Last year, I shared a photo on my Instagram stories of Sen opening one of his holiday advent calendar gifts. This post generated a lot of questions and interest related to how we do our holiday advent for the children. So, here’s a quick post explaining how we do our zero waste advent calendar that we make ourselves and reuse each year.

When I was growing up, my parents got each of their three children the typical chocolate filled advent calendar — and we loved them so much! For one month each year we all couldn’t wait to get out of bed in the morning and start our day with a bite of chocolate. I do think we loved these 99 cent calendars every bit as much as our gifts under the tree.

With advent calendars holding such a sweet nostalgic place in my heart I knew that I wanted my children to enjoy the same experience — but I wanted it to involve no plastic and less waste. It took a few years to figure out what worked, but finally I landed on something that works really well for us, is reusable each year, has a nice homemade feel and is totally customizable to each child.

What We Do:

From a branch, we hang little cloth bags (they are actually reusable cloth tea bags) that we fill with treasures and treats, tied to the branch with pieces of yarn and string that we reuse each year. For the first few years we didn’t have the money to invest in 24 (then 48) cloth tea bags, so I would fill all that we had and every few days re-stock the branch with bags that I refilled from previous days. So, if you can’t afford to buy 24 bags, get creative and reuse them. We started off with 8-10 bags and slowly added to our collection over the years (we still don’t have 48).

In terms of what sorts of treats and treasures, I personalize this to the child. Some favourite treasures over the years have been: colourful beads for making jewellery, marbles, shiny stones and fancy rocks, a few eco playing cards (Sen loved the anticipation of getting 2-3 cards each day and building toward a full deck), eco crayons. Don’t underestimate the fun of splitting up a gift (pack of cards, pack of crayons, etc) over a few days, this really build excitement! In terms of treats, I try to get as much as I can in bulk so that it is package-free, such as tamari almonds, jelly beans, gummies, chocolate dipped pretzels (easy to make!). In Canada, Bulk Barn is now allowing people to bring their own containers and bags to fill with bulk goods, which is great news!

Something that my children also love getting are notes. We usually slip a personal note or an inspiring quote into a few of the bags. This year, Ro suggested she’d love to be surprised with experience coupons like “Tea date with mama” or “Face massage”, I’m sure Sen would love to get “Extra story at bedtime” or “Scooter date with papa”. For folks with budget limitations and/or an ability to invest time, these are great options.

Now, I know that some families have, what I perceive as extravagant, advent calendars with wrapped gifts each day — doing this is not a reality for us both in terms of cost and time investment. Let me tell you, though, our children LOVE the calendars we put together. They do not feel under-whelmed at all. Each year, they ask if we can do an advent calendar to count down to spring and summer and fall, so that they can continue with the fun.

A Few Final Tips:

• To distinguish which bag is for which child, we designate particular colours of yarn for each child. But you could also look for different coloured bags (or plant dye them!) or personalize the bags with a fabric stamp or embroidery.
• We do not compel an order for opening the bags, the children can choose which one they want to open, and this is part of the fun for them. They feel the bags, smell them, look at the shape and decide for themselves. I personally recommend this because it seems to add to the fun of it.
• Over the years we have added some seasonal, natural decorations, like pinecones and dried orange slices to hang from the branch. For other seasons, you could add flowers and leaves or your favourite natural treasures.

For some other zero waste holiday ideas, please check out my post about How to Wrap Gift with Fabric (super easily!), and How To Do A Botanical Advent with Children.

You might also want to share my Zero Waste Gift Guide with friends and family.

Follow me on Instagram @hippieindisguise to keep up with our daily adventures and ask me questions. Thanks for visiting!