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Ahrens Advent 2016

We cannon-balled right into the Christmas season by decking our halls last weekend (before the Thanksgiving flu-apocolypse had hit us hard), I’ll try to post a little home tour later this week (spoiler alert, it looks really similar to years past) and I just put the finishing touches on our advent calendar plans. A few years ago (when I had all this extra crafting time lying around) I painted little muslin drawstring bags (inspired by Lindsay) that hold a little scripture card for each day and a little treat.

DIY Advent Calendar for toddlers

That can of snow has the kids so intrigued as these California babies can’t remember the Iowa snow they’ve seen before!

DIY Advent Calendar for toddlers

This year I used my mug rack to hang them all up. So much easier than trying to string them across the mantel! I’ve also used a silver bowl to hold them all but I love seeing the little treats peeking out and it adds a little festiveness to this abandoned part of the kitchen.

Advent Bags for Toddlers

Pictures from last year! Look at those little bed-head babies!

Advent calendar for toddlers

I usually have a Christmas activity planned for the day, sometimes something small (Christmas coloring pages!) and some times something extra fun (Disney on Ice!).

Before you get all impressed with my calendar, I’m not usually adding things to our to-do list, we were already going to do them anyway but I like to repackage them into A VERY FUN ACTIVITY KIDS! For example, we were already going to bake bread for the fire station but now it’s our advent activity of service. Etc, etc…Sneaky mom!

You can check out our advent activities from past years (2013/2014/2015) under the #ahrensadvent hashtag on Instagram.

DIY Advent Calendar for toddlers

DIY Advent Calendar for toddlers

I know I say this every year but this is going to be so fun with the kids! They are totally all in on the Christmas magic and are thrilled with any activity related to Christmas. We’ve basically been grooming Harper since July to sit on Santa’s lap since this has been her response to the big guy for the past two years. I know it’s horrible but those crying Santa pictures really are the best.

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I’m pretty much all wrapped up (pun!) with Christmas shopping and am looking forward to just enjoying the season with these kiddos! Happy last week of November!

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