The Christmas Jar

Last week while at the fun craft night with Amy from Mom Advice and Glade, they showed us this great idea on how to do a Christmas Jar. I love this idea! All you do is decorate a jar and put 24 slips of paper inside, each with an activity to do every day of December.  Each day you let your children pull out a piece of paper and you do the activity listed on it.  Here is a picture of the one I created to give you some ideas, but it can look however you want. You could even take an old oatmeal container, or coffee tin and let the kids decorate construction paper to wrap around it! Next are some of my ideas of things we will be writing on our slips of paper, and a link to Amy’s ideas at the bottom.

The best thing about this is that YOU pick the activities. So you can pick all no cost activities that just give you another excuse to spend some one on one time with your favorite little people!

1. Get a Christmas movie to watch together. (Try Redbox for only $1/ea!)
2. Make snowflakes and tie string around them. Use them as a decoration for your light fixtures.
3. Before bed read the true story of Christmas from Luke 2:1-20.
4. Make some hot chocolate and sit under the Christmas tree to read a Christmas book.
5. Make cookies to take to a friend or teacher.
6. Go to the library to checkout Christmas books.
7. Open one gift now!
8. Play a game while eating popcorn and listening to Christmas tunes.
9. Print out a holiday coloring page and color it.
10. Pick out a few toys to donate, and take them to a local shelter.
11. Make a Christmas ornament for each child to hang on the tree.  (Cut out Christmas shapes like trees, snowflakes or stars and have them decorate them with stickers, glitter and markers. Then punch a hole, slide ribbon through it and put on the tree!)
12. Make pancakes for breakfast and decorate them like a Christmas tree.
13. Go see the Christmas lights! Have the kids put on their pj’s, pack a snack and listen to Christmas music while driving around.
14. Put on some peppy Christmas music and dance around together. (We love to do this, the kids get so excited…and wound up!)
15. Draw a picture for someone in your family.
16. Make cookies for you to eat!
17. Make a homemade gift of any kind for a family member.
18. Sing your favorite Christmas carols that your kids know the words to. (A few good ones are Silent Night, Away In a Manger or Jingle Bells)
19. Make grandparents handmade artwork for a present. (Get their handprints framed and date it!)
20. Start a Jesse tree. (A tree that captures the geneaology of Christ.)
21. Decorate for the holidays. (Hopefully this will come early!)
22. Hand make a few Christmas cards and put the kids picture inside.
23. Act out the birth of Christ. (Dress up and use fun props like stuffed animals.)
24. Tell your child exactly how much and why you love them so much!

More list ideas from Amy @ Mom Advice here.