Every year at this time the kids and I make a Christmas Countdown Chain. We like to write a simple and fun activity on each link of the chain to help us prepare for the big day.
There is just one problem with our chain: sometimes what is written on the link isn’t possible that day.
A few days ago I hopped over to Sugar Aunts and found their Easy Last Minute Advent Calendar idea. (Go on, go check it out!)
It was like a light bulb went off! (Pun intended!)
We decided to create our own Christmas countdown made of Christmas lights. I was out of black construction paper, so I just used a black crayon to color the ends of my simple cut out light bulbs, and I also had to make due with putting 2 lights in a clothespin.
My daughter asked if we could put a birthday present at the end for Christmas Day. It seemed like a good idea to me!
Then we sat down as a family and came up with ideas of activities to write on each light bulb.
Some of the things we came up with:
- Put up and decorate the Christmas tree
- Make marshmallow snowmen
- Sing “Jingle Bells”
- Go look at Christmas lights
- Do a Christmas craft
- Read some of our favorite Christmas books
I love that we can now move light bulbs around when the activity just doesn’t fit into our schedule that day. (Or the weather… Who wants to see Christmas lights if it’s pouring rain outside?)
How do you count down the days before Christmas?
Chris Carter says
December 2, 2013 at 4:52 pmLOVE LOVE LOVE THIS IDEA!!!! I am SO sharing it!! And I am SO gonna do it! Thanks so much for sharing your amazing creativity!
OneMommy says
December 4, 2013 at 1:36 pmOh! Thank you! Like I said, I originally saw it on Sugar Aunts. I love how I can change the bulbs around as needed. We usually do a little paper chain. This way, when we didn’t get the tree up yesterday as hoped, I just switched paper bulbs around and made it the one that said “sing Jingle Bells” — something we could do at bedtime!
Thanks for sharing it!
karen says
December 3, 2013 at 8:43 amthink that is such a great idea…so creative and family oriented. maybe if I wasn’t so lazy, I might try that.
OneMommy says
December 4, 2013 at 1:32 pmLOL — I would never think of you as lazy! Busy, maybe, but not lazy! 🙂 Let Dino create his own version. It would be good scissor practice and you don’t have to write anything on them. He can just clip them to string. Bet he’d be super proud!
thedoseofreality says
December 3, 2013 at 1:02 pmLove it! What a creative way to celebrate and get the kids involved, too! :)-Ashley
OneMommy says
December 4, 2013 at 1:31 pmWe NEED a countdown here…Every day my 4 y.o. asks if Christmas is tomorrow…and every day we count the light bulbs that are left.
Donna DM Yates says
December 3, 2013 at 1:51 pmHow cute. Not only is it creative, but it’s very helpful in remembering what still has to be done. Love it.