Advent Calendar Activities: Family Holiday Traditions

Advent Activities For Family Traditions And Holiday Legacy

Welcome, Christmas! While I can’t say the same thing about my house, my blog has been waiting patiently to usher in the time of year that I get to further instill our family legacy and values with the kids. One way I do that is with this easy to make Advent calendar, filled with activities focused on values I want to teach. As a Walmart mom, this is a sponsored post, and also the place were we got all our supplies for this easy craft!

Last year, Alina and I started our 25 Toddler Advent Activities that focused on charity, family and friends. She doesn’t remember every detail, but after doing this simple kid’s craft, she can recall ripping each ring in anticipation for Christmas. This year, we continue our Advent Activities holiday traditions with focus on family togetherness, as well as charity. Some people give treats and little trinkets for advent calendars – that’s just not my thing. We don’t have the extra cash for daily (unearned) treats and are not the type to want more “stuff”, so this year’s Advent Activities Calendar represent the type of holiday traditions we do want the kids to remember. It’s filled with plenty of homemade sweet treats and exciting moments of family togetherness, but also focused on giving rather than taking.

The actual Advent Calendar craft is as easy as it gets – and is perfect for little hands to help with! Just cut out 2 inch strips and adhere together. To make it easy, I just stapled the rings together. Actually, the craft was way more easy than coming up with 25 meaningful, culturally relevant and exciting activities for our family to do together. Many of the activities continue from last year. Vegas blog readers might remember when we took Alina to Ethel M Chocolate Factory’s Cactus Garden for some Mexican hot chocolate and Vegas lights. Or how we came home inspired to make our own Mexican Hot Chocolate. Last year we had a blast in Mount Charleston on a Snow Day, and we can’t wait to go again!

We are going to also continue having picnic dinners under our Christmas tree, making and hanging snowflakes, and our holiday tradition of decorating gingerbread houses with 1 of our favorite Vegas friends. Take (and seriously, hopefully MAIL) holiday photo cards. We’ll continue with our tradition of hanging A+S door wreaths, including picking out a 2013 Christmas ornament to add.

New to our Advent calendar this year is meeting Santa at his workshop and having breakfast with him! We were invited to an incredible experience and I can’t wait to share more soon! Like last year, we will focus on charity, but this year it will be a weekly affair. Time to sort through her old toys and make them new for someone else! Also new (and not even on this calendar!), is taking Alina to see The Nutcracker here in Vegas. I cannot wait!

This year will also include many more crafts. Now that Alina is in school, her imagination and desire to create is at its peak. I love she’s forcing me to overcome my fear of crafting failure, and is slowly teaching me that its more about the process. We’ll be doing a baby handprint craft with Sebas, a snowman craft and a few Spanish coloring pages for sure – but who knows what else will come up!

I’m very excited for the turn of seasons. But while Christmas is upon us, I continue to look ahead. I always battle with “staying in the moment” and planning for the future. Doing things like this Advent calendar full of traditional and value orientated experiences, keeps my sights on the present… and not presents 🙂

Happy holidays!