This Christmas season just feels more magical with a toddler running around! Stella will be 16 months by Christmas. She is just so excited by every little light, decoration, treat, song this holiday season. I am so excited to share with you How to Fill a Toddler’s Advent Calendar.
If you’re a new mom experiencing the holiday season with a toddler, you’re needing some budget-friendly kiddo gift ideas, or you’re looking for a new addition to your holiday decor – this post is for you! This year’s Advent calendar from Gathre is filled with affordable sensory goodies for your toddler!
I splurged on a high quality leather Advent Calendar this year, you can check it out here. I love the smooth, minimal design; and how it creates a blank canvas for all the colorful and sparkly items I’ll fill it with. I envision this Advent Calendar growing with our family over the years. This year, with an almost 16 month old, we headed to our local dollar store to shop simple, sweet, sensory items Stella can enjoy December 1st through Christmas Eve. Here in this post, I’ll share a list of what we purchased, so you too can learn How to Fill a Toddler’s Advent Calendar (and without breaking the bank!)
WHAT WE FILLED OUR ADVENT CALENDAR WITH
All items were purchased at a 99 Cent Only Store, and are toddler safe activities, though most require adult supervision.
- Mini Nutcracker figurine
- Blank Christmas themed coloring pages with red and green crayons
- Holiday cookie cutters
- Christmas Themed Stickers
- Experience Note – ‘a Christmas Music Dance Party’
- Wooden Reindeer Ornament craft
- Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Juice
- Candy Cane Pipe Cleaners
- Striped Paper straws – Stella loves to drink out of big girl straws, and these are so fun!
- Kid Safe Scissors and White paper to cut snowflakes
- Date Card – Family outing for Holiday drinks at Starbucks
- Christmas tree play knife for Stella’s kitchen set
- Snowflake sponge/holiday bath toy
- Seasonal stickers
- Red nail polish to paint Stella’s toenails – this will be a first!
- Hot Cocoa Packets
- Santa stickers
- Small ornament for Christmas Tree
- Small reindeer mylar balloon
- Large multicolor jingle bells – Stella loves items that make noise!
- Sparkle pom poms
- Hershey kisses
- Experience note – ‘a night spent looking at neighborhood lights’
- Fresh Cutie tangerine – said by Saint Nick to be a gift of gold!
WHAT I LOVE MOST
My favorite part about this Advent Calendar are the little notes that suggest activities we can do together as a family. As Stella gets older, it will be so important to me to teach her that the Christmas season isn’t about presents, but about quality time spent with loved ones, sharing in a magical season together!
What do you think about this list? Could you see your toddler loving some of these items too?
Check out my reel on Instagram, where I share more details of this Toddler Advent Calendar.
This blog post contains affiliate links via RewardStyle. By shopping these links, you are supporting New Cotton Blend at no additional cost to you . Please note that I only recommend products that I personally use; and I always have my readers’ best interest at heart.
