We are far enough into December that if you are doing an advent calendar, it’s likely already established… so if your advent is disappointing, then you probably already know that. No worries, though – I’ve got a few tips and tricks to help turn the disappointment around and make even a simple advent something to enjoy.
For starters, our advent calendar this year is literally different slips of paper, mostly with a short typed sentence, or a small piece of wrapping paper. Nothing fancy here. Oh, and the calendar itself is a cardboard box with drawers that we bought on clearance and decorated.
Need a super easy idea for a Trim Healthy Mama friendly advent calendar activity? For an advent calendar that children are participating in, this sugar free gingerbread syrup is very quick to make (with adult assistance and supervision), and would be delicious in sugar free hot cocoa or a mug of coffee.
What’s in Our Advent Calendar?
You already know about our typed sentences and wrapping paper situation, but what is ON the paper? Or what does the wrapping paper even mean?
This is our first year doing an advent calendar and if an advent is disappointing, it’s often due to preexisting expectations of what the calendar will be like… not necessarily the actual contents.
We wrapped twelve Christmas books and movies that we already owned (six of each) books in one type of wrapping paper and movies in another type. I got the idea on Pinterest. On a “movie” advent day, we open the box and it’s a piece of wrapping paper that matches the paper the six movies are individually wrapped in. So we choose a package wrapped in a piece of matching paper at random, and that’s the movie we watch for our advent that day. It’s the same with the books, just a different wrapping paper.
What about the typed sentences?
The sentences often correspond to an activity. One day we opened a badminton set and played a game of badminton (our niece who is doing the advent calendar with us LOVES badminton and is always asking to play). Another day was to set up the nativity scene. We have a day or two of making homemade ornaments for the tree, decorating Christmas cookies (this could be done with on plan cookies) and so forth.
When Your Advent is Disappointing
As stated above, if your advent is disappointing, there are probably clues to suggest such… but it’s still something that can be adjusted if needed.
Remember that most people don’t know what the advent calendar contains… so if you want or need to swap out something, that can usually be done.. however, I have found that attitude is everything when it comes to your advent being disappointing.
- Set the tone. Be careful how much you “talk up” the calendar, or how much excitement you surround it with. It’s great to share some excitement about the coming activities or treats, but if you get too amped up about it there is bound to be some disappointment or some kind of let down… expectations easily can be overly high.
- Talk about what to expect (reasonably) beforehand. This doesn’t necessarily mean spoilers, but you could caution a child that is expecting treats by explaining it’s an activity advent this year, or by prefacing the advent opening by setting an expectation that it’s a “simple” advent.
- Start the first day or two off small. If you start big, then that sets large expectations for the remainder of the calendar. Our first day of advent was to simply set out the nativity scene for the season. We already own the nativity, so it was a free, easy activity for the day.
- If you are doing bigger activities, “sprinkle” them in with the smaller ones so that a big activity isn’t expected each day.
- Don’t open the “door” for the day unless you can do the activity right away. We have set the expectation that we aren’t looking at our advent until we are prepared for whatever is behind the door… because otherwise we get busy and the advent gets set aside and forgotten. Talk about an making sure an advent is disappointing… to not get to do what was promised, or to not get to do the activity when you see what is planned. This way, the excitement is fresh when we open the door and get to do the activity immediately.
Bonus Tip
Bonus: if you have a master list of advent activities (I put mine on the monthly calendar spread of my planner because I usually only use the daily pages) you can reference what is planned for each day or week easily and can purchase what you need in advance… but you can also know beforehand if you need to swap two days or put a different activity in one day because it just isn’t going as planned that day.
Are you doing an advent calendar this year? Was the initial reaction that your advent was disappointing before the expectations were set for what it would be like? How did you handle it? Let me know in the comments below!
Christian, wife, “hybrid” mama, I run the site All Behind A Smile to help others like me.
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