Our Favourite Advent Calendars for the Whole Family

With the calendars turning to November, Christmas is definitely in the air. Even if you haven’t dug out the the tree and twinkling lights just yet (I know many of my American friends like to wait until after Thanksgiving, lucky for us, Thanksgiving comes much earlier here in Canada!), you’ve probably at least started thinking about the holiday season ahead – in fact, maybe you’ve already started your Christmas shopping (I myself, haven’t ordered up a single gift yet, but I may have picked up a few new decorations at least).

It was a couple of years ago now that I put together this list of 5 Things You Should Have Before the Holiday Season Begins and, while that post is a couple of years old now, the ideas it shared still ring true. Whether you’re already digging out the decorations and tucking away gifts, or you’re waiting until closer to the big day, there are definitely some things you’ll want to get squared away as the holiday season rolls in. While I tend to purchase my decor and gifts all through the season, the one thing I always order up, even well before Halloween, are our advent calendars.

We do already have a couple of special advent calendars tucked away with our Christmas decorations that we pull out year-after-year. One, a handmade felt tree that has a little felt decoration for each day in December (this is almost an exact match to it!). The other, the cutest little story book, broken into 24 sections, one for each day in December.

Of course, I can never resist adding a few more advent calendars into the mix each year – mostly something a little more disposable that isn’t the same each year (usually chocolates for Brady and I and some sort of toy or Lego advent calendar for Carson). Not only are these calendars super motivating for C to get his butt out of bed and ready for school in record time each morning, but counting down the days to Christmas with these advent calendars has really become such a special tradition that our whole family looks forward to!

So today, I thought it might be fun to share some of our favourite advent calendars to help the whole family count down the days until Christmas together. These are more than just your typical cardboard chocolate count down, I’ve hunted down all sorts of really special options! From the sweetest handmade countdowns to beautiful calendars that you’ll be excited to add to your holiday decor, you’re sure to find a special advent calendar that you’ll look forward to pulling out each holiday season for years to come!