Activity and Service Advent Calendar

Growing up we always enjoyed candy advent calendars that counted down the days until Christmas. At my mom's house my favorite was the cardboard calendar with a Christmas scene printed on it that you punched open a little door each day revealing a chocolate underneath.

At my dad's house they had a large cross stitch with ties all around that you used to secure the candy of your choice for each day.

This year I decided to make an advent calendar for Lucy to enjoy. After searching all over the internet and brainstorming ideas I decided to make a very easy and simple paper chain calendar that had a Christmas activity and act of service for Lucy to enjoy each day.

I also wanted to find one of the cardboard chocolate calendars to buy, but couldn't find one! Oh well.

Lucy had fun helping me tape the chain links together and working on a project with me. We hung it along the mantle and have watched it slowly dwindle down as we draw closer to Christmas.

I made an excel spreadsheet and listed the date, day of the week, and the activity and act of service for each day so that I could schedule in church parties, work parties, and Sabbath appropriate activities for Sunday, Monday family night, etc.

I intended on printing it out for my chain but was out of ink and so hand wrote each link instead. Some days we have had to save part of the activity for another day and so I save the link on the mantle until we have done all the activities and then throw it away once it is completed.

There were a lot of activities that I would have loved to include from my own childhood memories, but due to the warm climate and inaccessibility of our small town in Texas, I had to leave them out. Maybe another year!

So far we have really enjoyed the count down and I plan on continuing this tradition next year.


Here is the list of our December activities.



What other activities would you include or suggest for next year?

		Activity	Service
Saturday	1-Dec	Go to the park	Give dad a massage
Sunday	2-Dec	Hot chocolate with marshmallows	Sing Lucy a song
Monday	3-Dec	Make cards for Grandparents	Put dads clean clothes away
Tuesday	4-Dec	Make gorilla bread	Sing dad a song
Wednesday	5-Dec	Make Christmas Wish list- put out shoes for St. Nick	Make someone's bed
Thursday	6-Dec	See what St. Nick brought!	Put away dishes
Friday	7-Dec	Hang mistletoe- get a kiss!	Give dad a kiss
Saturday	8-Dec	Christmas Frontier Dance	Dust the living room
Sunday	9-Dec	Make popcorn- watch Mr. Kruger's Christmas	Sing mom a song
Monday	10-Dec	Missionary Christmas cards	Put away games
Tuesday	11-Dec	Hot Apple Cider Tea Party	Give mom a massage
Wednesday	12-Dec	Scrabble Necklace	Clean the fridge, oven, etc.
Thursday	13-Dec	Paint Nails	Clean dads side of bed
Friday	14-Dec	Church Christmas party	Organize shoe rack
Saturday	15-Dec	Christmas Blanket Fort	Clean out car
Sunday	16-Dec	Sing Christmas Hymns	Give mom a kiss
Monday	17-Dec	Make paper snowflakes	Put away shoes
Tuesday	18-Dec	Make ornament	Wipe down toilets
Wednesday	19-Dec	Family Dance Party	Throw away old magazines
Thursday	20-Dec	Decorate cookies	Give Lucy a kiss
Friday	21-Dec	Play a game with dad	Empty trashes
Saturday	22-Dec	Have breakfast for dinner	Clean bathroom
Sunday	23-Dec	Make a fire and read a book	Give Lucy a massage
Monday	24-Dec	Open one present- Go on Christmas Light Tour	Wipe down door handles
Tuesday	25-Dec	Read the story about the birth of Jesus	Take out the trash