Christmas has now come and gone, which means T’s book advent has come to a close. This was our first year of doing a book advent after first hearing about it from Al at The Dad Network, and I must say it was really fun.
I really enjoyed us reading T a new book every night, and T was just happy to get a piece of chocolate every night! On his last night, Christmas Eve, we even added an extra special gift to his present – pyjamas!
The Final Week
This week only consisted of three days, so it’ll be a short update this week, but if you fancy making your own advent next year – I’ve popped a few tips down below to make it easy on wallet but still exciting.
Here’s what T got in his book advent on week 4. You find last week’s update here.
Friday 22nd December
Mr Tick the Teacher by Ahlberg & Jaques
In an effort to prevent their small school from closing, Mr Tick comes upon with a genius way to trick the school inspectors!
Saturday 23rd December
Batmouse by Steve Smallman
Pip the mouse wants to be a Bat when he grows up. Follow his journey; from learning to fly to eating what Bat’s eat, and find out whether being a Bat is better than being a mouse.
Sunday 24th December
Pip & Posy: The Big Balloon by Axel Scheffler
Pip is very proud of his red balloon – until disaster strikes! Lucky, his best friend Posy is on hand to make things better.
And there we have it! Our book advent. If you fancy building your own one, here are a few neat ideas to help you along the way.
Storage
Storage can be anything from an old wooden crate to a cardboard box – the important things is that is can hold 24 books (making sure it’s as big as the biggest book). We found a cheap white wooden crate on Amazon, but others have found old crates from farm shops, old wine bottle boxes, even small trailers!
You may even wish to spend some time decorating your container to make it more festive or, likewise, more neutral for multiple usage when the book advent finishes. We’re still undecided as to what we want to do with ours!
Books
The choice of books is up to you. We found ours between The Works and The Book People as they often do deals like 10 for £10 or a whole collection (like Pip & Posy) for £8. If you’re really strapped for cash, there are always charity shops or boot sales to find second hand books.
If your children are older or if you want to mix the selection up a little you might want to think about including a Puzzle book (especially if you would prefer to open the advent book in the day), a comic book, or a graphic novel.
Extra Gifts
Of course you don’t have to include anything else with your book advent, but seeing as it was coming close to Christmas we thought we’d treat T to a little chocolate coin with each book.
If you don’t want to include chocolate or want to save it until Christmas, you could always include a little toy from the pound shop.
Christmas Eve
If you look online, Christmas Eve boxes are controversial. You either love the idea or hate it. I, personally, love it. Although we have yet to do a Christmas Eve box, we merged the idea with his book advent and included some pyjamas in with his book and chocolate coin. It made the evening a little bit special and T went to bed with fresh jammies ready for Christmas morning!
When we do create a Christmas Eve box we’ll probably include a carton of milk in with the crate and/or an extra magazine or book so that if T wakes before us, he can occupy himself until a more sociable hour (with any luck!).
What do you think? Have you done a book advent? What about Christmas Eve boxes? Yay or Nay?
