50 Advent Calendar Activity Ideas for Families (No Extra Stuff Required)

An activity advent calendar swaps the daily chocolate for a daily moment: a cocoa night, a drive to see the lights, a kind note for a neighbor. It costs less, creates less clutter and gives kids something to remember. Here are 50 ideas to pick from; you only need 24.

How to set one up

• Write each activity on a card, then match it to a date. Put easy, at-home ideas on school nights and bigger outings on weekends.
• Check your calendar first. If December 12 is a recital, that's a "pizza and a movie" night, not "bake three kinds of cookies."
• Tuck cards into numbered envelopes, small bags or a pocket chart.

Cozy nights at home

1. Make a hot cocoa bar with toppings
2. Watch a Christmas movie in pajamas
3. Build a blanket fort and read a Christmas story inside
4. Bake and decorate cookies
5. Make paper snowflakes for the windows
6. Have a candlelit dinner
7. Do a Christmas puzzle together
8. Make popcorn garlands
9. Write letters to Santa
10. Have a family game night
11. Make salt-dough ornaments
12. Have a Christmas music dance party
13. Make a gingerbread house

Acts of kindness

14. Donate a toy
15. Bake cookies for a neighbor
16. Write a thank-you note to a teacher
17. Leave a treat for the delivery driver
18. Make a card for someone in a care home
19. Donate canned food to a food bank
20. Call a grandparent just to say hi
21. Pick up litter on a walk
22. Leave kind sticky notes around the house
23. Choose a few books or clothes to donate
24. Pay for the next person's coffee
25. Draw pictures to send to family far away

Outings and adventures

26. Drive around to see Christmas lights
27. Visit Santa
28. Go ice skating
29. Pick out a Christmas tree
30. Visit a holiday market
31. See a holiday show or concert
32. Go sledding or build a snowman (weather allowing)
33. Take a winter nature walk and collect pine cones
34. Visit the library for holiday books
35. Have breakfast for dinner at a diner

Traditions and keepsakes

36. Decorate the tree
37. Make a handprint ornament
38. Take a family photo in matching pajamas
39. Wrap presents together
40. Make homemade gift tags
41. Read "The Night Before Christmas"
42. Write down a favorite memory from the year
43. Make reindeer food for Christmas Eve
44. Track Santa on Christmas Eve
45. Open one present on Christmas Eve
46. Call a friend and sing a carol
47. Make a time capsule letter to open next year
48. Learn how Christmas is celebrated in another country
49. Have a Christmas trivia night (here are 40 questions)
50. Make a December memory jar

Printable activity advent calendar

Our Countdown to Christmas set includes 72 printable cards (24 family activities, 24 acts of kindness and 24 blank cards for your own traditions), plus numbered bag tags and a color-in countdown chart.

Countdown to Christmas Advent Calendar Activities: 72 Printable Cards$9.99 · Instant downloadView the printable →

Wrapping gifts too? Grab our free printable Christmas gift tags.