The countdown to Christmas begins so soon!

What is Advent? Advent is the period of four Sundays and weeks before Christmas (or sometimes from the 1st December to Christmas Day!) Advent means ‘Coming’ in Latin. This is the coming of Jesus into the world. Christians use the four Sundays and weeks of Advent to prepare and remember the real meaning of Christmas.But you don’t need an Advent calendar to know that Christmas is coming, but opening a little numbered door to reveal a little something is an idea that everyone—religious or not—can get behind.

I grew up with the chococlate Advent Calendar tradition. One day, one little door, one chocolate. Such fun. Now for my own family, I use the Advent countdown to bring Christmas to life as a family. It’s such a special time of year, but it can be busy and hectic too. That’s when and why, I fell in love with the advent calendar full of things that connected the family again. I still sprinkle the 24 days with chocolate (of course) but things like cookie making, putting up the tree together, singing carols after dinner together, making gifts for the neighbours etc. It’s hectic, it’s intense, it’s fun and it’s highly anticipated in our house!!

But getting yourself organise early is KEY. Below are some ideas & hacks to help you get started! 

My top tips and tricks for having an Activity Advent Calendar:

ONE: Start looking for your advent calendar from last year (if you are re-using one) now, just in case you can’t find it! Save yourself a last minute panic purchase where you will have limited options.

TWO: Decide what your Calendar is going to look like – are you going to buy a blank canvas to work with, or are you going to source paper bags and use ribbons and string to put it all together? There are so many neat ideas out there.

THREE: Then sit down and decide what’s most important to you at Christmas and theme your advent calendar activities that way. Is it family moments, community awareness, the joy of giving, chocolate treats, fun & silliness, reflection, stopping and being together, activities & craft? You decide, it’s your ritual. Create a list of 24 things you want to do as you build up to Christmas around that theme. Realistic things, that you know you can achieve. See my template starter below, add to these OR have a look at this amazing pack with the cutest little cards and ideas from Keeps NZ, I loved this last year, and I love it again this year. Such an easy and simple way to get organised – and their ideas are so cute. Massive thumbs up from me!

Then when 1st December hits … create your own rituals around your calendar:

*Take daily turns to open the Advent Calendar, adults included, or not?!

*Decide what time of the day the Advent Calendar is opened, first thing, night time? Make that an important time for the next 24 days

*Perhaps if you are the one who opens the calendar, you are the one who must check the water levels of the Christmas tree? Or are you tasked with another equally important task?

My favourite blank canvases to use for creating your own family advent calendar:

*Myer have this super one for $49

*Love this white and gold star themed hanger from Kikki-Kand it comes with 24 little bags for each day too!

*One of my favs for a few years now is this one on Etsy, from Hide and Seek textilesis this one for $154

*Pottery Barnhave a few great fabric options, I brought the Skinny Santa Advent Calendar from them last year and loved having his big red presence in our house every day! (plus sign up to their newsletter for 15% off your first order which is good to remember)

*Targethas a great little wooden box for $30

*Myer has two great option for wooden calendars with little pull out drawers; this white and gold $99 in white and goldand this super sweet little one from the House and Garden brand for $99.

*Oh and these – LOVE LOVE LOVE! I’ve just ordered a wee set of these paper Advent Boxed Houses– I am going to decorate my Advent Calendar with them and a few wooden pegs … I will share pics when I’ve finished!

Other Advent calendar ideas

Two great Advent Calendar book options:

How Winston Delivered Christmas– 24 chapters of a sweet little story about a mouse on a very important mission – to get a letter to Santa! (right up my alley). Each chapter has a festive activite for the family to do. A great gift!

Christmas is Coming – an Advent Book. Every day of December brings a delightful new Christmas tradition in this keepsake advent book. Each flap on the cover of the book reveals a clue to a festive activity that can be found inside the pages. It might be a recipe for a delicious homemade treat, instructions for a cozy craft, a game to play, a carol to sing, or a beautifully illustrated story to read with the whole family. A sort of one stop shop!!

For the dog:

Personalised Dog Advent Calendar – this or this

For someone who needs to take care of themselves:

Love this little idea Personalised Self care Advent Calendarfrom Hard To Find, full of lovely ways to be kind to yourself (24 in fact!) from lighting a candle to going to bed early, to turning off your phone for the evening.

Advent Calendars to buy

Many options to buy pre-made sets now! So many brands are making beautiful advent calendars it now seems – no longer just the chocolate ones. We had a beautiful one from L’Occitane last year, which was so fun to open at bath time. This year I see there are ones from; The Body Shop, Kiehls, ASOS, Lego, Whiskey Companys, Sephor, YsL, Crayola, Villeroy & Bch, Mecca, Smiggle, Harry Potter, Jo Malone, Happy Socks and one full of Beard Oild Treats! Seems this is an advent calendar for everyone if you go looking.

My Love From Santa family Activity Advent Calendar starters:

No making bed day!

Make a set of Christmas decorations with this awesome Christmas dough recipe (from @anneke_heu)

Christmas song sing and dance session tonight

Do something special for Dad Day

Think of three kind things each of your family members has done for you this year, and write them down for them to keep

Do something special for Mum / Dad Day

Put up the Christmas tree together

Find one special Christmas chocolate hidden somewhere in the house

Make a Christmas card for your favourite neighbour and leave it in their letter box

Make a batch of reindeer food with this simple recipe

Do something kind for someone, unexpectedly today – report back at dinner time what you have done

Have a PJ Day!

Choose your favourite Christmas food to make today – ideas: mince pies, ginger bread house, pavlova, Christmas coloured iceblocks, Christmas Tree toast

Candy Cain seeds – plant them and see what grows overnight

Behind the Scenes @ Love From Santa

I sat down with a friend the other day to really talk business … business that is with Santa. Here’s a wee snapshot of some of the questions and answers we covered, and went through.

So what’s it like actually working with Santa?

Answer: BEST job in the whole world. How lucky am I? Seriously it is the most stressful job, because it is SO important. He is the most important person in the world, to children, and I am entrusted by him, and by parents everywhere to ensure he stays that way. So working with Santa is incredible, but also very stressful when you take it as seriously as I do. I’d hate to be fired by him!

What’s the best part of the job?

Ah that’s easy. The best part is hearing about the journeys the letters actually take. I LOVE LOVE LOVE knowing what happens when the letters arrive in post boxes. What magic takes hold and how little faces and hearts are just filled with wonder. MAKES MY DAYS. When you own a small business like mine, you mostly do it because you love it, and because you believe in it, so feedback for a small business is like getting the bonus you were hoping you might get!

Why letters from Santa, who would have thought?

I know – right. How did I end up here? Well like all decisions and directions in life, it sort of just happened. I’ve had a long career in Advertising Agencies making TV ads all around the world, and when I went to have my second daughter this opportunity fell in my lap. I brought the business from a great friend who was selling it, having had all her babies. I saw what she had done, and thought that’s a really great and special idea; I could work with that. And I have. I have changed and tweaked and made it my own since. But the idea is just so magical. Childhood is so fleeting these days, and Santa (or Father Christmas) is such a special part of that. I didn’t want to do anything cheesy with this business; getting a letter, in your mail box, from your own postman, from Santa – that’s magic. And what amazes me the most is how long kids hang onto believing – that means it’s important.

Do you do it all by yourself or do you have a team?

I’ve tried to do this business lots of ways over the years. With a team of helpers, without, outsourcing and on my own. What I’ve been reminded of it’s always best to focus on what your strengths are, and get help with the parts where others are better. That’s tricky in a small business where every penny counts, but it really does make a big difference. So this year, it’s mostly me, with a couple of experts I call in to help. I also secretly do like to retain control as much as I can myself – so I’ve a vested interest in keeping the team to just me. Let’s see how it goes!

How do you do this work at home with your children around?

Great question. It’s getting very difficult. To start with it was easy, they were little and had no idea what Mummy was up too. But this year my eldest daughter has learnt to read. So I am anticipating even more cloak and dagger styles, later nights and perhaps a few solid padlocks on boxes. Yikes. I’ve got a good story up my sleeve about how “Mummy actually works for Santa in Australia – but you can’t tell anyone etc etc” … I really hope I don’t have to use it!

There is something about Christmas!

Well it’s that time of the year again – I can hardly believe it. BUT I am so excited!!

As always there has been, and still is, a lot going on in the North Pole. So much to do, and so much fun to be had with all those cheeky characters.

I’ve been working with Santa and Mrs Claus for the last few months sorting out their letter writing process for 2019. They are so dedicated and passionate about this part of the Christmas experience. They have some great tales to share with the children this year (including a story about Santa’s spotty underwear!). What I would give to be a fly on the wall!

So what’s new this year?

This year, I have included the Head Elf’s “Naughty or Nice” stamp on all envelopes. I am hopeful by the time the letters hit the mail ALL children will receive a big tick in the “Nice” box (my own daughter being the only exception at the moment)!

After many requests last year I have increased the letter deliver options to FOUR. Starting in November and going right until the last few days before Christmas. Posting periods took a lot longer last year than the times advised by both Australia & New Post Post, so I will be using last years experience as a guide for the snail mail timings this year too.

Finally I have had to increase the price of the letters by $1 this year. As much as I try to keep costs down, the reality of running a small business and providing a high quality product, with integrity, mean that this increase is necessary. All current customers have been offered an Early Elf Special until the 10th of November as a thank you for their support to date.

I am so looking forward to the next 9 weeks. I read each and every letter and all the lovely details as they come in which builds the most amazing magic. If I reach out to you to double check a detail or help fill in something that doesn’t quite make sense, please don’t be offended, I am just a perfectionist in pursuit of the best Santa magic we can deliver together!

One last thing … I just LOVE hearing about the requests for letters, seeing photos of letter being posted to Santa, and of course of hearing reports of letters arriving. So please please do share.

Key information for 2019

FOUR delivery time choices:
Letter arriving last week of Nov (25th – 29th)
Letter arriving 1st week of Dec (2nd – 6th)
Letter arriving 2nd week of Dec (9th – 13th)
Letter arriving week before Christmas (16th – 20th)

LAST ORDERS
Last orders for letters leaving Australia: 22nd November
Last orders for letters in Australia: 12th December

LETTER FEATURES
Three special letterhead designs
The cutest, cleverest new letters full of news from the North Pole
Father Christmas or Santa sign off choice
Premium thick red envelopes
All letters are hand signed by Santa’s special red pen
Postmarked as North Pole mail + stamped officially from Santa’s Workshop
“Naughty or Nice” mark on each envelope
Cost per letter is $12.95 (postage included)

Writing to Santa and need an envelope to send your letter in? Download our cute little Santa envelope here

Envelope for Santa mail

I need an Advent Calendar!?

When I awoke this morning I had a text from a friend asking me just that question … have you seen any good Advent Calendar’s this year, I need to get one?

And neither us were talking about the chocolate advent calendars from the supermarkets, we are talking about the fun activity based ones where each day is found one pocket of mystery at a time. Obviously chocolate can be a part of that too if you wish 🙂

So I’ve put together the below listing for anyone who might also have the same question.

Advent Calendars kick into gear in 15 sleeps (1st of December) by my calculations, and with all the other goings on life that isn’t much time to get it all sorted, esp if you are planning to add some creativity to it.

Here are my pics for this year:

Bigoudiandbigouda – 25 gorgeous black and gold countdown pockets – personalised with your name / family name. $40 for the set. So pretty and so versatile. The ladder as in the photo looks stunning and/or perhaps an Elf (assuming Santa has sent you one) could also deliver one each day? Even hanging them on the tree would be magic. So many options and ideas to work with.

KeepsNZ have these fantastic pockets that come complete with a set of 31 activity cards (giving you room to choose the most suitable activities for your family) – the thing I love about this is that it’s all ready to GO. Display options as per above – and many more marvellous ways too. I think I would add some chocolate and a few other trinkets too, but it feels like a pretty perfect solution for $39.

As much as I love a white themed Christmas, there is  just something about Santa that really does get me excited too. Potter Barn Aus have a tall Santa advent calendar … and he’s on sale for $34. Santa is also standing tall at Ezibuy Home – now on sale for $24

Finally I just had to share the last two stunning canvas’s created by Hideandseektextiles in the UK and Kyddo shop. Sadly both sold out of this year now, but as a Christmas keepsake’s well worth putting on the ordering list for next year – in July 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other ideas …

Do you have a dog in your family … or perhaps you know someone with a fur baby. I think these dog advent calendars are pretty amazing. I’ve sent one to my brother for his fur baby!

*I brought an advent calendar from Fluff & Bubbles plus their “set of x24 different tea bags” and sent to an elderly friend last year … I really thought these were pretty sweet. They have some gorgeous, affordable calendars you can add your own things too. Perhaps there monotone print out is a good idea – so pretty and pretty easy to do (a “work” printer would print the monotone out very well …)

*follow me in the build up to Christmas on my instagram account (@lovefromsanta)- magic Santa ideas and christmas inspiration