Christmas Activity Advent Calendar

I loved the idea of a Christmas Activity Advent Calendar that Tova in my local outdoor Facebook group shared. But what really blew me away were all the great ideas she sourced from our local community of moms! We truly have some inspirational women/families and I wanted to capture the activities they listed. Although some of these are unique to Calgary, Alberta, I know that many cities offer comparable events and I encourage you to source them out!

(Plus, I’m planning to make my own calendar and figured I’d save everyone the trouble of having to type them out!!!)

In no particular order, here’s a list of…

31 Days of Christmas Cheer!

1. See the Christmas Train (find your location of choice and align with the correct date)
2. Build a snowman
3. ‘Once Upon a Christmas’ at Heritage Park
4. Make ice candles and light them up (find instructions here)
5. Winter scavenger hunt
6. Invite the neighbourhood kids over and build a snow fort and have a snowball fight
7. Visit zoo lights or take a free walk in Confederation Park
8. Collect outdoor items and decorate a Christmas wreath
9. Visit a craft or farmer’s market
10. Go sledding in a local park
11. Bake holiday cookies
12. Deliver cookies to friends with homemade cards
13. Get a Christmas Tree and decorate it
14. Take a trip to the mountains (visit Lake Louise ice castle, maybe a day skiing)
15. Set up a hot chocolate bar (caramel, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, marshmallows) and create your own deluxe hot chocolate
16. Take an evening walk through your neighbourhood to check out the lights
17. Make coloured ice blocks by freezing water with food colouring to play with outside
18. Try a new winter sport (snowshoeing, skiing, tubing)
19. Make Christmas tree ornaments or Christmas cards
20. Go on a winter hike
21. Build a gingerbread house
22. Deliver Christmas hampers to a charity or put together a gift for Senior Secret Santa/Operation Shoebox/etc (remember that you need to sign up ahead of time for some)
23. Make popcorn and cuddle up for a classic Christmas movie
24. Volunteer for a day
25. Visit Santa
26. Decorate a tree in the park or near a local playground
27. Go to a Christmas show or concert
28. Have a snow day—make snow paintings with food colouring, snow angels, build ice sculptures with the ice blocks you created in #17
29. Go skating outdoors on a frozen lake or go sit an enjoy the bonfires that some have
30. Find a new recipe and cook it together as a family (can be red & green themed if desired)
31. Surprise someone—leave a secret gift on a friend’s doorstep/shovel someone’s walkway/send a card to a distant friend or someone you haven’t heard from for awhile