History of advent calendars -plus cool ones to buy & how to make your own with the kids

  eeBoo's Dancing Bears Advent Calendar

People have been counting down the days til Christmas for a long time, many of them using advent calendars. Advent calendars have been around since the 19th century. The practice of using them began in Germany, as did the practice for celebrating the season by making special Christmas cookies and decorating Christmas trees.

The BBC reports:

Starting on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, or simply on December 1, the Protestant Christians would keep track of the days by making marks on their doors with a piece of chalk, which would then be rubbed off one by one as Christmas approached. Other practices then developed, including burning a candle or putting up a small religious picture to mark each day.

There is some disagreement as to when the first printed advent calendars appeared, although it is clear that they were first produced at some time in the 1900s. Soon enough, calendars were being designed with little doors or pouches which contained small religious pictures or bible extracts. Better still, some of the calendars also contained sweeties in order to keep the attention of young children.

The introduction of the advent calendar to the USA was aided by 'Ike' Eisenhower, whose grandchildren took a shine to the idea.

Some people think of advent calendars as a religious tradition, but they can be used to celebrate the excitement of the season not matter which holiday your family celebrates.

A really pretty advent calendar that kids will enjoy opening up each day of December are the ones made by eeBoo. As with all of eeBoo's products, they're illustrated like a high quality children's book. We just hung up their Dancing Bears Advent Calendar in my house today (see photo above right).

Another really cool advent calendar is the LEGO Advent Calendar. It really helpss kids get into the countdown.

To reuse the same advent calendar every year and add your own treats and sayings, check out the wooden gingerbread house advent calendar with little drawers for each day.

You can also use free online advent calendars to countdown the days til Christmas. THIS one plays music or has an image of the day and THIS one is a more religious calendar.

Another option - making your own. THIS website has instructions for making an advent wreath out of hand prints. You just put a good deed for the day on each hand print and have the kids pull one off each day. THIS website has printable pages that you just print and tape together, then cut out the doors for each day (see photo, right).

Each day in December, I'll be "opening" a digital advent calendar "door" of the day with something fun for Christmas too.