Advent calendars have been a life long tradition that I have continued on in my own home. Even when I didn’t have children I had the good old $4 chocolate advent calendar for myself lol For Joseph I’ve always had the chocolate advent calendars each year. However with Isabella last year at only 6 months old, it was her first Christmas, so at that age I hadn’t done it for her.
Book advent calendars continually popped up on my Pinterest feed and every year I wish I had started the Book Advent Calendar... So this year was the year! I am going to show you a simple & better way to do a book advent calendar this Christmas …
1. Do Not Limit Your Book Choices – Just because it’s a ‘Christmas’ advent calendar does not mean every book has to be a Christmas book. If you are like me we already have a good amount of Christmas books and do not need another 24 each year. Whilst its festive to have a few new Christmas books fill in the rest with books you know will add value to your shelf and your kids will get use out of through the year.
Read Related Blog Post > 10 Better Than Christmas Themed Books To Give This Christmas
2. There is No Need For It To Be Expensive – You do not need to buy ‘new books’ for all 24. Look out for bargains in your second hand stores, Facebook buy swap and sell, Ebay and bargain bins. If you are in Australia a great source is also the school book club. This year I saved over $300 by purchasing bulk lots of popular books we did not have, such as the Very Cranky Bear series by Nick Bland.
3. Recycle Your Existing Books – Depending on the age of your children you can slip in a few existing books from the shelf that they have not read in a long while! This may only work with younger children unless you have an abundance of books on the shelf!
4. Keep It Simple – There are so many fancy ways of doing the book advent calendar on Pinterest it can become overwhelming for us as mums to match up to the expectations. Really the kids are most excited to just unwrap each day! So if you do not have time to do an extravagant looking book tree in amazing wrapping paper, keep it simple. This year I’m using simple brown paper with white ribbon and a glitter gel pen for numbers. To display I’m arranging nicely on the fire mantel.
5. Do A Book Exchange After Christmas – Another 24 books for the book shelf is a lot, not to mention if you continue to do it yearly. After Christmas this year get together with your friends and do a book swap in preparation for next year! This will not only save money in the next year, but will also save you time next year and space on your shelf. It's quiet possible that instead of adding 120 new books over 5 years you can just add 24 books by doing a book swap every year!
6. Make Christmas Eve Special – The fun thing kids remember about any advent calendar is the Christmas eve surprise. In a chocolate advent calendar its usually a bigger treat. For a book advent calendar you can choose a book that is a little bit more special eg has a matching included toy, puzzle or pop up feature. Or as I have done this year add a surprise wrapped sweet treat!’
7. Use It As Part Of Your Bed Time Routine – The best thing about the book advent calendar is you can have it as part of your nightly routine to settle the kids at bedtime. An enjoyable story before bed sets happy thoughts in a childs mind for a good nights sleep. So let the kids know that they need to be in their PJ’s & teeth brushed for them to then unwrap today's surprise!
So if your thinking of doing an advent calendar this year, think about these tricks to be better prepared. Let me know in the comments if you do a advent calendar and how you like to do it.