Activities for Advent (An Updated Master List)

I love doing an activity Advent calendar.  Ours isn't super fancy, but it makes me so happy to have one special treat for every day of December leading up to Christmas.  The trouble is coming up with a special treat for every day during the crunch of the holidays.

First things first: I assume that everyone's got some holiday traditions they love.  I assume everyone's got a Christmas party or two to enjoy.  And I assume everyone's got a list of holiday foods they're already going to indulge in eating.  However, I'm guessing that most people don't have 24 special Christmas traditions to fill up all of the days in an activity Advent calendar, and most people also have probably got a few busy weeknights, where fitting in one-more-fun-thing between dinner, homework, and bedtime sounds overwhelming.  With those assumptions and understandings, I have created a list of ideas to fill in those days of December which still need an activity.  The following activities all fit 5 arbitrary guidelines:

1. They do not involve sugar treats.
2. They only require 10 extra minutes on the day you do them.
3. They can be done within a 100 foot radius of most families' homes.
4. The advance preparation for each activity can be completed in 10 minutes or less.
5. The cost of each activity is less than $5 (with a preference for free, although many activities assume you have certain items on hand).

Without further ado, Activities for Advent:

• Count down from 10 and plug in Christmas lights for the first time
• Assemble a custom Christmas playlist for use during another planned activity (like baking cookies, or on Christmas Eve) 
• Play with or sculpt ornaments from homemade peppermint playdough (or store-bought playdough with peppermint extract added)
• Have Christmas for animals (some possibilities: strew birdseed on the lawn, smear pine cones with peanut butter and hang them on trees with ribbons, give a new toy to a pet, etc.)
• Eat dinner by candle light
• Play "Reindeer games" by enjoying any game together (some possibilities: board game, card game, guessing game, word game)
• Play a new "Reindeer game" online or on your phone
• Use fancy dishes (or Christmas themed paper plates)
• Write notes or cards for the stockings of people in your home
• Make a Christmas card for a friend, teacher, or neighbor
• Make or decorate gift tags for presents
• Do a tiny decorating project (some possibilities: set up a nativity set, decorate a doorway, hang a garland, hang a wreath, hang up stockings, etc.)
• Kiss under the mistletoe
• Have a Christmas lights bath (some possibilities: string lights in the bathroom, put glow-sticks in the tub, use extra bubbles or peppermint soap, dye the water green with food coloring, etc.)
• Dress fancy (some possibilities: put on costumes, wear antlers, paint nails, put on makeup, glitter everyone's hair, wear matching outfits, wear Christmas sweaters, wear paper crowns, etc.)
• Stay in pajamas all day
• Read a Christmas story
• Tell Christmas jokes
• Ask Christmas trivia questions
• Have a sing-along (some possibilities: load karaoke tracks on youtube or spotify, play instruments, sing a capella, etc.)
• Make snowman pancakes
• Have a snowball fight (some possibilities: actual snow, crumpled tissue paper, cotton balls, etc.)
• Have a dance party
• Watch Christmas videos (Head to youtube and search "funny family Christmas" and you will find more options than you could possibly watch)
• Have a tea party (some possibilities: use real china cups, cut regular breakfast/lunch foods into tiny shapes, serve a baked good, etc.)
• Sing a Christmas carol for somebody else (some possibilities:  knock on the door of a neighbor you know, skype Grandma, call Uncle Bill, sing in the lobby of your apartment building, etc.)
• Make a Christmas themed art or craft project (some possibilities: paper snowflakes, wax resist with white crayon and watercolor paint, glitter pine cones, green construction paper wreaths with stickers, red and white paint, paint with a piece of an evergreen branch, ornament shapes with stickers or glitter and glue, etc.) 
• Make an ornament for the tree (some possibilities: paper chains, beads on pipe cleaners, scratch art, string popcorn, paint a wine cork and stab an unwound paperclip into it, tie strings to pinecones, etc.)
• Color a Christmas themed coloring page
• Play "name that tune" with Christmas songs
• Have a Christmas themed photo shoot with props borrowed from the decoration box
• Play catch or keep away with jingle bells or a plastic ornament
• Search online for the most outrageous, ridiculous, useless, or expensive Christmas gift 
• Set up a present wrapping station 
• Practice your surprised and delighted faces (We put socks into a present bag and take turns opening them over and over, with each person trying to out-do the others in effusive praise.  This is a useful skill for when the kids get disappointing presents in real life, but it's also hilarious.)
• Make Christmas lists together (some possibilities: letters to Santa, wish lists, gift ideas for others, etc.)
• Build a fire (some possibilities: in a fireplace, in an outdoor fire pit, with a bunch of candles, with a bunch of LED candles, DIY a pretend play campfire, etc.)
• Have a Christmas scavenger hunt (some ideas: in your house looking for decorations you know you own, in your house looking for Christmas items you've hidden, with a flashlight in the dark, walking in your neighborhood looking at decorations on other houses, in the car looking at a lot of houses, in a magazine looking for pictures, etc.)
• Brainstorm or look together for projects your family can do together to help others 
  

If you've got more ideas for easy, inexpensive Advent activities please add them in the comments!