Advent Calendar Ideas: 24 Activities Instead of Candy

Write the 24 activities on slips of paper this weekend: each number is a day in December, and the quick ones land on school nights.

Days 1 to 6: easy starts at home

The first week is about getting into the habit. Each of these takes 10 to 20 minutes and uses things already in the house.

School nights

1. Start here Write a family wish list for December: one thing each person wants to do this month. Tape it to the fridge and check items off as you go.
2. Read a Christmas picture book together after dinner. Let the youngest pick it.
3. Make a paper chain with one loop for every day left until Christmas, and tear off the first loop tonight.

Weekend days

4. Put up one decoration together, and let the kids decide where it goes.
5. Have a Christmas music dance party in the living room for three songs.
6. Bake or decorate cookies, even store-bought ones, and save one plate to give away.

Number 1 is my favorite of the whole list. It lets the kids fill in half of December themselves.

Days 7 to 12: make something

The second week has a craft or a small project each day. Most are in our Christmas crafts for kids, with the supplies listed.

School nights

7. Cut paper snowflakes and tape them to a window.
8. Make a card for a grandparent or a neighbor, and mail it tomorrow.
9. Draw your family as elves, and hang the drawing where everyone can see it.

Weekend days

10. Make salt dough ornaments, and paint them once they are dry.
11. Build a gingerbread house, or a cereal-box one with markers.
12. Make a homemade gift wrap with sponge stamps on paper bags.

Days 13 to 18: go out and give

The third week leaves the house a little more. Most of these cost nothing.

School nights

13. Drive or walk around the neighborhood to look at lights, with cocoa in travel mugs.
14. Pick three toys in good shape to donate, and let the kids choose them.
15. Write a thank-you note to a teacher, a bus driver or a mail carrier.

Weekend days

16. Visit a library and check out three holiday books.
17. Go to a local tree lighting, parade or holiday market if your town has one.
18. Shovel a neighbor’s walk or rake their leaves, depending on the weather.

The light walk at number 13 is the one I’d never cut. It costs nothing and fills a whole evening.

Days 19 to 24: the big lead-up

The last week builds to Christmas Eve. Save the activities the kids talk about most for here.

School nights

19. Have a family game night with three games from our Christmas games for the whole family.
20. Watch a Christmas movie in pajamas, with popcorn on a blanket on the floor.
21. Write letters to Santa, or to someone far away, and read them out loud.

The last three days

22. Build a blanket fort and read stories inside it with a flashlight.
23. Wrap presents together, with each kid wrapping one gift for someone else.
24. Set out a plate for Santa, read one last story and open the paper chain’s final loop.

How to hide the activities

You don’t need to buy a calendar. Any of these works with the 24 slips of paper.

• Envelopes on a string: number 24 small envelopes and clip them to a string with clothespins.
• A jar of folded notes: number the slips and pull the day’s number from a jar each morning.
• The paper chain itself: write the activity on the inside of each loop of the chain from day 3.

Most calendars count 24 days, from December 1 to Christmas Eve. Advent itself starts earlier: Britannica says Western churches begin it on the Sunday nearest November 30, which in 2026 is November 29.

If the elf is visiting too, our Elf on the Shelf ideas can share the same morning. After Christmas, our New Year’s Eve games pick up where this list ends. The rest of the holidays live in the Family hub, and we explain how we write these lists on How we pick.