I was asked about where I got my socks and what I filled them with… Most of the socks came from Target $1 Spot, but Heather said she found some at the Dollar Store. Had I been well prepared, I’d have had the socks contain little goodies that related to Christmas, Jesus, Snow etc… but… I was running behind and so I found some little chocolate "gold" coins with Dora and Diego stickers on them in the $1 Spot as well as a box of little santa chocolates. So, a bunch of the socks have just a chocolate in them. I also picked up a Sesame Street 24 piece puzzle, put it together and put 4 pieces (that are side by side) in each of 6 socks. And, one has a matchbox car and one has a Brio train piece.
Some other ideas I found that you could do with Advent calendars are:
- All candied up
- Ali Edwards’ Boxes
- Advent Calendar Chain
- And, prompts that you can put in your socks, boxes, drawers, envelopes etc etc..
- Advent prompts for warmer climates
- Zoe also told me about an Advent Handprint Wreath she was making.
- Nativity Advent Calendar
- Christmas Advent Garland (skip the socks, just buy the garland pre-made!)
- Advent Tree
- Advent Houses with drawers
- This one was SO cute… pull out the bricks in the fireplace and watch Santa arrive down the chimney.
- Chocolate Advent Calendar (the kind I had as a child)
- Target actually has a pretty wooden one in the store like this mirrored one. They can easily match your home’s decor without looking to "Christmasy"
- Noah’s Ark Advent Calendar
And, some links (thank you to Zoe and to Westwinds Church!)
And, here are some simple holiday traditions that I thought were neat from the Parent Hack Blog… (check out the blog, it has some great stuff on there!)
- Lee’s family hides an almond in the rice pudding. Whoever finds the
almond wins the prize, and has to provide the prize next year. - Melvin the Elf creeps around Jill’s family’s house and reports back to Santa with updates on the kids’ behavior.
- Matt’s family plays an ingenious rhyming game to guess their presents.
- Adrienne and Jim eat an annual gas station hot dog.
- Jen’s family makes and delivers dog biscuits to the neighborhood canines.
- Toblerone’s family spends part of Christmas Eve delivering treats
to those who have to work that night…nurses, firemen, airport
personnel… - Gina’s family plays "Hide the Pickle."
nicolebarczak.com 
Fun! Thanks for sharing! I “stole” your idea of the four gifts for Christmas – thanks so much! I am excited to start that tradition 🙂
Thanks for linking us to all these great ideas!
You put so much work into this Great post! Thank you so much for so many Great ideas. I will have to remember them for when I have kids. Thanks Again!