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Cool Advent Calendars for Kids

admin — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 12:27:33 +0000

In early November my kids start asking about the advent calendar and while we have a home made one that I had as a kid, they always want another fun one to go with it. You know – one with toys that you build on to make a Christmas scene as the days get closer and closer to the big day. The Lego and Playmobil advent calendars have always been the most popular with my son, but my daughters like the Littlest Pet Shop and Polly Advent calendars the best.

I have searched for the new releases this year and have found more than 10 advent calendars that I expect to be hits with the kids:

Christmas Market Advent Calendar

$7.95

A bustling old-fashioned Christmas market with 24 tiny windows to open each night of Advent. Join the fun at this Christmas market, complete with carolers, candy, and a candle-lit Christmas tree. With Glitter!

Eric Carle’s Dream Snow Pop-Up Advent Calendar

$9.99

This is no ordinary advent calendar! Based on the best-selling Christmas story Dream Snow by Eric Carle, this calendar unfolds to reveal an intricate pop-up Christmas tree surrounded by presents. Children open a window each day to discover a new decoration to add to the scene. By the time December 25 arrives, this calendar will have become a dreamy Christmas display!

Olive, the Other Reindeer Pop-Up Advent Calendar

$9.95

A companion to the new deluxe edition of Olive, the Other Reindeer and a wonderful Christmas gift in its own right this advent calendar offers an engaging and interactive way to count down to Christmas. And just like Olive is no ordinary "reindeer," this is no ordinary advent calendar! Featuring an intricate pop-up of Santa’s castle in the center, the calendar has a surprise for each day leading up to Christmas a punch-out figure that children can stand up and place around the castle, whether it’s Santa, a reindeer, or Olive herself! By the time December 25 arrives, the calendar will have become a very merry Christmas scene!

Advent Calendar Sticker Picture

$5.95

Kids add a numbered sticker to this snowy December calendar scene each day until Christmas arrives, filling a quaint little village scene with reusable images of carolers, angels, ice skaters, Santa, and other traditional sights of the season. 25 full-color stickers.

Playmobil Advent Calendar – Emperor’s Knights

$24.99

Playmobil Advent Calendar Emperor’s Knights – The Advent Calendar Emperors Knights Tournament contains twenty-four surprise items for each day of Advent. Set includes a castle backdrop, four figures, two horses, and other accessories for a jousting tournament. Help the knights prepare to compete in a tournament in front of the king!

Playmobil Advent Calendar – Dinosaur Expedition

$24.99

Playmobil Advent Calendar Dinosaur Expedition – Help the researchers make discoveries on their dinosaur expedition. The Advent Calendar Dinosaur Expedition" contains twenty-four surprise items for each day of Advent. Set includes a backdrop, two figures, dino, dino eggs, motorbike, and other accessories.

LEGO City Advent Calendar (7553)

$29.99

Have fun with the 24 Christmas gifts from LEGO City with the LEGO City Advent Calendar (7553)! Christmas is finally here! It’s warm and cozy by the fireplace and the entire family is excited about opening gifts by the Christmas tree. With a great gift for each day, the LEGO City advent calendar has 24 days of building fun with MiniFigures, vehicles and other great accessories for your LEGO City sets. The LEGO City Advent Calendar (7553) includes: Open a window for each day leading up to Christmas in the specially designed LEGO City Advent calendar box 24 LEGO City-themed gifts in all.6 MiniFigures Also features Christmas accessories, furniture and lots of cool vehicles The LEGO set is a standard of creative play for children around the world, unlocking the creativity to build vehicles, buildings, cities and more. LEGO City portrays every day life with realistic models. LEGO City gives boys the possibility to role play and become the heroes of their City. They can become heroes in so many ways: extinguishing fires as a firefighter, arresting robbers as a police officer, or flying rescue helicopters to save lives. LEGO brings boys a range of creative products such as, LEGO Atlantis, LEGO City, LEGO Creator, LEGO Duplo, LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Hero Factory, LEGO Power Miners, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Technic, LEGO Toy Story, and LEGO World Racers.

LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar (7958)

$39.99

Galactic festive fun with the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar (7958)! Christmas is almost here! With 24 unique gifts, including iconic MiniFigures, vehicles and accessories from the Star Wars universe, the all-new LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar is the perfect way to set the festive holidays into hyperspeed! The LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar (7958) includes: Open a window every day to reveal 24 different LEGO Star Wars-themed gifts 8 MiniFigures including Yoda in Santa Claus outfit Mini Millennium Falcon and X-wing Starfighter To be able to understand why LEGO has been successful for so long, just look to the name. LEGO originally got its name from founder Ole Kirk Christiansen who combed the Danish words "Leg Got" which means "play well". He later realized that LEGO in Latin translates to "I put together." The LEGO set became a standard of creative play for children worldwide, unlocking the creativity to build vehicles, buildings, cities and more. Historians point to the invention of the wheel as a major turning point in world history. The invention of the LEGO wheel had the same monumental effect in the history of LEGO, making it possible to create cars, trucks and eventually the LEGO train building set that is one of the most successful LEGO sets of all time. LEGO currently produces about 20 billion LEGO bricks a year and has sold over 400 billion LEGOs in their history – enough for every person on the planet to have over 60 LEGOs each!

Playmobil Advent Calendar Dragons Land

$18.99

The Advent Calendar Dragon’s Land contains twenty-four surprise items for each day of Advent. Includes a dragon land backdrop, two figures, two horses, dragon, treasure chest, and many other accessories. It is the perfect gift for the holiday season. Once upon a time in 1876, there was a locksmith named Andreas Brandstatter. Mr. Brandstatter planted a magical seed that would eventually blossom into Playmobil by founding an eponymous lock and metal fitting company in Furth, Germany. By the 1930s, Playmobil’s pretend play had again been redefined; manufacturing telephones, cash registers, and various items for toy shops using sheet metal. At the beginning of the 1950s, Horst Brandstatter, the Playmobil’s current owner, came on board and started a new era in the company history. He updated Playmobil pretend play products, searched out new markets and focused production on his favorite material, plastic. In 1958, the hula hoop craze gripped the world, and Horst Brandstatter was determined to perfect the pretend play toy that would inspire further exploration. Realizing that the technique, using air pressure, hot plastic hoses, and shape molds, could also produce basically any shape (in addition to the traditional bottles and hoops), Mr. Brandstatter created the first prototype Playmobil pretend play item, a closed racing car manufactured in a single production step. From that point on, the company expanded rapidly with products in toys. Playmobil was introduced at the 1974 International Toy Fair in Nuremberg and by using an innovative marketing strategy, parents and children responded uniformly with fascination and enthusiasm, to Playmobil.

Magnetic Advent Calendar

$54.99

This unique, wooden Advent Calendar makes the countdown to Christmas a magnetic attraction. Behind the 24 doors are magnetic character pieces to retrieve each day and place on the metal Nativity Scene. Size16 ¾" W. x1 7/8" D. x 14" H. Hanging hooks on back. Ages 3 yrs. +.

Nativity Advent Calendar

$29.99

Children will celebrate Christmas with this beautifully detailed Advent Calendar. Daily, they’ll place one of the 25 Velcro backed, traditional characters of animals onto the manger scene. The poly/cotton Calendar is 28"L. x 13¼"W. with 2 attached plastic rings for hanging.

Really Woolly Kids – Christian 3-D Advent Calendar

$12.99

December Special! – Save 30% This Christmas start a family tradition with this Really Woolly Advent Calendar!

Peace On Earth – Christian Nativity Advent Calendar

~~$7.99~~ $3.99

Start a new family tradition with this Peace On Earth Nativity Advent Christian Calendar!

Santa Mickey Mouse Advent Calendar

$49.95

Santa Mickey Mouse Advent Calendar

Red and White Holiday Mickey Mouse Advent Calendar

~~$49.95~~ $29.99

Red and White Holiday Mickey Mouse Advent Calendar

Fontanini 25-Piece Nativity Advent Calendar Set With Wooden Stable #65400

$40.00

For The Fontanini Giftware Collection From Roman Inc. Item #65400 This unique advent calendar is made up of 24 numbered wooden nativity ornaments with eye hooks, which bear the likeness of the 5" size Heirloom Nativity figures. The wooden stable has a great luster finish, detailed background scene, 24 tack nails to place the wooden ornaments, four hinges and a hinge closure that allows you to close it securely for easy storage. These advent calendars provide a fun, interactive family activity. Stable Dimensions: 8"H x 10"W x 1.5"D Wooden pieces range from 0.75"H to 2"H x 0.9"W x 1.6"W Materials: Wood/Paper Set comes beautifully gift boxed

Bird Lovers Birdhouse 24-Door Christmas Advent Calendar

~~$183.99~~ $143.99

Bird Lovers Christmas Advent Calendar Item #HB-8005S Features two dozen individual doors with a different bird found behind each one. Highly decorated house has whimsical accents on all four sides. Destined to become a family heirloom For indoor use only Dimensions: 11.25"H x 13"W x 10"D Material(s): wood

Club Pack of 12 Peanuts Snoopy & Charlie Brown Plush Christmas Advent Calendars

~~$309.99~~ $249.99

Pack of 12 Peanuts Christmas Calendars From the Peanuts Collection Item #PN7116 Officially licensed merchandise Count down to Christmas on these Snoopy and Charlie Brown advent calendars Come ready-to-hang on red cords Dimensions: 14.5"H Material(s): plush fabric Pack includes 12 of the calendar shown

A Christmas Tree Advent Calendar

$8.95

Edition: Adv, Calendar, North-South / Night Sky Books

Norman Rockwell’s Advent Calendar

$10.99

Count down the days until Christmas! This timeless treasure features twenty-six charming holiday illustrations by Norman Rockwell, America’s most beloved and universally popular artist. Sure to become a family tradition, this charming advent calendar and bonus Christmas carol book promise to bring the Christmas spirit to your home this year and every after year.

Silent Night Musical Advent Calendar

~~$12.95~~ $5.18

An Advent calendar that plays its own music!

Winter’s Night Pop-Up Advent Calendar

$10.99

Winter s Night Pop-Up Advent Calendar

The Christmas Star Book & Advent Calendar

$9.95

A full-length, full color book with advent calendar doors on the cover make this a special stocking stuffer for Christmas! Read the story and then open each door for a tiny surprize. Follow the shining star as it guides shepherds, kings, and all the animals of the forest to the stable where the Holy Child lies. Full-color art and holographic foil-stamping throughout makes this story from best-selling author Marcus Pfister sparkle!

A Woodland Christmas Advent Calendar

$7.95

Woodland animals beneath a glittering tree

The Nutcracker Story Book Set and Advent Calendar

$15.95

It s a marriage of two classics: The Nutcracker and Advent calendars. Front cover flaps part like stage curtains to reveal 24 full-color illustrated story-books. Books are numbered, and like the peekaboo windows of Advent calendars, they re meant to be opened and read, one per day, from December 1 until Christmas Eve. From a first glimpse of the Stahlbaum house (#1) to the duel between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King (#14) to the magical Sugar Plum Fairy (#20), the board books retell the complete story. In addition, with their gold-thread loops and four different trim sizes, the jewel-like books are designed to be hung on the Christmas tree year after year

A Star In The East (Advent Calendar)

$7.95

Shepherds follow the star to Bethlehem

7 Ways to Keep Your Child’s Belief in Santa Claus Strong

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:11:30 +0000

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Many parents love to see the joy and excitement Santa Claus can bring to their child. For many people, their childhood memories of Santa Claus are the best Christmas memories they have. Keeping your child believing in Santa, however, can be a daunting task. Children are smart these days, and some of the old Santa tricks just don’t get by them anymore. My 7-year old has really been on me this year, asking repeatedly, “Is there a Santa Claus?” Every family may have slightly different Christmas traditions with regards to Santa Claus, but there are some very easy things any person can do to keep the belief in Santa at an all time high. The following 7 techniques will keep your child believing in the magic and wonderment of Santa Claus and you don’t have to be familiar with the history of Santa Claus to apply them.

1) Have your child write a Santa Letter. This can be a simple letter that your child can write to Santa Claus. Children absolutely love to write a letter to Santa, but they occasionally need a little parental guidance to pull it off.

Help your child include a special list of gifts they desire for Christmas into the Santa letter. Many children enjoy getting more creative by drawing or cutting out pictures that represent the gifts they want.

Once the child’s Santa letter is finished, simply mail it to the North Pole. Mail it to the following Santa Claus address: Santa Claus, 1 Candy Cane Lane, North Pole 00001. Don’t bother using a return address, you wouldn’t want it to return as ‘undeliverable’ for any reason.

2) Write a Letter from Santa and have your child receive it in the mail. Create a personalized letter from Santa by directly mentioning your child’s name and certain information about your child in the text. This will make for a much more believable Santa letter. Be sure to make these letters from Santa different for each child in the same household. The child will have no doubt that Santa Claus is coming to town after they receive their personalized letter from Santa!

“I can honestly state as a parent that the personalized letter from Santa has single handedly restored my son’s belief! The look of shock and amazement on his face when he got an ‘authentic letter from Santa’ quickly abolished any doubt he previously had about Santa Claus.”

Print the Santa letter on authentic looking letterhead, as this will help to reinforce the believability. Many different styles of paper can be found at your local office supply store.

You can add to the fun by getting your letter from Santa postmarked at the North Pole. Simply send your Santa letter inside another sealed, stamped envelope to: North Pole Christmas Cancellation, Postmaster, 5400 Mail Trail, Fairbanks, AK 99709-9999. (It needs to arrive by December 15th)

Many parents add a certificate for being on Santa’s “Nice List” along with the Santa Letter for added effect. Another great item to add with the Santa letter is a Santa Claus coloring sheet. Combining the personalized Santa letter, the nice certificate, and the Santa Claus coloring sheet is a sure fire method for keeping your child believing.

3) Have your child leave milk and cookies out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. This is simple enough to do with your child. It lets your child know YOU still believe, too. Make it a bonding experience for you and your child by baking the cookies together on Christmas Eve. Don’t underestimate how powerful this can be for creating joyful memories of Santa Claus, for both you and your child. Did you know that Santa’s favorite cookie recipe is Chocolate Chip?

Put the fresh cookies on a plate next to a glass of cold milk. You can even put a short letter to Santa Claus next to the cookies and milk. These tasty treats will give Santa the energy he needs to continue traveling to the millions of other households awaiting his arrival.

Don’t forget to leave some crumbs on the table Christmas morning. Your child will feel honored that Santa Claus ate the whole plate of cookies and drank all of the milk before rushing on his way.

4) On Christmas Eve, have your child sprinkle reindeer food on the lawn. Santa Claus gets milk and cookies on Christmas Eve, but what about Rudolph and the rest of the joyful gang? What do they eat? Well, reindeer food, of course!

You can make a batch of environmentally friendly reindeer food with common grocery items such as oats or granola. (Do not use potentially hazardous items, such as glitter in your reindeer food. Although this may make the reindeer food appear to be magical in some way, it can be extremely dangerous if ingested by small children, should they decide to ‘sample’ the reindeer food. It can also be potentially hazardous to the small animals outside such as rabbits, dogs, or cats that may eat the food.)

Once you have the reindeer food mixed up, walk outside with your child on Christmas Eve night and explain the importance of making sure Santa’s sleigh team stays fed. Sprinkle a small amount onto your yard near bushes or trees.

This healthy reindeer snack will give Rudolph and the rest of the reindeer the nourishment they need to continue flying Santa’s heavy sleigh into the night. Your child will be proud for helping Santa Claus on his journey, and is sure to raise the belief in Rudolph and the other reindeer as well.

5) Leave Santa Claus tracks in your house on Christmas Eve. Being sure to not stain your carpet, leave some dirty boot prints by the fireplace (or doorway). Be sure to draw attention to the Santa Claus footprints on Christmas morning. To a child, this is solid evidence that Santa had been to their house.

6) A month or so after Christmas, send your child a postcard from Santa Claus on vacation. This not only keeps your child believing, but reminds your child that Santa is in their hearts all year long. It also answers the common question posed by children after Christmas, “Where is Santa Claus now?”

Be sure to make the postcard from somewhere very warm and sunny. After all, Santa does need a break from all that North Pole snow.

7) Mail your child a birthday greeting from Santa Claus. This technique works in tandem with the personalized Santa Letter you mailed your child previously. Mailing your child a simple birthday card from Santa is an excellent way to keep your child’s belief high throughout the year. Your child will think, “Wow! Santa actually knows my birthday!” The shock on your child’s face will be priceless.

Parents that have extremely intelligent kids or kids that are getting slightly older will genuinely need to utilize all 7 techniques mentioned above to keep their child believing in Santa Claus.

These techniques will assure your child is one of the millions of children that write Santa Letters each and every holiday season… one of the millions of children that believe wholeheartedly in Santa Claus.

A reputable, inexpensive website that offers all of this as a service can be found here: www.PackageFromSanta.com