily building ideas as suggestions or challenges to get your kids thinking. I used white paper bags for each Christmas LEGO idea. Whether you write the challenge on a card and place it inside or you actually gather bricks for your kids is up to you and up to the level of involvement you wish to have.

PLASTIC ORNAMENTS

This year we planned a Christmas STEM challenge cards countdown for our homemade advent calendar idea. This calendar includes a free set of printable pages with the challenges. All the challenges use simple supplies that you can get easily or already have. I used plastic refillable ornaments! You can hang one a day on your tree or present a few at a time to pick from.

Plus you can use the ornaments for gifts too! How about filling up one with LEGO bricks, winter essentials, or slime!

PAPER CHAIN

A classic paper chain is perfect for Christmas jokes! This homemade advent calendar features 25 days of Christmas jokes perfect for kids. Plus it’s quick and simple to make. I like to have this one in addition to our other activities.

BOOKS

You could do 25 days of Christmas books too! Wrap a new book each day, and enjoy reading together as a family. I have seen calendars filled with new books and ones filled with the holiday books already owned.

It’s a fun way to remember the books you have and add to your collection as well. Add hot cocoa, marshmallows, and cookies. Or add a fun new place to sit and read the book together like on the floor by the Christmas tree.

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

Print out this Random Acts of Kindness Advent calendar and pick up a set of these awesome Kindness Elves with their own set of 25 kindness ideas. It’s a great way to get kids into the true spirit of Christmas that lasts year round.

Our new kindness elves are perfect for leaving out all year long. We like to incorporate many of these kindness activities into our own homemade advent calendar as well. A favorite is bringing cookies to the local police and fire stations.

DIGITAL CALENDAR

Not exactly a homemade advent calendar but definitely a Christmas countdown calendar for busy families! My friend steered me in the direction of this cool online Christmas calendar her parents send to her daughter. Check out the Jacquie Lawson Advent calendar.

There are fun things to see each day of this advent calendar. Plus I am told that it’s nighttime if you check during nighttime hours and daytime if you check during daytime hours based on your location. I will be signing up!