It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
We have a few stressful things happening this month. It’s not great timing, but such is life sometimes. So to counter my anxiety and keep the season as merry and bright as possible, I’ve made a list of fun advent activities for our family to do in the days leading up to Christmas. I haven’t pinned down dates for most of them. Honestly, I’m kind of flying by the seat of my pants…which is pretty standard for me, I guess. Still, I want to have some ideas ready for those days when I’m feeling a little less holly jolly.
I’ve divided my list into daily Christmas rituals, general activities, and events in the greater Phoenix area that I’m interested in. We probably won’t end up going to all of them, but they sure sound fun! If you’re local, check out the links for more information. If you’re not, I’m sure there are similar activities happening in your neck of the woods too, so visit our dear friend Google and see what you can find. And no matter where you live, you can always check out the #LightTheWorld service advent calendar for more ways to center this special season on Christ.
Daily Advent Activities
- Add a jingle bell to the advent tree quilt my mom made for us.
- Read a bedtime story from our “Story A Day Till Christmas” collection.
- Burn our advent candle at dinner. (This is something my family did for years when I was growing up and I love carrying on the simple + inexpensive tradition with my own kids. My mom used to get this candle; this year I purchased this one
.)
.)(Those are affiliate links, BTW, which earn me a couple pennies and are always products I love.)
General Advent Activities
- Pick out a Christmas tree.
- Go see a performance of the Nutcracker. (My parents gifted the girls and I tickets to the Ballet Etudes performance in Chandler.)
- Bake + decorate sugar cookies. (Maybe I’ll share my favorite recipe later this month!)
- Make paper snowflakes.
- Invite friends over for holiday manicures. (I picked up some little sparkly nail decals for the girls to layer over red or green nail polish. I’m so excited for this activity!)
- Watch Christmas movies + drink hot cocoa.
- Give gifts to the mailman + garbage collectors.
- Build “gingerbread” houses out of graham crackers.
- Go caroling to neighbors.
- Visit a nursery to buy some fresh greenery, then decorate the house with it.
- Make nativity magnets. (I printed this one on card stock for the girls to color. There are several other nativity craft options on that site, all of which are beautiful.)
- Pick out some Christmas books at the library.
- Drive up north to find some snow to play in.
- Participate in a Messiah sing along. (Would you believe I’ve never done this? I KNOW.)
Phoenix Advent Activities
- Watch the Tempe Fantasy of Lights boat parade.
- Visit the Botanical Garden for Las Noches de las Luminarias. (This sounds like such a romantic date night.)
- Go see the lights + catch a musical performance at the Mesa LDS Temple.
- Check out ZooLights. (We have tickets almost every year–they come with our zoo membership–but we’ve never been yet!)
- Watch people ice skate at CitySkate in downtown Phoenix.
- Go sledding/tubing on the hill at Mother Nature’s Farm.
What are you up to this December? Anything fun planned? What else would you add to my list? I’d love some more ideas!
I’ve been wanting to get a story-a-day type compilation of Christmas stories. I wil l have to check yours out sometime. I also love the candle idea, that is fun.
Our book is actually volume 3 of a series. My siblings have the other ones, I think, since they used to be my mom’s and she passed them on to us. Worth checking out for sure!
Love.
xox
Where can I get the pattern for the quilted advent tree?