Our Mini Activity Advent Calendar Tree

Our holiday activity advent calendar is by far my favorite tradition of the year! See how we set it up this year, and get tons of ideas for Christmas activities you can do while still social distancing!

Activity advent calendar time is HERE, y’all, and I could not possibly be more excited.

Seriously, if you could see me writing this post right now, you’d think of Buddy the Elf because there’s that level of joy happening.

I can’t help it.

Christmas is my favorite!

And, that’s why my very very favorite tradition our family does this time of year is an activity advent calendar. It’s easy to claim this one as my favorite of them all because it’s how I incorporate all of my other favorite traditions. This little tree here is my secret to not forgetting a single special thing that I want to do with the kids. It’s how we make sure to savor the holiday, and it’s how I know with confidence that by the time Christmas rolls around we won’t be left sitting there wondering where the season went. We’ll have embraced every minute of it!

And it’s aaaaaaall thanks to this little tree here.

You think that’s too much pressure to put on a little 3-foot Christmas tree?

Nah. She can handle it!

If you’re new to our annual activity advent tradition, let me catch you up. Every year, I make a little calendar with all of the things we want to do to celebrate the holiday. Everything from the big (making gingerbread houses or going to see Santa), to the small (watching our favorite Christmas movies and drinking hot chocolate). Then, I write them all down, and every day throughout December we read an activity and we do it!

The kids look forward to it with almost as much joy as they look forward to Christmas morning, and honestly, so do I! It’s the simplest way I’ve found to make sure that we really experience every minute of the season and don’t miss out on any fun, and because I plan so far ahead we never have to worry about feeling rushed or overwhelmed by it all!

So today, I’m sharing all of the details of how we changed things up a bit for our calendar this year, along with all of my ideas for how to have a quarantine-friendly holiday season. Because, I don’t know about you, but we’re still hunkered down and seeing very (very) few people, so this year is extra tricky!

First, and maybe most importantly, if you want to hear the details on my method for setting this up (including how I make sure we never have something come up that interferes with a day’s activities and my tricks for spreading out the big activities), go read last year’s post about our calendar where I spilled all of my secrets.

Once you’re caught up with that (and I promise, if you plan to try this, you’ll want to read that post), read on for the details on this year’s calendar!

If you were here last year, you may remember that our activity advent setup was my very favorite we’ve ever done. We had been living in this house for just a couple of weeks – in fact, we set up the activity advent tree in our entry on the night we moved in!

We had very little in our house other than Christmas decorations at this time last year, so we were really able to go for it…it’s not like there were any other decorations or furnishings in the way!

But this year, things are a little bit different. We’ve started to fill our house in a bit. Things are decorated. We’ve got more furniture. Things have shifted.

All of that is lovely for about 46 weeks out of the year, but for the 6 weeks that I want my house to feel like a winter wonderland? Well, it makes things a little tricky.

Last year, because we didn’t have anything other than a tiny bench in our entry, we set up a 9-foot pencil tree in this little nook in our entry, and that’s what we used for our advent calendar. It was the first time we had ever used a tree as the holder for our activities, and I was so proud of myself for the idea. I loved how it looked, it was so fun to see every day, and it was just so functional.

But, of course, then we did a big entryway makeover and now I have a gorgeous table that perfectly fits in that nook – with no room left for a tree!

So, I did what any rational person would do and ordered another Christmas tree to set on top of my table!

I found this adorable 3-foot pre-lit tree from Target for just $60 and it was exactly what I needed.

Here’s a little comparison of this year’s setup next to last year’s!

I think it turned out just as cute, and honestly it’s probably even more functional because we can actually, you know, reach the top of the tree.

I got these mini stationary envelopes for the activities, and they’re the perfect size – then, I cut up some red paper to write the activities on. The tree looks a little overflowing right now (which I kind of love), but there’s plenty of room for all 25 cards, and it’ll start to empty out fast!

Now, let’s get to the activities!

activity advent calendar ideas

As I said, this year is a little different than normal. We can’t have a ton of people over for a big gingerbread house party. We can’t do Christmas parties and church events and all of the stuff we’re used to doing to celebrate the season.

But, there’s still plenty of ways to celebrate, so we’re getting creative!

Here’s a look at what’s on our list this year, as of now:

1. Decorate gingerbread houses
2. Go to the Trail of Lights
3. Watch Elf
4. Order dinner in and watch a Christmas movie
5. Roast s’mores in the backyard
6. Have a picnic under the tree
7. Write a letter to Santa
8. Go see Santa (socially distanced, of course)
9. Have a family board game night
10. Make gifts for family and friends
11. Cut out paper snowflakes
12. Go see Christmas lights in the neighborhood
13. Bake Christmas cookies
14. Have a pajama day (in our matching pajamas!)
15. Go out for hot chocolate
16. Drop off a treat for the neighbors
17. Leave out a treat for the delivery drivers
18. Christmas Cookie Bonanza (we spend all day making cookies)
19. Purchase toys for a local family in need
20. Go see Polar Express {we rented a theater – it’s only $100 for up to 20 people!}
21. Do a Christmas puzzle
22. Make a Christmas craft
23. Go on a Christmas light drive around town
24. Celebrate Christmas Eve at Grandma’s
25. Merry Christmas!

This list may or may not change a bit throughout the season, but it’s a pretty solid list that I think is a good start.

If you want even more ideas for activities to do this season, last year’s post also has a huge list of ideas – and most of them are pretty quarantine-friendly!

More christmas activity ideas

Wanna see what our previous DIY advent calendars have looked like? Here are some ideas!I

• I really loved our 2018 advent calendar, and the post has tons of great ideas for how you can set yours up too.
• In 2017, we shared a simple bucket list system, which is a great method if you aren’t ready to put anything on a calendar yet.
• The 2016 Advent Calendar was the first time I made a dedicated place to put all of our envelopes (I used to just string them across on a window), and this method is what eventually morphed into the tree we have today!
• In 2012, I made my own envelopes!
• And finally, the first ever version of the advent calendar we ever shared – way back in 2011!

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