Advent Calendar Filler Ideas for Kids

October 17, 2024

The Magic of Advent Calendars for Kids

One of my fondest memories of Christmas as a child is opening up my advent calendar each morning. The countdown to Christmas creates excitement leading up to the big day. If you have a reusable advent calendar like this one it can be a challenge to find unique gifts to put in it each year, so I’ve put together some of my favourite advent calendar filler ideas for children.

Here’s a few things you might want to think about before you start buying those advent calendar gifts:

Consider the size of the pockets in the advent calendar and therefore the size of the gifts you buy.
Set yourself a budget before you realise you can’t afford to buy 24 items at £5-10 each!
Allow enough time to buy the more considered gifts, especially if they’re personalised. If you’re just going for multipack chocolates from the supermarket you could probably get away with buying these the day before!
Decide if you going to have all the contents the same or vary it up. Are you going to stick to a theme for the advent calendar contents?
Are you going to wrap the contents? You might want to do this on larger gifts that stick out of the top of the pockets.

What to put in an advent calendar

Read on for an extensive list of advent filler ideas for children, whether you're on a budget or looking to create a more premium countdown to Christmas.

EDIBLE TREATS

Traditional Christmas chocolates and sweets, like chocolate coins or candy canes
Homemade treats like biscuits or fudge
Lollipops
Small wrapped chocolates like Quality Street
Multipack of bagged sweets for example, Haribo
Consider healthy packed snacks especially for younger children
For any of the above, opt for wrapped treats to avoid mess

PREMIUM GIFTS

Collectible figures - like a wooden nativity toy set where you could separate the figures into each of the pockets, so your child ends up with the complete set on Christmas Eve.
What's your child's favourite toy? Can you create a collection of items to put in their advent pockets. For example, a Barbie fan would love an advent calendar filled with clothes and accessories for her dolls.
Dollhouse accessories
Maileg mice and accessories
Tonies or Yoto cards
Small soft toys
Christmas decorations - these could be extra-special collectable decorations, but budget-friendly options are also widely available.
Tickets to a special Christmas event - you probably would only have one or two of these, but having a physical ticket makes the event extra-special. Are you going to visit Father Christmas or watch the Nutcracker ballet? Or how about cinema tickets for a festive film?
Personalised gifts - I love to buy handcrafted decorations and gifts from small businesses, for example, special tree decorations, a name keyring or personalised stationery.

MID-RANGE GIFTS

Creative gifts - crayons, pens, stamps, cookie cutters or Play-Doh
Small toys like dinosaurs, toy cars, animal figures
Peg dolls
Collectable cards or stickers, like football cards - older children would love these
Pocket money toys like surprise eggs but you’ll want the smaller version to fit in the pockets, for example Mash’ems or Mini Brands
Socks will roll nicely into the advent pockets
Nail varnish, small bath bombs, other beauty accessories - nice for older girls
Hair clips, scrunchies and other hair accessories
Jewellery - kids bracelets, necklaces
Keyrings - make them special with your child's initials
Magnets
Small games
Lego (or cheaper alternative) - either small individual sets or breakdown a bigger set where they collect the pieces each day. You could do the same thing with a jigsaw puzzle
Plantable gifts - either a packet of seeds, a bulb or plantable paper with a message on it

BUDGET

Party bag fillers - yo-yos, bubbles, small plastic figures, fidget toys, but find the Christmas-themed ones
Stickers or badges
Temporary tattoos - buy a sheet and cut them into individual designs
Activity cards - you could either make these yourself or find them online to download
Other cards - how about a joke or message for your little one to read each day?
Multipacks - anything you can buy in a multipack will save you money
DIY - making the gifts yourself has a more personal touch and will save you money

Countdown to Christmas

This year the excitement for me will be filling our Advent Calendar for my own daughter. Remember your child is going to love the excitement of opening up each of the pockets of their advent calendar, so don't worry if the gifts are a bit random or don't follow "a theme". I know my daughter loves party bag fillers so a few of those will keep her happy if I run out of time to find something different for each of the 24 pockets. Although I hope you don't run out of ideas with my suggestions here!

One last suggestion from me - how about putting an extra special gift in the last pocket, or even reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve?

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