Everybody loves advent calendars. They’re the perfect way to countdown the days leading up to the big celebration and build up the cheer and excitement. However, the most popular advent calendars usually involve chocolate or other sweet treats.
If you’re watching your weight or want to encourage healthy eating within your family, a Christmas countdown that doesn’t involve chocolate gives you the best of both. In this article, you’ll find 5 no-chocolate ways to count down the days until Christmas and get yourself in the Christmas spirit from Everything’s Rosie, which offers free kids cartoons.
-
Home-Made Advent Calendar
Just because you won’t find any chocolate behind the little doors doesn’t mean you have to rule out advent calendars entirely. You can either buy a reusable advent calendar, or it’s easy and fun to craft your own out of old shoe boxes or 25 Christmas-themed socks that can double up as stockings. In each of the spots, you can hide a small gift for yourself that will get you in the Christmas spirit. This is a great idea for couples, who can fill each others’ advent calendars and get a sweet surprise every day of December.
-
Baubles and Decorations
Before December begins, find a set of 25 baubles that will fill your home with Christmas cheer. Each day, you can decorate the newest bauble and add it to your tree. You can paint large numbers to signify the days leading up to Christmas or cover them with your own designs. If you’re not an artsy person, this is your chance to up your decoration game, and find some beautiful tree ornaments that will bring some Christmas cheer to your interior style. After the first year, you’ll have your bauble Christmas countdown ready for the next holiday season, too.
-
Christmas Movies
There’s no end of movies about the happiest time of the year. At the start of the month, make a list of 25 of your favourite Christmas movies and some you’ve never seen before. Now you not only have a countdown to Christmas, but entertainment sorted for each of those cold winter evenings. If you think you’re going to get sick of the Christmas theme, don’t worry. You can start the month with some unexpected Christmas films such as Die Hard or Batman Returns, which don’t focus too heavily on the Christmas theming.
-
Creative Countdown
Instead of counting down the days to Christmas with little gifts, why not use this opportunity to finish a project you’re working on, or create something new? For example, you can make gratitude decorations where each morning in December you write something you’re thankful for on a small slip of paper and at it to your tree. When Christmas Day finally comes around, you’ll have a tree covered in your favourite Christmas moments and memories. This is also a great way to complete a Christmas scrapbook, which you can then give as a gift to your loved ones.
-
Bucket Lists
Before December rolls around, write a list of all the seasonal things you do that get you in the Christmas spirit, as well as some Christmas-themed activities you’ve always wanted to try. For example, baking sweet treats for your friends or enjoying that first pumpkin-spiced latte are good ideas for your bucket list. Every day, you can complete one of these activities and cross it off your bucket list, and Christmas will be here before you know it. This is a great idea for a Christmas countdown that involves the whole family because you can make a bucket list together as a group.
