You’ve decided to treat your loved one to a fabulous Homemade Advent Calendar. Yey, we’re so happy for you both! But the pressure to come up with 24 thoughtful unique Advent Calendar Fillers (without breaking the bank) can be overwhelming. Do not dismay … we are here to help!
We’ll get those creative juices flowing with more than 250 Advent Calendar Fillers to select between. From Santa rubber ducks to festive plant baubles and turkey basters – we really do have something for everyone! And don’t miss our fabulous “Let’s … Get Festive” recommendations either: 30 fun festive activities for the whole family to enjoy, together with filler pairing suggestions for each. They’re guaranteed to help your Christmas Countdown really take shape.
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Before we dive in, do you have a clear vision of the Homemade Advent Calendar that you would like to create? If not, be sure to check out our 10-Step Calendar Vision Board. It’ll take you through all the key considerations when creating a calendar so that you can be sure to give your loved one an Advent to remember!
Now that the foundations of your calendar are in place, we can start thinking about Advent Calendar Fillers. If you would like to go for a more unusual, quirky fully-themed advent calendar, do check out some of our favourite themed advent calendars here. If you have more of a broad-range of treats in mind, then read on as our suggestions below should have you sorted in no time!
Golden Rules
There are two Golden Rules to remember with Advent Calendar Fillers:
Don’t bankrupt yourself! Always set yourself a realistic budget and stick to it. Don’t be afraid to fill most days with little chocolate coins or handwritten jokes & notes, and just select a handful of days for larger treats. It’s your design, and it will be an indulgent and thoughtful treat for your loved one no matter what form it takes.
Don’t sweat the small stuff! Those intricately handcrafted wooden advent calendars in the shops may look gorgeous but all too often cause unnecessary stress when trying to find fillers that actually fit inside. We would always recommend buying a calendar with larger daily containers, or making one with more space – click here for more information. Then you can focus your attention firmly on finding fabulous thoughtful treats to include, without needing to take a ruler to the shops! (If you have fallen in love with, or inherited, a calendar with small pockets/drawers, consider a treasure-hunt approach – insert folded handwritten notes into the calendar which provide clues to the location of larger treats.)
What sorts of things work as Advent Calendar Fillers?
Of course Advent Calendar Fillers can be anything you want; nothing is off limits. However, we tend to find it easiest to think of them as small Stocking Stuffers. That being said, there are a couple of key differences that are worth bearing in mind:
Stocking contents are typically focused on refilling drawers & cupboards for the New Year, together with a few indulgent treats to enjoy over the Christmas holiday. Advent Calendar Fillers, on the other hand, offer the perfect opportunity to gift your loved one those Christmas Socks, that Festive Scrubbing Brush or Brussel Sprout Woolly Hat. By 25th December, it often feels a bit late to be starting a Christmas novel or painting on your sparkly red nail polish. Through the advent calendar, we can share some light-hearted festive merriment earlier in the month.
There is far more scope within an Advent Calendar to include homemade trinkets and facilitate festive activities. These shared experiences & personal mementos really help to set the tone of the festivities and build the magic of the season over a series of weeks rather than just a few hectic days. They are a wonderful way to let someone special know just how much we care. In our opinion, that’s what really sets Homemade Advent Calendars apart and makes them so fabulous.
The ideas below really are just the tip of the iceberg – we had to stop somewhere or we’d be sharing this in January!
However, we hope that these ideas will give you a great start-point from which to gather your twenty-four treats. We’ve shared links to some of our particular favourites so you can put them straight in your basket and get ahead on your Advent planning. And you’ll see we have included a whole section on homemade filler suggestions for some super-personal wallet-friendly ideas too.
We can’t resist highlighting a few of our favourite ideas before we share the full details:
Why not start the calendar off with an Advent Candle so that your loved one can double-up on the countdown fun!
Surely the 2020 Christmas must-haves will include a festive facemask and seasonal sanitiser?! Use the calendar to make sure your loved one is all kitted out and raring to go!
We love including a Gift Card in the Advent Calendar. It doesn’t have to be for a large amount – a lovely unexpected free coffee or doughnut can be a real pick-me-up! (If you’re visiting your calendar recipient over the festive season, adding a supermarket gift card into the calendar can be a really thoughtful way of contributing towards the food cost, and hard for them to refuse!)
We’re huge fans of some Christmas Eve fun – Hair Baubles or Beard Lights add that little bit of seasonal silliness and sparkle. Or what about a Christmas-themed game to get the festivities off to a flying start?
What Kinds of Advent Calendar Fillers Are You Looking For:
As you know, one of our favourite things about Homemade Advent Calendars is that they are so uniquely personal, and really give you the opportunity to show your loved one how much you care.
The simple incorporation of a particularly important or poignant dates can mean so much (e.g. a candle and party popper on a birthday, or tealight on the anniversary of the passing of a loved one).
And the inclusion of seasonal activities can really shape a wonderfully memorable and fun-filled Advent for the whole family. Some metallic pens and Christmas stickers with a handwritten note proclaiming “Let’s make Christmas Cards” can turn an already-lovely festive activity into something just that little bit more magical and exciting.
And of course you can put absolutely anything into a calendar! Why not reveal your family panto trip by rolling up the tickets with some snap glow-sticks, and slotting them into the calendar on the appropriate date?
Here are 30 “Let’s …. Get Festive” activities that we think would be superb to include, together with suggested Advent Calendar Fillers for each.
Hopefully you’re now brimming with ideas for how to fill your Homemade Advent Calendar. Enjoy browsing and do let us know what you decide to include. We’re always on the look out for new and unusual treats!
For details of Fully-Themed Advent Calendars, click here.
Interested in learning about Reverse Advent Calendars, click here.
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