How to make an advance calendar. What is an advent calendar and ideas for creating it. Paper bags with clothespins

Let's be honest, every year we give more or less the same thing. Therefore, I see no point in writing another “same as everyone else” guide to best gifts on New Year.

OZON

It’s still difficult to get advent calendars in supermarkets (I hope this is temporary), but you can order chocolate ones from Ozon, and with postcards, and with tasks (ideal for children), and with magnets, and from L’Occitane. 24 sweet and beautiful day for you and your loved ones.

LINDT

About chocolate calendars. They are the most traditional and the most loved. Of those that I looked at, I would like to highlight the Swiss Lindt. Any adult would be happy to receive such a calendar. Chocolate bears, mmm!

For fans of dark chocolate, there is a set with branded bars inside: chocolate with mint, with sea salt, 70% and 90% cocoa.

GODIVA

A calendar with sweet figures from one of the best chocolate brands ever. Very beautiful.

THE BODY SHOP

Cosmetic companies have cleverly played with the idea of an Advent calendar, selling samples of their products in it. Very cool idea: and beautiful gift, and the opportunity to try 24 brand products at once. This year The Body Shop released three calendars (the boxes differ in color, content and price), as well as a mini star-shaped version with 8 products. There is only one problem - they are not sold in Russia, but you can order them from the British or American website of the company.

KIEHL'S

One of the most beautiful cosmetic calendars this year. And how many travel jars?! There are 20 miniatures and samples, as well as 4 full products, including my favorite avocado eye cream.

BALMAIN

A luxurious gift for a special person. The Balmain calendar has only 10 doors, but inside there are impressive gifts: moisturizing shampoo, perfume, nail polish, texturizing hair spray, a branded comb and all the luxury stuff.

ASOS

Offering this year a calendar from the Johny Loves Rosie brand. It contains 25 jewelry: rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, pendants. Give and your girlfriend/girlfriend/sister will be provided with accessories for any outfit for a year. In addition, Asos has released two of its own (and very cool) beauty calendars for girls and men, but they are already sold out.

JO MALONE

A beautiful colorful house with candles, shower malts, scrubs and perfumes hidden inside. Expensive, but hard to resist.

CHARLOTTE TILBURY

Of course, this gift is for a) those who know and who love the brand, b) fans decorative cosmetics generally. A very beautiful box that can be used even after the holidays, with the best products brands.

DIPTYQUE

If your significant other is a fan of Diptyque scents, you can only imagine their joy when receiving their signature candle and scent calendar. A figurative, and perhaps a real, leap to the ceiling is guaranteed.

L'OCCITANE

I lick my lips at L’Occitane advent calendars every year. These guys have long understood the trend and have been releasing similar sets before the holidays for several years now. This time the brand released two calendars: standard and premium.

NYX

The NYX brand has such a wide range that it is impossible to try everything. You can get closer to this with their “fondant” advent calendar. 24 liquid, matte, satin lipsticks + glosses and pencils. I would buy such a calendar with a couple of friends and sort out the set for three after opening all the cells, why not?!

CLINIQUE

An ideal opportunity to get acquainted with the brand's bestsellers. For the first time they have 24 products, including the famous liquid soap for the face, intense moisturizing cream, cream-gel for the skin around the eyes, lipstick, the famous Lash Power mascara, blush, hand cream and eau de parfum.

BABOR

For fans professional care. 24 ampoules that must be applied day after day from number 1 to number 24. Moisturizing, nourishing, protecting, fighting wrinkles - a skincare fairy tale.

CIATE LONDON

Absolutely a gift for those who love nail polishes and self-care for their hands. The set contains 20 polishes (including their signature glitter), one nail care product, two coatings for durability + some surprise.

PS: While we were making the post, we found out that CIATE had also released a classic beauty calendar with popular products.

FEELUNIQUE

Your own Advent calendar from a popular online cosmetics store. 12 windows and products from Revlon, NYX, invisibobble, Rimmel, Elizabeth Arden and other brands. Everything is provided in full-size versions. I bought and packed a small cosmetic bag for the whole year.

GINVENT

ALCOHOL calendar from Ginvent with 24 bottles of gin. Urgent letter to Santa for adults.

THE PIP STOP

Another alcohol calendar, but for girls. Inside are 24 bottles of champagne.

TANYA BURR vs ZOELLA

Two super popular female bloggers from the UK with their own advent calendar ideas. Tanya has 12 products from her own cosmetic line (nail polishes, eye shadows, lip glosses), Zoya has the same 12 windows with products from her line of home and shower products.

LOOKFANTASTIC

A very beautiful (and expensive) beauty calendar with references to Alice in Wonderland. 25 products, of which 19 were created specifically for the set. 9 full-size and 16 miniatures. And of course a box that you can use.

DECLEOR

All the brand's bestsellers in one calendar, three products are presented in full-size versions. For a fan of the brand - an ideal gift.

CLARINS

Again a mono-brand option, but this time not even two, but three calendars: for 12 and 24 windows with popular products of the brand, as well as a men’s set. The big one includes lip oil, as well as accessories (keychains, bracelets, cards).

The tradition of creating advent calendars, or waiting calendars, appeared in our lives relatively recently. They are also called Christmas ones in another way. Such things will surely bring joy to both you and your baby. And it doesn’t matter at all that this tradition came from Catholic countries. After all, you can always adapt the custom to suit yourself. In addition, such a calendar does not have to be made only before Christmas or New Year. You can please your child, for example, before his birthday or other holiday. This way you will create your own

Advent calendar - what is it?

The word “Advent” itself is borrowed from Latin and is translated as “coming.” This is how the period preceding Christmas is designated in the Christian world. It is a time of celebration and fun during which everyone prepares for the four weeks before Christmas, each of which has its own theme.

The most famous tradition of this time is the Advent wreath. A wreath is created from fir branches, which contains four candles. Candles are lit every week. And this reflects the fact that it is getting lighter every week. Another custom is the advent calendar. We will try to find out what this is in this article.

The history of the advent calendar

A couple of centuries ago, people tried to brighten up the anticipation of Christmas and give this period a touch of magic and unusualness. The most primitive method was in which lines were drawn on the blackboard using chalk according to the number of days remaining until the holiday, and then erased one by one. And in some families a new candle was lit every day.

The first advent calendar appeared in the form of printed pictures in Germany. The author brought this idea from his childhood. His mother, to brighten up the anticipation of the holiday, attached to new postcard candy and handed it to her son. This idea gained success after it was modified and small doors were added, behind which the surprise was hidden.

Advent calendar our way

In the post-Soviet space, people learned about calendars quite recently. But we celebrate the New Year on a larger scale. Therefore, the number of compartments in the calendar should be 31. You can buy or make It may contain sweets or small gifts. On sale you can find a chocolate advent calendar. It looks like a thin cardboard box with windows cut into it. Each window contains a chocolate figurine.

Let's make a New Year's calendar yourself

What could be more fun than creating a New Year's advent calendar with your own hands? First you should take care of selecting the material. It could be anything. You can use not only cardboard and paper, but also fabric, ribbons and accessories. As well as ready-made containers (boxes, buckets) or even items of clothing. For example, mittens or socks. Such a calendar can take more than a month to create or can be built in one day or even in a few hours. Here everything will depend on your imagination and capabilities. It can be created from cardboard in the form of a small chest of drawers. But this will probably be the most time-consuming option. But the task can be simplified by placing some containers on a shelf or hanging them in the form of a garland.

What an advent calendar made of paper and cardboard might look like

Let's look at some interesting options you can use for your waiting calendar. To implement these ideas, you can take the most inexpensive type of material - paper and cardboard.

The first option is a cardboard chest of drawers. This is the most difficult, but you can use it year after year until you get tired of it. Just put it away after the holidays and take it out again next year. To create it, you need to perform a lot of calculations and prepare cardboard blanks for the entire chest of drawers and for each drawer. And after assembly, you can also cover it with paper or decorate it in another way. After all, it should contain not only gifts, but also the Christmas spirit. Such a chest of drawers can look like a house or a Christmas tree, or be simply square shape. Don't forget to attach handles to the drawers so you can easily remove all the contents.

Another paper option is envelopes. Make them different shapes and colors and decorate with New Year's little things. Be sure to label each envelope with the number of the corresponding day. Glue them onto a cardboard base or attach them with clothespins to a rope. Or you can put them together into a garland and decorate a window, a wall, or even a headboard.

And one more paper method. Simply fold the paper into cubes, cylinders or cones and design them in the same way as described earlier. Although, if the space of the room allows, you can scatter it all chaotically on the table. The main thing is to successfully choose additional decor.

Fabric calendar

If you know how to sew, then your ideas for an advent calendar can be very different. Let's start with the simplest option - a rug with pockets. Although it can become the most difficult.

It all depends on how you perform it. You can just cut it out different fabrics pockets and stitch them onto the base, or you can create each detail using the patchwork technique ( patchwork), decorate with applique or embroidery. Garlands made from sewn boots or mittens, decorated to your liking, also look great. And don't forget about the numbers.

And the most original look would be a calendar in the form of a toy with many pockets. For example, in the form of a large soft snowman or an elegant Christmas tree.

Quick Advent Calendar

If you do not have a lot of time, then you will need ready-made containers or wardrobe items in order to create an advent calendar. What could it be? Just as mentioned above, you can place, for example, small metal buckets or drawers. You just need to decorate them a little and stick a number on them. Although now on sale you can easily find originally painted or decorated containers, which will further simplify your work. The main thing is to watch the size, because your surprises should fit there easily.

Instead of boxes and buckets, you can hang bright socks or mittens. Or even Christmas balls, which are disassembled into two halves. They can be found in craft stores.

How to fill your waiting calendar

So, creative process creation is complete, and now we need to choose the filler that we will put in our advent calendar. What could it be? Yes, anything. Small cookies or sweets. But nowadays they are often replaced with all sorts of other things, which does not exclude, but rather complements their use. These can be small toys, hair clips, stickers, figurines and even mini construction sets.

It all depends on your child's preferences. You can create a whole fairy tale a month long. For example, hide it somewhere and draw a map with tasks that the baby must complete. Cut it into 31 pieces or even tear it. Place a piece of the card into your pockets every day so that at the end of the month you and your child can collect it entirely and find the main prize. Just because you don't have kids yet doesn't mean you're missing out on the fun. Create such a calendar for yourself and your partner and divide the days for surprises. And also fill all your pockets with interesting tasks or general leisure options. And then you won’t be bored on any of the New Year’s days.

In general, it’s up to you to decide what to put in the advent calendar. Use all your imagination and create a fairy tale for yourself and your loved ones for at least one month.

There are many beautiful New Year and pre-Christmas traditions. One of them is the advent calendar. What is it? This is something unusual in the usual expectation of a miracle. Children, for whom waiting is an unbearable test, are especially happy to see him.

The history of the advent calendar

The first Advent calendars (prototypes of the Advent calendar) appeared in Germany. Lutheran families, in preparation for Christmas, began to celebrate each day with some small action. In some families, they paid attention to the faces of saints and hung their images one by one on the wall (adding one drawing every day). In others, they did it even simpler: they drew crosses, sticks or zeroes with chalk on the wall. The children got involved in the magic process and erased one drawing every day. There were religious families where the whole process was associated with a candle. 24 divisions were applied to a large candle, the candle was lit every day, and Christmas stories were told while one division melted. Then the candle was extinguished and waited for the next evening.

Every advent calendar has a common feature. What is this? The total number of all items (crosses, divisions, images) was unchanged - always 24. This is explained by the fact that from December 1 to the Nativity of Christ there are 24 days. After all, Catholics have a holiday on December 25, and the Advent calendar was invented by Catholics. The waiting calendar most often looks like a craft house or multi-colored postcards based on the number of days until Christmas.

First publisher of the advent calendar

The first to think of publishing an advent calendar was German entrepreneur Gerhard Lang. He himself remembered that, as a child, he constantly pestered his mother with questions about the coming of Christmas. AND main question sounded like this: “When?” Frau Lang was a smart, busy woman and doted on her son. She came up with original craft so that the questions disappear forever. The woman carved on cardboard box 24 small windows. She explained to Gerhard that he could open only one window once a day. Behind every door loving mother I cooked it for my son sweet gift- cookie. The boy liked the game. He received the sweets and stopped pestering his mother with questions. Everything became clear without them: there are as many days until Christmas as there are unopened windows left. At the same time, the boy mastered counting.

When Gerhard became an adult, he got a job as a worker in a printing house. Later he himself became the owner of a printing house and a serious entrepreneur. In 1908, Mr. Lang released the first non-handmade advent calendar. It was simple: 24 Christmas-themed designs that were attached to a cardboard base. The idea appealed to many parents. The printing house offered consumers an improved calendar with opening windows. Hidden behind the shutters were quotes from the Bible, images of saints, or small tasks for children. Children and their parents liked calendars with windows more. Over the course of several years, 30 were released different types. Then the printing house closed. In the 40s, it was forbidden to publish advent calendars: there was a shortage of paper in the warring country.

Revival and spread around the world

In the late 40s, Stuttgart activist Richard Selmer took up the challenge of reviving the production of Advent calendars. He is credited with resurrecting the tradition of mass-producing advent calendars for children. In the 50s, a new type of such products appeared. In them, behind the shutters in the windows, sweets were hidden, chocolates so beloved by children (not like the fragile cookies from Gerhard Lang’s childhood).

The tradition has taken root not only in Germany or other Catholic countries. At first it “registered” in neighboring Austria and Switzerland, and later received recognition in all countries of the world. The New Year's Advent calendar has spread throughout the Orthodox world. In general, the word "Advent" is translated as "coming, waiting." Children can look forward to more than just New Year or Christmas. They are waiting for their birthday, the arrival of their beloved grandmother or the date of departure to the sea. Each expected event can be brightened up with a game by offering your child an advent calendar. It may include more than the accepted 24 days and extend for a month. Or it could become shorter and turn into a ten-day game or a week-long event.

Making a calendar with your own hands

To create a unique advent calendar with your own hands, you will need to decide on several points.

Who is this calendar for?
What do you want to achieve: decorate your home, keep your child occupied, teach counting, collect a set of toys, develop creative thinking?
What will you fill your calendar with: toys, candy, tasks to complete together?

Then you should choose general view products: a poster, a sewn/knitted design, a product made from boxes, or simply surprises hanging on hooks. Gifts can be placed in pockets, socks, buckets, bags, cups or other containers. Everyone chooses based on their capabilities and abilities.

Tasks for children

Nowadays, creative, one-of-a-kind advent calendars are becoming increasingly popular. It’s not that difficult to make such a thing with your own hands (we’ll help you decide further on tasks that will engage your child). The main thing is imagination, a little creativity and, of course, the desire to please your baby. The tasks don't have to be difficult. Here is a sample list:

cut out a snowflake from paper;
make a garland from paper strips;
make a snowman or Santa Claus from plasticine;
make a card for grandparents;
learn a poem;
decorate the window;
decorate the Christmas tree;
draw a festive picture;
freeze colored figures from water to decorate the playground.

Some children may enjoy advent calendar activity events, such as these:

going to the cinema;
visiting the New Year's performance;
joint skating on an ice slide;
festive visit to a cafe;
communication with animals in the zoo.

Surprise for a child

In order to interest the baby, you need to prepare a surprise treat for him. It could be:

"Kinder Surprise" (toy and chocolate at the same time);
prefabricated parts of something large (a set of furniture, a model of a ship, a family of cartoon characters);
themed stickers;
sets for creativity (figures for modeling from dough or plasticine, felt-tip pens, paints and a sketchbook).

It all depends on the hobbies of a particular child or on the desire of the parents to develop certain qualities in him.

What does an advent calendar look like?

So, you wanted to make an advent calendar for your child. We have already discussed what this is. It remains to be seen what it might be. Here is a limitless flight of fantasy. This can be a stretched rope, and bags or buckets, socks or little bags hang on it. You can make a small Christmas tree for your child, which he will decorate with one toy every day. It must be taken out of a secluded place.

A good option for an advent calendar is a structure made from matchboxes. Each of them slides out, and a small prize-gift is hidden there. It will not be difficult for needlewomen to knit or sew bags for sweets or beautiful pockets for souvenirs. Of course, you can simplify everything to the first prototypes of the Advent calendar and draw crosses with chalk. Let the child wash them one by one and watch how time passes, bringing the long-awaited holiday closer. It is important to consider one point: than younger child, the shorter the waiting calendar should be. Otherwise, the baby will simply get tired of waiting and lose interest.

Memories from childhood

New is good and long forgotten old. The Advent calendar, as we know it today, became widespread in Russia quite recently. And in the distant childhood of many parents in Russian schools and kindergartens they did something similar. Remember decorating a painted Christmas tree with garlands of decorated balls. Each child decorated their own garland. The number of balls corresponded to the number of days remaining until the New Year. Isn't this a real advent calendar? What else could it be? Moreover, such expectation competitions could be timed not only for the New Year. It could be a bouquet for mom on the Eighth of March or a gift to grandfather-great-grandfather on Victory Day.

Modern gadgets and advent calendar

The modern use of various gadgets forced us to invent tasks for the advent calendar for children on the computer. An animated Christmas tree is installed on the desktop of a computer or laptop. On it, like on an improvised calendar, the number of days remaining until the expected date, for example Christmas or New Year, is counted down. Advent gadgets offer several types of Christmas trees. You can choose the tree you like, decorate your desktop with it, and set the countdown to the final point. For children, when opening one element of the garland, a task appears. Children briefly have access to the desired computer, complete a task and receive a surprise.

Hello, dear friends of my blog! I haven’t even started writing the article yet, but I’m already in a festive mood. Of course! After all, today we will be inspired by magical ideas and create a New Year’s advent calendar 2018. Let’s take a look interesting options, so that each of you can make it with your own hands, even if you are not used to needlework! I’ll also give you a lot of cool ideas for assignments and Advent activities. These 2 lists are my little gift to you to make your calendar amazing and fun.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been wanting to make an advent calendar for my son for two or three years now. However, something always got in the way. Either there was not enough imagination, or mood, or time. But this time I will definitely do it. The child’s age is just right (5 years old), and you can come up with a lot of interesting tasks, and the youngest one will be a year old, she will also get something.

While I was looking for myself and you possible options advent calendars for the coming 2019, many times I came across interesting variations in almost any type of needlework. So, if you like to sew, you can sew New Year’s bags from multi-colored fabric or sew a Santa Claus figure with pockets. Pockets made of felt, or with stripes made of it in the form of snowflakes and figures, look very nice.

If you like to embroider, you can embroider a picture with a New Year’s motif on fabric, and under the picture sew pockets for all days, decorating them with symbolic small elements. By the way, if you take not ordinary fabric, but plastic canvas, then the work will hold its shape, it will be easier to hang it on the wall and it will look even more unusual.

For those who know how to knit, prepare colorful socks or caps or bags. For those who are keen on scrapbooking - decorate matchboxes, or full-fledged boxes, make desk calendar. You can also make an Advent album in which interesting tasks will be hidden in pockets, and next to them will be a subsequently printed photograph of how the child completed them. Cool, did I come up with this?)

If you love baking, then look towards gingerbread houses, or just dough figures - snowmen, men, snowflakes, etc. Use protein cream to write the corresponding numbers on them, and then just make sure that the child does not gobble up all the creations with joy.

But even if you don’t know how to do anything, don’t rush to get upset! After all, an advent calendar can be made using any available means - multi-colored, and even ordinary white paper, cut out or finished snowflakes, plastic cups, jars from under baby food, wooden planks, beads, lace, stickers, tin buckets, boxes, colorful socks, caps and much more. What is your imagination enough for?

Advent calendar what is it

I was so carried away by ideas that I almost forgot to tell you what an advent calendar is. Surely, my inquisitive readers will be interested to know how it arose. In general, the word Advent comes from religion, which means the period of the beginning of the Nativity Fast (adventus - arrival). While waiting for the Nativity of Christ, people carefully prepared for it.

Of course, the adults knew exactly how much time was left before the Holiday. But how to convey this to children was up to the adults to decide for themselves. For example, the inventive Lutheran theologian Wichern solved this question in this way. At the same time, he raised several ripples, whom he took into his house from the poorest families. And each of them bombarded our hero with questions about when Christmas would come.

Soon he got pretty tired of it. Of course. Tired of endless questions, he simply left home before the holidays. Joke. He made a wreath from a large wooden wheel. So what, you might think. So, this wheel was carefully decorated with candles, small of which were lit alternately every day. And the big ones Sundays. After this, the children themselves clearly saw and calculated when the long-awaited day would come.

But this is not an isolated example. Thanks to similar questions from another child, his mother once baked 24 meringues, attaching them one at a time to paper. Her little Gerhard Lang tore them off and ate one a day. Growing up, inspired by this idea, he offered to print a waiting calendar at the printing house where he worked.

So, back in 1903, the first printed Advent was published in Germany. It consisted of pictures of toys and Christmas poems. In addition, children could put special stickers on top of the windows with poems. This created a real sensation, and soon other companies began to develop their own calendars.

The popularity of Advent has experienced ups and downs, and also depended on the situation in the world. So, in times of war and famine, instead of Christian symbols and cute pictures, soldiers and guns appeared. During food shortages, chocolate and sweets were no longer used.

Now these calendars are again popular all over the world. You've probably seen chocolate sets with opening doors on sale? In addition to these, they are also sold in the form of books, toys and posters. But the ones that are made with your own hands are probably still more interesting for a child.

And by the way, it is not necessary to make such a calendar secret from the child! If you start making this together, then in addition to joy and entertainment, you will bring many more benefits and become emotionally closer during joint creativity! What could be more valuable than childhood memories?

The beauty of advent calendars is that children are immersed in the magical anticipation of the New Year. And so that they don’t get bored, you can help them cope with the tedious anticipation, teach them how to count days and time, and at the same time spend time usefully.

How to do this? Every day the child receives a small task that accompanies a new number on the calendar. Try to make them really interesting, not just educational, and have a winter theme. You know best what is best for your child.

Advent calendar tasks for children

And I will offer only a small list of ideas for tasks in the advent calendar. Some of them are educational, some are entertaining. I think from 50 points you will choose something interesting for yourself!

Learn the dance of little ducklings and dance with the whole family
Make a Christmas tree toy
Cut out snowflakes
Learn a New Year's poem
Do any good deed
Learn and perform a New Year's song
Make a bird feeder and feed them
Bake cookies or decorate your mom's
Make a gingerbread house with your mom
Skiing/sledding/skating
Watch a New Year's film
Decorate the house for the holiday, decorate the Christmas tree
Make a gift
Make your own postcards
Build snowmen on the street
Play snowballs
Do experiments with water and ice
Come up with plans for next year
Write a list of achievements and interesting events for the current year
Go to the theater
Come up with own performance Houses
Any creative works that are interesting to the child (burning, tinkering, building, sculpting, drawing, embroidering...)
Complete a quest on a specific topic
Arrange a family photo session
Go on a visit or invite someone to your place
Throw a masquerade party
Go to the cinema
Launch firecrackers, fireworks on the street
Take a trip to the winter forest with your family
Read a book about winter or upcoming holidays
Find out how New Year is celebrated in different countries
Write a letter to Santa Claus
Take a walk around the city decorated for the holidays
Go with the whole family to a cozy cafe
Write your own fairy tale
Choose or make a costume for the New Year
Make carnival masks
Make homemade ice cream
Play board games with family or friends
Make an album with photos
Girls to do new hairstyle, boys update their haircut
Take the quiz, solve the crossword puzzle
Make a garland (from paper, beads, cardboard or other materials)
Make homemade play dough
Prepare salt dough, make figures and color them
Come up with a New Year's wall newspaper for the whole family
Prepare candied tangerine peels
Have a warm family evening with candles, heartfelt conversations and goodies on the table
Make funny prediction notes for New Year's Eve
Assemble puzzles

Share in the comments any other tasks that can be added to this list!

Advent calendar content ideas

These were assignments. But these calendars can be filled with all sorts of surprises that cause surprise and delight in children. And even if they do not fit into the designated compartments, this is not a reason to refuse them. Prepare, for example, a holiday package, and the child will know that a present will be waiting for him there every day. Below huge list ideas on what to put:

Sweets – both store-bought and homemade (kinders, cookies, chocolates, marmalade, marshmallows, marshmallows, chupa chups...)
Nuts, dried fruits, candied fruits in beautiful packages
Small figures (soldiers, animals, etc.)
Hair clips, hair ties
Children's cosmetics
Pencils, wax crayons, felt-tip pens, stamps, paints, brushes, plasticine, etc.
Stickers, including New Year's on windows
Blanks for creativity
Child's collectibles
Balloons
Small toys
Coloring pages
Soap bubbles
Baby books
Kaleidoscope
Rubik's cube and other puzzles
Puzzles.
Face painting
Compass, city map
Flashlight
Funny mittens or socks
Unusual mug
Stencils for drawing
Bath toys
Constructors
Stand for markers and pens
Tickets for cinemas and other events
Magazines
Slime.
Antistress toys.
Children's tie or bow tie.
Set of engravings
Children's thermos
Sequins, glitter
Glow in the dark markers
Rubber jumpers
Firecrackers
Sparklers
Serpentine
Molds for kinetic sand or creating plaster figures
Small mirror
A beautiful comb or comb
Sky paper lantern
Doll furniture
Children's sword for games
Handbag, cosmetic bag or backpack
Beautiful pencil case.
Notepad
Multi-colored note block
Snowball
Bath bombs
Aroma candle
Ring throw
Road checkers or backgammon
Magnets
Crystal growing kit
Reflectors for clothes
Bell or other bicycle accessories
Sports water bottle
Carnival accessories
Decoration
Badges for clothes
Flashlight lamp
Musical instruments (tambourines, accordions, pipes...)
Mosaic
Hand toys
Finger Theater
Matryoshka
Checkbox
Fun toothbrush
Ice cream molds
Ice freezing molds
Multi-colored juice straws
piggy bank
Children's wallet
Spirograph for drawing
Water polo toy
Towel expanding in water
Tattoo stickers
Keychain
Calendar

Well, do you like lists? I am 100% sure that you yourself would not give up such wealth if you were a child. What can I say, some items will be nice for adults too!

This means that if you have time and opportunity, you can try and provide suitable gifts and tasks for your husband and close relatives.

I hope you are filled with inspiration and are already thinking about how to make a 2019 advent calendar for your children. Which means the most interesting things are ahead. Create, go for it! Wishing you a Happy New Year and priceless moments!

Until next time, Anastasia Smolinets

Advent calendar: a little history and what to put in it

What is Advent?

The word “Advent” comes from the Latin term “adventus” and means “advent, coming.” This is what Christians (Catholics and Protestants) call the Christmas period, the waiting time preceding the Nativity of Christ, when believers prepare for the holiday. Numerous rituals and customs are dedicated to this period; some Catholic believers observe fasting at this time. At the same time, it is believed that Advent is a cheerful, festive period.

The first day of Advent in the Roman rite is defined as the 4th Sunday before Christmas. To calculate its start date, the four Sundays preceding December 25 are counted (depending on the year, this Sunday falls between November 27 and December 3). The entire Advent period is divided into periods, milestones, the numbers of which are Sundays - there are always four of them. Each of the four Sundays of Advent has a specific theme, reflected in the Gospels. Sunday readings. And the Advent period is the four weeks before Christmas, but the last week of Advent is not necessarily a full week.

Advent Traditions

One of the most famous traditions of this period is the “Advent wreath” - a wreath of fir branches with four candles. On the first Sunday one candle is lit, on the second - two and so on, that is, it becomes lighter every week. Both churches and the homes of believers are decorated with such wreaths. Another well-known tradition is the Advent calendar for children, and that is what we are talking about in this article.

Advent calendar: a little history

At the beginning of the 19th century, Lutheran Germans already kept something like an Advent calendar of anticipation - they marked the number of days remaining until Christmas with sticks, drawing them with chalk on a wall or on a door in the house, and washed one every day.

Some families developed a tradition - they lit a candle every day or decorated the walls with small pictures of religious subjects (one new picture was added every day).

The first children's advent calendar was printed in Germany by Gerhard Lang. As a child, his mother attached one candy to a card every day before Christmas, thereby brightening up his anticipation of the holiday. As an adult, Lang took a job in a printing house in Munich, and in 1908 his company first introduced an advent calendar with 24 multi-colored pictures that could be attached to a cardboard base.

Gerhard Lang then modified his calendars to include small doors behind which could be hidden sweets or passages of Scripture. It was this version of waiting calendars that became a commercial success. In the 30s, the Reichhold & Lang printing house closed, but until then Lang managed to create about 30 designs for his advent calendars.

After the end of the Second World War, Richard Selmer of Stuttgart revived the tradition of printed Advent calendars and is credited with helping to increase its popularity around the world.

In the post-Soviet space, people learned about advent calendars relatively recently. And since in our families the favorite children's party- this is the New Year, then if you are making a calendar for this holiday, then the number of cells will be 31, not 24. But those who are preparing a waiting calendar on the eve of Orthodox Christmas can count, for example, for seven days - from 1 until January 7.

It is also worth considering the age of the child: for children under three years old, it may not be worth making a calendar for a whole month, you can limit yourself to 5-10 days.

How to make an advent calendar

DIY Advent calendar? Why not! What mothers do not make waiting calendars for children from: paper and cardboard, fabric, ribbons, buttons and natural materials. As well as children's socks and mittens, wooden boxes, metal buckets and clothespins for washing - this is where your imagination can run wild!

Some craftswomen start preparing their calendars a month before the countdown begins, and then they don’t want to remove their masterpieces from the wall (or window, or Christmas tree, or...) But there are also simple options advent calendars that can be assembled in 1-2 days, the main thing is the original idea.

In this collection we have collected 27 homemade waiting calendars - in the form of garlands and Christmas trees, pockets and socks, caps and mittens. Here you will even find Magic Tree and Mister Snowman! Of course, it could not have happened without classic version- this is a house or cardboard/board with windows in which surprises are hidden. As a “bonus” - three vintage advent calendars, this is what the first Advent calendars looked like in Germany.

What to put in pockets, socks, boxes....

The traditional filling of a waiting calendar is small candies or cookies, which are best placed in the calendar every morning before the child looks at it (this will avoid a situation where the baby eats all the sweets at one time). But there are still many ideas of what a baby can find in the pockets (windows, etc.) of the calendar, in addition to traditional sweet surprises.

Advent calendar surprises can be very diverse, it all depends on your imagination and ingenuity. Of course, mothers have long figured out that they can replace sweets with small toys, New Year stickers, hairpins for girls, and small refrigerator magnets. These can be models of cars, balls (small glass or air), soap bubbles, small musical instruments, figurines of princesses, knights and animals, soft toy(it’s good if it’s self-knitted or self-sewn), cubes, small construction sets.

It’s good to choose toys of the same theme (zoo, garage, store, etc.), then it unfolds every day new game. Or these could be toys for decorating the Christmas tree. They can be wrapped in foil - the child unwraps one ball a day and hangs the toys on the Christmas tree. Or paper Christmas decorations.

It's great if the gifts match the child's hobby. If children collect stamps, models of cars or stickers, the holidays will help them significantly expand their collection.

You can put not only gifts, but also:

baby books with fairy tales that you can read before bed,
tickets for New Year's performance, to the cinema, or to the theater, inviting a friend to visit,
materials for creativity (materials and blanks for making New Year's decorations, pencils, glitter glue, notebooks, markers, geometric figures, crayons, puzzles),
cutters for cutting out holiday cookies.

You can put small crafts, coloring books or unfinished creative works in order to complete them with your child. For example: snowflake, angel, cookies, snowman applique, candlestick. What if you come up with a story in advance and add it every day, adding new characters and events.

Surprises can be much larger in size than calendar windows/boxes (probably, first of all, these are books). Then you need to prepare a map or just clues in advance that will help the children find the gift hidden in the house.

New Year's jokes and anecdotes,
quotes, poems and lines from your favorite New Year (Christmas) songs,
New Year (Christmas) riddles or questions (for example, What was the name of the boy with an icy heart? Answer: Kai from Andersen's fairy tale Snow Queen»),
plan for the day - the child learns from the calendar about what he has to see, find out where to go: “today we will look for a Christmas tree market and a Christmas tree”, “tonight we will go to see how the city is decorated for the holiday”, “today we will watch a cartoon about Snow Maiden”, etc.,
first line New Year's fairy tale, which you will read to your children before bed,
the name of the dish you plan to cook with your baby that day, for example, some special cookies (or a photo of the cookies you will bake),
For big children, you can disassemble a large interesting book into chapters and arrange daily gifts from these chapters.

And a few more ideas:

And I also found another list - gift options for the advent calendar (rather interesting tasks for children and parents):

1. Listen New Year's songs, dance
2. Make Christmas tree decorations from salt dough (squeeze out with cookie cutters and paint)
3. Make Christmas tree decorations from cardboard
4. Draw winter
5. Make a snowman out of cotton wool
6. Decorate the house with garlands
7. Learn a poem
8. Bake gingerbread decorations
9. Make a card for grandma
10. Come up with a fairy tale about NG
11. Go to a cafe together and watch a New Year’s cartoon (“Winter in Prostokvashino” or “The Nutcracker”)
12. Make paper garlands
13. Blowing bubbles in the cold
14. Feed the birds/squirrels in the park
15. Go to puppet theater on New Year's party
16. Watch a children's New Year's fairy tale (film)
17. Decorate the Christmas tree
18. Show a puppet theater
19. Write a letter to DM
20. Draw a picture of DM
21. Congratulations to the teacher at school or in kindergarten
22. Learn a song
23. Cut out a snowflake
24. Decorate windows with snowflakes
25. Some kind of physical training task (do a shoulder stand, jump on one leg to the refrigerator)
26. A pleasant task (go to the theater, to the zoo, go out in the evening to see the stars)
27. Come up with a strategic plan for the next year (for example, 10 actions or dreams)
28. Make paper garlands for the walls
29. Make New Year's mobile
30. Paint windows with washable paint
31. Make a bird feeder and hang it in the yard
32. Build a snowman
33. Make a slide
34. Applique, snowman from cotton pads
35. On a walk, on a trip, compete to see who can find more Santa Clauses in decorated shop windows;
36. “Dummy” - let’s come up with a task for today ourselves;
37. Send postcards to friends by regular mail.

As gifts I can offer:
- stationery (pencils, pens, markers, etc.)
- sweets
- notepads
- hair clips
- small toys
- tickets to the Christmas tree
- tickets to the circus/performances, skating rink