Last Updated on December 7, 2023 by Sarah McCubbin
One of my favorite Christmas traditions with my younger kids is to make a “Book Advent Calendar.” We actually make several kinds of advent calendars because we love having the chance several times a day to celebrate. And a book advent calendar is such a simple way to create renewed excitement about something “old.” Here are the simple steps to make yours!
Table of Contents
What is a Book Advent Calendar
Like any other advent calendar, this one is a 25 day countdown to celebrating the birth of Christ. Some advent calendars focus on reading from the Bible and others focus more on the sweet traditions of the season. A book calendar can be a bit of both…tradition and the true reason for the season.
How to Make a Book Advent Calendar
1. Collect Up All the Christmas Books in the House
You need 25 books, but if you don’t have 25 Christmas books, you can supplement with library books or shorten your book advent calendar to use the books you have…or you can do what I do…and start a tradition of adding a new Christmas book or two to your shelf every year!
2. Wrap Up Your Books
I have found that this is a great way to use up wrapping paper that has been sitting in the back of the closet…not anyone’s favorite but too useful to throw away. I like to wrap up these books wrapping paper we will never use. If you don’t have any wrapping paper, you can obviously buy some…or make some out of newspaper or butcher block paper. I’ve noticed that a lot of packages come with wadded up brown paper in them. That is excellent repurposed as wrapping paper. The kids can even decorate it first!
Print off Tags from 1 to 25 on cardstock and add a tag to each package. To make things easy, I’ve created some printable tags. Be sure to grab yours!
4. Place All of Your “Gifts” in a Basket
For little kids, this is so exciting. The book advent calendar looks like a basket of presents. All kids love presents…and this is a great way to give them one every night without spending money!
5. Start Reading Your Advent Book Calendar!
Advent is one way we teach the Bible at home without it being stressful!
Traditions don’t need to be expensive to be well loved and enjoyed by all ages! I encourage you to try the book advent calendar this year. Start small with the books you have and add more every year!
Looking For More Great Activities To Do With Kids Over the Holidays?
1. Try Subscription Boxes! The U.K. has a ton of great ones for kids!
2. Here is a list of 10 Different Advent Activities!
3. Make an annual ornament with your family!
Sarah McCubbin, founder of Ten Minute Momentum, is dedicated to helping parents confidently parent their kids by teaching life skills, social skills and leadership skills. As a child she was the kid that never quite fit in and is on a mission to help others understand the building blocks we all need to be successful adults. She lives in Ohio with her husband Mike, and 9 kids ranging in age from 5 to 21 where they use homeschool, private school and public schools for their kids education!
More Reading:
Pingback: How to Encourage Reading | 6 Tips to Fire up a Reluctant Reader | Families Magazine
Love the Christmas Book advent calendar idea. Thanks for sharing.
I hope you get a chance to try it. It would work well for a 12 days of Christmas type theme as well!
Love this post! I typically buy books for my kids each Christmas, but I think maybe next year I will just rewrap Christmas ones to read!! Awesome giveaway, thanks for the opportunity!
Yes! It is so fun. I still buy a couple of new Christmas books but I just mix them into the wrapped books so they get them in the weeks leading up to Christmas. My kids are already asking for the Christmas books because I don’t keep them in general circulation. I haven’t wrapped them for this year…but I need to do in the next week 🙂 Its such a fun tradition that I’d love to use it for other holidays. I just don’t have nearly as many books for the other holidays. Of course…I can always buy more LOL 🙂
I love advent calendars. This is a great idea for one.
This sounds like fun! I’d have to choose carefully which books were opened on which day, or else we might get kind of antsy waiting for certain favorites to be available.
This year, we are adding some Christmas carol picture books to our collection: the story behind the song (Silent Night, I Wonder as I Wander) and illustrated lyrics (Little Drummer Boy, The Friendly Beasts).
We’ve read lots of Christmas books year after year, but this is a fun twist to try!
Several great ideas to do with the kids! I love reading our Christmas books too, but I never thought of wrapping them. I like making an ornament with them too.