.24 happy family moments in a little Christmas countdown box {+ printable activity cards}
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One of our favorite things to do at the beginning of December is to create a countdown calendar with one nice idea to try in every day before Christmas.
It’s a lovely way to use holiday time to connect and create wonderful family moments!
There are many ways to create awesome countdown calendars for kids but I’m not a very crafty person so I just wanted to try something easy to do. And I’ve discovered an idea that I love: the Christmas countdown box!
You can prepare it in a few minutes and it will offer you (and your kids) 24 lovely moments to enjoy together before Christmas.
Here is what you’ll need for preparing the Christmas Countdown Box:
– a small box (either a Christmas-themed box that you can buy from any big supermarket or a normal box that you can decorate with your kids)
– 24 small colored envelopes (I bought them from Amazon but you can find them in many office supplies stores)
– colored number stickers (you can manually write the number if you want but these stickers look really nice on the envelopes)
– 24 activity cards (you can download them at the end of the article)
photo credit: YanLev / shutterstock.com
How to create the Christmas Countdown Box:
This is very simple! The box will be ready in a few minutes and your kids will certainly enjoy it!
1. If you have a normal box you can decorate it with your kids to give it a more festive look. If you already bought a Christmas-themed box, you can skip this step.
2. Print the activity cards at the end of the article and cut them out. Add your activity ideas on each of them (or use the filled-in activity cards if you need more inspiration).
(Optional: For durability, you can print them on cardstock or laminate them. We chose to laminate them because we have a laminator at hand and it was easy to do this.)
3. Use the stickers to put a number from 1 to 24 on each of the envelopes.
4. Place the activity cards in the envelopes.
When you place each activity in the envelope take a look at the calendar and make sure that you chose a day when you’ll have time to do that activity. For example, we scheduled the more elaborated activities during the weekend when we have more time to put them into practice.
5. Place all the envelopes (in the right order from 1 to 24) in the box.
And the most beautiful part: Offer the box to your kids and let them know that you have planned one nice activity to do together every day until Christmas.
I am sure that they will be very happy and will be glad to check the box every single day to see what activity is next.
Download the printable Activity Cards
- If you created your own holiday bucket list and you want to fill in the activity cards with your own ideas, click here to download the set of blank activity cards.
- If you prefer the filled-in version of the activity cards, with 24 activity ideas to enjoy with your kids, click here to download the Holiday Activities Pack that includes all the cards plus many other activities to try with your little ones this holiday season. As a participant at the Holiday Joy Challenge, you can get the pack at 30% off using the code JOY at checkout.
I hope that you’ll enjoy creating your Christmas countdown box! I’m sure that your kids will love the idea and will look forward to doing all the activities!