Advent calendar ideas, without the chocolate.

Five alternatives, compared

• Activities: one thing to do together each day. Mostly free. Needs a little time each evening. Children remember it longest.
• Books: wrap 24 books (from your shelves or the library) and unwrap one at bedtime. Free if you reuse books. Easy for toddlers.
• Kindness: a small good deed each day. Free. Best for children from about four.
• Reverse calendar: add one item a day to a box for a food bank, then deliver it together. Costs a little each day.
• Small non-food treats: stickers, hair clips, pencils, seeds. Fun, but the cost and the plastic add up over 24 days.

Things to do instead of a chocolate

All free, all under 30 minutes, so they fit before school or after tea.

• Make a paper chain countdown

  Cut strips of coloured paper and loop them into a chain, one link for every day left. Tear one off each morning.

  30 minFreeAges 3 to 12

  You need: Paper, scissors, tape or glue

• Play freeze dance

  Dance when the music plays and freeze like a snowman when it stops. Anyone who wobbles becomes the DJ.

  15 minFreeAges 2 to 10

  You need: Music

• Put on a shadow puppet show

  Shine a torch at a wall in a dark room and make animals with your hands. Can you tell a story with a fox and a rabbit?

  15 minFreeAges 2 to 12

  You need: A torch

• Tell winter jokes at dinner

  What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Frosted flakes! Everyone brings one joke to dinner; the groan-iest one wins.

  15 minFreeAges 4 to 12

  You need: A few jokes

• Hold a paper plane contest

  Fold planes, decorate them and test them for distance, loops and accuracy (land it in a laundry basket).

  30 minFreeAges 4 to 12

  You need: Paper

• Make up a winter story together

  Take turns adding one sentence each. Start with: "On the coldest night of the year, a small penguin knocked on our door…"

  25 minFreeAges 4 to 12

  You need: Imagination

• Draw one-minute portraits

  Sit opposite each other and draw your partner in one minute. Then try without looking at the paper. Hang the funniest.

  15 minFreeAges 4 to 12

  You need: Paper, pens, a timer

• Do a pyjama run

  Put coats and boots on over your pyjamas and run once around the block before bed. Giggles guaranteed.

  15 minFreeAges 3 to 12

  You need: Coats over pyjamas

A book calendar

• Wrap books to unwrap

  Wrap a few of your own books (old favourites count) and unwrap one each evening for bedtime this week.

  30 minFreeAges 1 to 10

  You need: Books you own, paper

• Visit the library for winter books

  Borrow a stack of winter and holiday books to read through the month. Many libraries also have free December events.

  About an hourFreeUp to 12

  You need: A library card

• Start a chapter book for December

  Start a winter chapter book and read a chapter each night. Try "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" or "The Box of Delights".

  30 minFreeAges 5 to 12

  You need: A chapter book

• Listen to an audiobook together

  Lie on the floor with blankets and listen to a story from the library app or a free audiobook site. Draw while you listen.

  45 minFreeAges 3 to 12

  You need: A library app or free audiobook

Kindness and a reverse calendar

• Shop for the food bank

  Let the kids pick a few things from your local food bank’s wish list and drop them off together.

  45 minSome moneyAges 3 to 12

  You need: A small food budget

• Choose toys to give away

  Each person picks toys or clothes in good condition to give to a charity shop or a family who needs them.

  30 minFreeAges 3 to 12

  You need: A box

• Hide kind notes around the house

  Write little notes ("You give the best hugs") and hide them in shoes, pockets and lunchboxes for the family to find.

  15 minFreeAges 4 to 12

  You need: Sticky notes

• Thank the everyday helpers

  Make cards for the postie, the bin crew, the bus driver or the teachers, and leave them where they will be found.

  30 minFreeAges 3 to 12

  You need: Card, pens

A treat that is not sweets

If you still want a little surprise, make it an experience: a later bedtime, a hot chocolate bar, a pyjama day, a night under the fairy lights.

• Set up a hot chocolate bar

  Make hot chocolate and lay out toppings: marshmallows, cream, cinnamon, sprinkles. Everyone builds their own and gives it a name.

  30 minCosts a littleAges 2 to 12

  You need: Milk, cocoa, a few toppings

• Have a pyjama day

  Nobody gets dressed. Games, films, toast and naps. Everyone needs one of these in December.

  4 hoursFreeUp to 12

  You need: Pyjamas

• Sleep under the fairy lights

  Drag mattresses or sleeping bags into the living room and fall asleep by the glow of the lights.

  About an hourFreeAges 3 to 12

  You need: Sleeping bags or duvets

• Have a winter movie night

  Pyjamas, popcorn, blankets on the floor. Watch a winter film like "The Snowman", "Frozen" or "Paddington".

  2 hoursFreeAges 3 to 12

  You need: A film, popcorn

Questions