30 Holiday Activities for Your Advent Calendar {Printable}

Inside: Get this free printable set of chalkboard-style Advent calendar activities. Festive, adorable, and easy peasy. Perfect for busy families!

I love the holidays. L-O-V-E. A crazy, all-consuming kind of love.

On Halloween night, we had just got the baby to sleep and were zoning out on the couch.

Tomorrow is November, I thought. Then December!

My mind started buzzing with visions of decorating the tree, baking cookies stuffing my face with cookies, and setting up the Advent calendar.

My Big Idea

“Ty!” I said. “I just had an idea.”

He turned to me – looking a little cautious at the crazed look in my eye. “What’s that?”

“What if we started the Advent calendar on November first?”

He looked at me.

“We could fit in way more fun stuff to do!” Except picture me saying it with like 10 exclamation points after.

“Hmm,” he said. He loves the holidays as much as I do, so as the idea sunk in for him, I was poised and ready to accept gushing over my stroke of brilliance.

I kept going. “Especially since we only have Abby half the time, that would give us enough days to do everything we want to do!”

“Well,” he said. If that one word were a person, imagine it standing in front of a field of bouncing, excited eggshells. “Wouldn’t that be…a lot to keep up with?”

I cocked my head. “We already have the whole list of Advent ideas from last year that we didn’t get to!”

He took a step into the field. Anticipating the crunch. “It seems like – maybe that would make it less special? If we do it for two months straight?”

“Oh,” I said.

I pictured an Advent calendar times two, plus a few extra days. An Advent calendar that becomes like the page-a-day calendar that halfway into January we start forgetting to tear off every day. An Advent calendar that blends into daily life like wallpaper.

And I saw his point. Unfortunately.

Related: 10 Unique Stocking Stuffers for Girls That Will Delight Your Kids {Printable}

30 Fun Holiday Activities to Fill Your Advent Calendar

So because:

1. I am crazy in love with the holidays, and
2. I have way more Advent calendar ideas than days to do them, and
3. Chalkboard is the new black

Here are chalkboard-style Advent calendar activity cards, FREE for you to make your holidays merry and bright and chalkboard-y, all at once.

Print these Advent calendar activities, cut them out, and throw them in your Advent calendar. You can pick up a cheap-ish calendar at your local craft store or splurge on a cute wall calendar. You can make your own calendar using stuff you already have around the house – check out the super easy ideas below. Or you can just throw the cards in a glass bowl and have the kiddos pick a card each morning.

Download Your Advent Calendar Activities

After you get your Advent calendar squared away, you can get the More Joy, Less Stress: 2017 Holiday Planner.

1. Download the sheets. You’ll get the printables, plus join my weekly newsletter! Just click here to download and subscribe. (Don’t see your favorite holiday activity on the cards? You’ll also get a blank sheet you can print, then use a white marker like this one to write in your own activity.)
2. Print. I designed them to print on Avery business cards for inkjet or laser printers. Or you can just print them on regular paper or card stock. (If you go the business card route and the lines don’t PERFECTLY line up, please don’t sue me for ruining Christmas.)
3. Cut. Or if you’re like me and you can’t cut a straight line to save your life, fold and tear to get a charmingly casual look.
4. Pop the cards into your Advent calendar, and you’re DONE. Now go eat some Christmas cookies.

Download: More Joy, Less Stress: 2017 Christmas Planner

3 Easy Advent Calendars You Can Make With Stuff You Already Have

1. Scrapbook Paper

Source: Tinkerlab

2. Toilet Paper Rolls

Source: Fun Crafts Kids

3. Boxes or Paper Bags

Combine the free number stickers from Mama Miss with this countdown calendar for the WIN.

Source: Mama Miss

Your Turn

What are your favorite Advent calendar activities? Share in a comment below!

Credits: Fonts include Return to Sender, Mission Script, Bergamot Ornaments, Noyeux Joel, and DH Snowflakes; the background is from Lil Blue Boo.

Hi, I'm Kelly. I'm a mom of four, a recovering perfectionist, and the author of Happy You, Happy Family. Parenting is hard enough without all the guilt we heap on top of ourselves. So let's stop trying to be perfect parents and just be real ones. Sound good? Join my mailing list and as a bonus, you'll get 25+ incredibly helpful cheat sheets that will ease your parenting struggles.