advent calendar

my kids get those every year from their grandparents, but i have a different type of advent calender that i use for my kids. i bought a felt tree from avon several years ago and it has a pocket for every day in dec up til christmas, and so in these pockets i put a note for every day for my two daughters...some times it is just 'we love you' or something of that respect, but sometimes it is 'see mommy for a treat' and i will then in turn give them some candy that i have bought or a little trinket (this year they have gotten lipstick looking pens, a pack of pencils, gum, kinder eggs, woven bracelets, small and inexpensive things.) i shop thru the year for these things and pick up a lot on sale thru the year. they love it! (even still, they are 10 and 14 and make sure i still put it up every year.)

Every year I buy a advent calendar for myself lol. I also buy one for my boyfriend but he always forget to eat the chocolate so he end up eating all the chocolate at Christmas. I know that I will buy my kids some when they will be old enought to eat chocolate (I'M only pregnant)

My kids have the chocolate advent calenders every year. This year my son had Spiderman and my daughte has Princesses. They often forget about them as we are really busy right now and then they have to play catch up for a few days. I remember having the same kind as a kid and i loved it becasue my parents never really gave us a lot of candy. It was a big treat for us.

My girls each have an advent calendar this year. My mom gave them to the girls. My oldest daughter has a Snoopy calendar that gives an activity to do each day. December 1 said to make paper snowflakes to decorate the house with. Another day said to decorate her bedroom for Christmas. It's been fun. My youngest daughter has a penguin calendar. Each day has her looking at the calendar and counting. For example, one said to find all the penguins that were wearing scarves. Another said to find the penguins that were ice skating. This, too, has been fun. The only problem I have with the advent calendars are the days that we forget or just plain run out of time. Then we have to catch up the next day.