One last quick share before Christmas to get you thinking about NEXT Christmas!
I have been doing Daily Gift Advent Calendars for years. I find a daily gift (to know you were thought of) to be such an uplifting way to count down to Christmas! In the past, I have done one calendar for an individual in my life who used to do them for me as a child as well as one for my daughter. This year I kicked it up a few notches.
I ended up wrapping 123 presents before December 1st!!
I truly enjoy doing these advent calendars though. Gifting brings me joy which reminds me of the Friends episode where Phoebe tries to find a selfless good deed. If you haven’t seen the episode you really should watch it. She tries and tries to find a selfless good deed but in the end finds there is no truly unselfish good deeds. Turns out giving makes the giver and the recipient happy so it really is a win win!
Put together your very own Advent Calendars
I regrettably did not take many before photos as writing a post about it wasn’t in my plans then. However, I thought it good to share even though it is to late for you to put these together for this year. Starting now for next year would make it way less labor intensive. I will try to take my own advice here but I always end up doing these last minute right after Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s part of the fun for me!?
Buy your gifts
~~The Kids Countdown to Christmas Advent Calendars~~
For the kids gifts I did books for my 7 Year Old and blocks for my 1 Year Old.
We love books here, especially children’s books, so my daughter has been receiving a book a day for what we call ‘Booksmas” for the past several years. It is a great way to update books in the home as kiddos outgrow them as well as a fun countdown to Christmas. Sometimes I would pick them up secondhand at garage sales or thrift stores. When I buy them new though, I generally get Usborne books because they are my absolute favorite!
This year in fact I purchased most of my books from Usborne Books and More! I used to be a consultant and I just LOVE the books. I now purchase from my friend, Tracey Hittle. If you are in need of UBAM books and don’t already have a consultant check out her site below:
https://n4375.myubam.com/1035660
My little guy, who is 20 months, does not need books as purging my daughter’s over the years just didn’t happen. I did buy him a few new ones because well I love them! In lieu of books everyday for him, I purchased a package of Mega Blocks from Target and split those up for the days, throwing in a few books as well.
Booksmas & Blocksmas (My kids say every night,
“Can we do Books & Blocks now, please?”)
For my daughter, I wrapped one book for each day (24) to countdown to Christmas. Generally I label them but she likes to pick out which one to open each day so I just threw them in a basket and called it good.
For my son, I wrapped the Mega Blocks with a few Usborne books and put them in a separate basket. My son LOVED getting to pick a present from the basket each day.
The kids ‘countdown to Christmas’ baskets on December 1st
~~The Daily Countdown to Christmas Advent Calendar ~~
Next, the daily gifts advent calendars that I did this year. I ended up making three because lets face it, 2020 has been TOUGH! The chosen recipients were individuals in my life who have been most affected by this crazy pandemic year and would be alone for the holidays.
Shopping thriftily for these is part of the fun for me. These are not extravagant gifts just something small to open up each day to keep the holiday spirit alive.
This year I primarily made my purchases at the Dollar Store and Amazon with a few items from Walmart, CVS, Target and small businesses.
Had I known I was going to share this idea I would have taken better photos for you. I will include a few I did take, some after the fact, and the ideas list though.
Daily gifts for the Advent Calendar
Theme for the gifts this year were Covid-19 related, relaxation, and holiday cheer with a few other items sprinkled in.
- Stress Ball
- I used these Stress Balls
- Coloring Book & Colored Pencils
- I used these Coloring Books
- I used these Colored Pencils
- Necklace
- Notebook and Pen
- COVID-19 related items (Thanks 2020)
- Mask
- Hand Sanitizer
- Kleenex & Antibacterial Hand Wipes
- A few Joke Cards & Microwave Kettle Corn
- I used these Joke Cards
- Bell Ornament
- Snack Clips
- Holiday Napkins & Nut Mix
- Miniature Tree
- Makeup Bag
- Homemade Ornament – See it here: ‘Oh How I have grown’ Snowman ornament
- Sudoku Book
- Starbucks Instant Coffee & Chocolate
- Magnet
- Holiday Cocktail Glass
- Cat Toy
- Door County Chocolate Covered Cherries (doorcountycoffee.com)
- A few Gratitude Cards & Snacks
- I used these Gratitude Cards
- Socks
- Door County One Pot Coffee Bags (doorcountycoffee.com) & Chocolate
- Starbucks Gift Card
- Cash
- Hot Chocolate & Candy Cane Spoon
- Flashlight
- Miniature Ping Pong
- Story Books
- I used Story Book 1
- as well as Story Book 2
Stress Ball 
Ornament 
Coffee & Chocolate 
A miniature Tree 
Hand Sanitizer 
Ornament & Poem 
Mini Coloring Set 
Joke cards 
Makeup Bag
Adding in some personal touches with Clipart
I had fun adding in some personal touches and humor to the gifts with printed clipart. For an example, several days recipients received different holiday flavored local coffee and chocolates. I put these together in baggies and then put little coffee time labels on them. Below are a few other fun Clipart images I included and where.
Sweets 
Stress release 
Holiday 
Covid Clipart
Coffee Time Clipart for the Coffee & Chocolates; Hot Cocoa Clipart for the Hot Cocoa, Spoon, and Candy, and Stay Warm Clip Art for the Socks. Clipart for the following daily gifts: Coloring Kit, Stress Ball, Notebook & Pen, Joke Cards, Gratitude Cards. Holiday Clipart for the Holiday themed days. Covid-19 Clipart for the COVID related items
Wrap your Gifts
This part was time consuming but fun. I just simply bought wrapping paper at the dollar store and got to wrapping. Since I was doing several I put each set of gifts in a basket to keep them sorted for the intended individuals. I wrapped 75 presents (Christmas Day for these as well) so trying to keep them all straight wasn’t an easy task.
Label your gifts
I intended to make my own labels this year but I ran out of time and needed to get them in the mail. Since I was gifting personal gifts I took to google and free printable options. I found the ones I used here:
https://www.bizzieme.com/advent-calendar-printable/
Gift them
This is the best part. Even if there aren’t any selfless good deeds gifting these is just SO much FUN!
