Christmas Advent calendars are a great way of relieving children’s anticipation before Christmas.

So where do Christmas Advent Calendars come from? The word “Advent” comes form Latin and it means “to come”. In Christian tradition, the Advent represents the 4 Sundays before Christmas, when people prepare for the coming of baby Jesus. In non-religious terms, families refer to the Advent as the 24 days before Christmas (1 December – 24 December). Most people engage in different holiday activities during these days in an attempt to enter the festive spirit. This is especially true for families with small children.

Click here to see a great selection of 2011 Christmas  Advent Calendars ideas

Kids hate the waiting part, so parents try to overcome it by transforming the anticipation in something fun and rewarding. Christmas Advent calendars can be of huge help for this task.

Common Christmas Advent Calendars

A very common calendar is the Advent chain. To create such a calendar all you will need is some colored paper, a scissors and glue. It is bets if you can use red and green paper. Cut 12 strips of red paper and 12 strips of green paper. Glue the ends of the first strip together. Take a different color strip, pass it through the first chain link and glue it just like the first one. Repeat the process, taking alternative colors, until you have a 24 links long chain. At the end of the chain you can glue something nice such as a bell. You can use this calendar is several ways, but the most common one is to simply attribute an activity to each strip. For example, you could go for “Read a favorite Christmas Story” or “Sing a Favorite Carol”.

Christmas Advent calendars can also be a great method of getting children to help you with the actual Christmas preparation. You can assign a different task for each day and make it sound like fun. You could create some Christmas tree decorations and have the kids place them on every day.

Of course, the Christmas Advent calendars can be great fun as well. One simple idea is to place 24 candies on a paper plate and have the kids glue them on. Each day they can take one of their choice and have it after lunch. This way they can both have look something to look for and compensate for the “unbearable” wait. You could also ask them to write their names on the place, color it and draw something related to Christmas on the plate. This will make them feel like they’ve had the idea and it was their creation altogether and not something imposed.

Finally, you can use the oldest and most common Advent calendar – Santa’s Bag. You can buy 24 very simple goodies – it can be a chocolate bar, a pen, anything under $1. For 24$, you will have a bag which the kids will simply adore. You can have them take out something from the bag every day. They won’t know what is left in there and what they can expect to get. Children simply love these kinds of Christmas Advent calendars and they transform a difficult time in something to remember for a life time.

Toy Christmas Advent Calendars

Apart from homemade advent calendars there are also many toy Christmas Advent Calendars. These calendars contain toys from a certain brand and this allows kids to start playing with small dose of their favorite toy every day up to Christmas. On this website we have reviewed the latest toy Christmas Advent Calendars available to allow you to see what kind of toy Christmas Advent Calendars are currently available.

Click here to see a great selection of 2011 Christmas Advent Calendars ideas