Advent Calendars are popular with children. Do you use advent calendars to countdown to Christmas in your home? Traditionally these calendars have numbered pockets 1 through 25. The idea is that you hide a small gift in each pocket.
Many advent calendar pockets are quite small, so you can only hide one piece of candy like a hershey kiss or life saver. But some calendars are larger. I found these perfect advent calendars at Target for $10 each and had an idea.
We don’t have any children, but who says kids get to have all the fun? It’s been a rough year for a lot of people. Let’s give each other something to look forward to every day. My idea was simple. To fill an advent calendar with small inexpensive gifts that even adults will love. No candy or toys here! Except who am I to judge how you fill your calendar because I love toys and sometimes candy too lol.
I filled my fiance’s calendar with a variety of small cash dollar bills ranging from $1, $5, $10, I even hid a few $20 and even a $50 because I had the cash on me at the time. But honestly, a lot of the days only have $1. It’s not the amounts that matter; it’s the thought that counts and excitement each day brings.
I had another idea to add lottery scratch off tickets to some of the spaces on my calendar. They are always cheap little stocking stuffers that we enjoy anyways.
I also purchased small gift cards, it can be hard to find $5 gift cards, but some places like Starbucks offer “packs” of like 3 or 4 $5 cards in a bundle, perfect because you can fill more days on the calendar with smaller amounts. I did add a few big gift cards to a few days on the calendar, as an extra surprise. I think the most I spent on a single day’s gift card was $25. But for most of the days I went with smaller items, as we’re also doing traditional wrapped gifts under the tree too. These aren’t meant to replace traditional Christmas gifts, but just add a little something fun to each day. Most of the gift cards I bought were in the $5-10 range.
Target also gives you 5% off gift cards if you have their Target Red Card. They offer all of the best gift cards, from Nintendo to Subway, to Fandango, and everything in between.
The pockets of my $10 advent calendars from Target perfectly fit one gift card in each pocket. Just barely, and a little snuggly, but they do fit.
My fiance can be like a child at times. He has been asking me for a month already if he can open his wrapped Christmas presents beneath our tree. So I thought the advent calendar was a great idea!
The larger pockets allow me to place things in it that even adults will love. I’ll be 40 next year, and my fiance is 37. We still love exchanging gifts.
Even if you’re stone cold broke, don’t worry I have a perfect idea for an adult advent calendar. Just fill each day with a love letter or note of positivity and affirmation. You have no idea how important it can be to someone just to know they are loved and appreciated. My fiance and I have always written notes to eachother and hung them on our fridge. It’s a cute idea and means a lot. We have saved all of our love letters over the years too. Many precious memories.
The dollar bills and lottery scratch off tickets, I had to fold to fit into the pockets of the calendar. And we wrapped each dollar or each ticket or each gift card in christmas wrapping paper so it looks fun and festive.
Why not give this a try in your own house? What a fun craft idea and inexpensive gift ideas. Instead of stockings, we’re doing advent calendar this year.
This post is not sponsored by Target. It’s just Target is where I found my calendars. I was going to buy a much more expensive one on pottery barn kids, but when I went to check out it had sold right from my cart and was no longer available. You don’t need to spend $50+ on a “big pocket” advent calendar. Target has em for $10. I love Target lol. Etsy is another great place to look for handmade advent calendars, but you won’t find em for $10.
Let me know what you think of my new holiday tradition. I think it’s a unique adult twist on a Christmas classic. I never had an advent calendar growing up, and never prepared one for someone else, so I’m already excited to get to start unwrapping things and watching my fiance unwrap his too in a few days! haha.
