Advent calender fillers

springdreams

Advent calendar fillers - won't let me edit the threat title ...

I have 3 refillable advent calendars - one with 24 little stockings on a string, a Christmas house with 24 little drawers and a santa and sleigh with 24 little drawers. Last year I bought £1 gold foil chocolate coins off of fleabay for the Christmas house, chocolate bars and christmas cracker fillers for the stockings and the sleigh is new. They cost a fortune, and there is an excess of chocolate for just one boy, which he does not eat, so looking for different and cheaper options this year. I will still put some little chocolates in, but want a few surprises as well. So my question is...what do you put in yours and where do you buy them from??

iammumtoone

How old are the children? and how much do you want to spend?

springdreams

I have one DS, who will be 13 on 13 December

He is a West Ham fan, avid football player, keen Fifa player on both xbox and PS3.

He had his ear pierced during the summer hols, so I am thinking of getting a West Ham ear stud.

I also intend to add some activities in the calendars, such as:

Make cupcakes
Go to movies
Home made milk shake
Home made ice cream sundae
Pic of his dog wearing a santa hat

I'm just looking for ideas in general, and am sure others with refillable advent calendars would also benefit for the ideas of all the festive folk on this forum

It would be nice if the contents of each advent could be around the £10 mark or less if possible, as that would be £30 to fill all 3 of them.

I am still doing him a stocking , even though he no longer believes and a Christmas eve hamper.

iammumtoone

What I was going to suggest would be too young for him but might help others. I was going to suggest just filling a few boxes to start with and waiting, as early December the toy advent calendars (playmobil etc) always go cheap therefore buying one at a good price and filling up the rest of the boxes with it.

I love your idea of activities could you maybe also include some other types of vouchers like get out of chores for one day, an extra few hours play allowed on the xbox etc.

vikki_louise

Does he need 3? Just as much enjoyment and countdown with the 1, especially when they have gifts rather than just a picture or small chocolate like supermarket ones

caroline78

My solution won't help at all ....lol. as my wee man is 2.5, but he has a Mickey Mouse Disney one with wee drawers and I also get him a cheap chocolate one when I buy mine and hubbys,

In the Disney one I have bought a pack of 36 cars from Amazon (think they were about a fiver), and I will put one in each night in the correct drawer. If I put them all in on the 1st he will open each drawer and get them all...lol...The rest will go into his Christmas Eve hamper...xx

Stephb1986_2

Wouldn't it be better to spend £30 on just one instead of £10 on 3. You could get better quality items to put in it that way.

Steph x

springdreams

No he doesn't NEED three

He has special needs, and gets a lot of enjoyment out of the advent calendars. He opens one before school (motivation to get ready quickly), one when he gets home from school and one after dinner.

Whether it is one or three, the issue is still what to put in them.

It is not really about the quality either. Most things in advent calendars are similar to cracker toys - fun for a short while.

He is getting a main present, a stocking (which I already have all the bits for) and a Christmas eve hamper (which I also already have all the bits for). The advent calendars are simply a build up to the main event.

They don't have to all contain things that cost money, so it doesn't just boil down to cost. I will be putting things in that don't cost a lot, such as the photo of his dog in a santa hat. I also plan to find some jokes on the internet and put some of those in.

This thread is not just for me. I could think up ideas on my own if need be - I have been doing it for years after all. However, I thought it would be nice to share ideas and see what others put in theirs.

So ignore the fact that my DS has 3, and come up with ideas to just fill one

iammumtoone

It doesn't matter how many a child has my DS is six doesn't have special needs but has two (a lego one and a chocolate one) he will open them at different times of the day and will probably get more enjoyment out of that with the anticipation of Christmas rather than the day itself when he will more than likely be overwhelmed with all the presents.

In reading this I am resisting the temptation to do another one myself with just bits of paper with activities to do.

OP have you thought of printing activities / puzzles / colouring etc from the web to put in. I read on another thread that there is a site that will allow you to make up your own crossword using words and clues that are relevant to your son.

You could get a couple of items from poundland that are too big for the calendar, hide them up and place a clue in the calendar where to find them.

Chris25

mine used to have the string of little stockings and most of the presents were things like - a bottle of bubbles, rubbers, crayons, some sweets and rolled up 'vouchers' (printed off the internet) for activities or games to play, or books to read.

One year we bought new Christmas biscuit cutters & stuck those individually into the stockings & asked them what they thought they were going to so with them - and they said 'make playdough' It wasn't what I had in mind, especially as they hadn't played with it for a couple of years, but make it we did & they really enjoyed it. So, we bought more cutters for biscuits!

Then it was things like nail polish, make up, hair clips, little Christmas hankies, lipsalve, some sweets of course, rolled up magazines, stationery stuff -more an advent box file folder than the little stocking chain which went to the christmas fayre, filled, as a raffle prize.

Now it's just a chocolate one and an e-one (as old as they are ) - https://www.jacquielawson.com/advent

flissy,s_mum

I always have the problem of what to put in, stickers are good you dont have to use whole sheets cut them up, also the little party gifts you find in packs at tesco or asda, rubbers or crayons bought in packs from pound shops, or chocolate figures or coins. I also put in real money to spend when we go shopping. Hope these ideas help Merry Christmas