Last year, in an attempt to make the days leading up to Christmas special and memorable for our kids, we did our own “12 Days of Christmas” countdown. It’s a way for me to make sure that we actually fit in all of our fun activities and traditions since I am able to take off work for the two weeks before Christmas to spend them with my family, and it’s easier for me than trying to plan out 24 days of activities. (I know the 12 days of Christmas are actually after Christmas Day according to the church calendar, but in this case we’re just using it as a cute name for our final countdown to Christmas.)
We’ll be doing Truth in the Tinsel (with the printable ornaments) each day of advent as well as a traditional advent wreath on Sundays, and then we’ll add these Christmas activities to the 12 days leading up to Christmas.
This year, I finally created the baby sock advent calendar I’ve been dreaming of since I first saw the idea on MarthaStewart.com, and I love how it turned out. I’ll slip a tiny piece of paper into every sock with the activity for that day so that we can pull it out each morning.
Some of our activities will be the same as last year because they’re part of our annual Christmas celebration, but this year I’ve added a few new ones as well:
- color this printable nativity
- deliver cookies to our doctor’s office
- make peppermint chocolate pretzel treats
- make homemade eggnog
- ring the Salvation Army bell
- shop for our sibling gift exchange
- make clothespin reindeer ornaments
- make woven cookie star ornaments
- sleep by the Christmas tree
- sing Christmas carols
- make candy cane cookies
- make pompom snowmen
A baby sock advent calendar is so easy to make, and I love having it hang in the window! You could easily adapt this for the full 24 days of advent if you wanted to as well:
Supplies:
- 12 baby socks (or 1 for each day of your countdown)
- 12 clothespins (or 1 for each day of your countdown)
- twine, ribbon or garland
- scrapbook paper
Directions:
To hang your countdown in the window, simply tie a knot at each end of the twine, open the window and thread the ends into both tracks. Close and lock the window, and it should hold.
Hang each baby sock with a clothespin along the twine (I had to work really hard to avoid making a pattern; my type-A brain doesn’t do random well!). Cut the scrapbook paper to size, write an activity on each piece and slip it into the appropriate baby sock.
That’s it!
Related Projects:
- DIY Advent Calendars
- Printable Advent Chain
- Random Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar
- Paper Nativity Set
Join us as we celebrate 101 Days of Christmas with new DIY projects, gift ideas, traditions and more every day from now through Christmas!
