25 Days of Christmas Fun!

Our household gets very excited when this time of year roles around.  Since we celebrate Christmas I am always looking for fun little activities to do with my kids in the days leading up to it.  I've put together a list of 25 easy and fun ideas here.  You can use them at random or you can use them like an advent calendar.  If you wish to do one a day and you already own an advent calendar with doors or pockets you can print these and put one in each.  If you do not own a calendar like that you can easily make a small clothesline with yarn or string.  Then take clothes pins and number them 1-25.  Clip one activity to each clip.  Another easy idea is to simply print the ideas, fold them up and tape one to each day on a regular December calendar page.

A very important note: Some of these activities are better for certain days depending on your family and your schedule.  I did not write them in a particular order.  Take a look at all of them and put them in the order that works best for you!

An Awesome No-Toy Holiday Gift List For Kids

Gift giving is on our minds right now.  Here we are smack dab in the middle of the Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday long weekend.
Grandparents and aunts and uncles are asking for gift ideas.  Some parents find it easy to come up with gift ideas for their kids.  Others are wondering where they are going to put more toys.  A friend recently told me that she has been racking her brain for gift ideas that are not toys.  Naturally, that inspired me to write a blog post with some ideas.  At first, I had a really hard time thinking of anything beyond a membership to a children's museum.  But then, this weekend I thought of a bunch more... so here you go!  As always, PLEASE do add your ideas below!  The more the better!!! Thanks!!!

Easy as 1-2-3: DIY Felt & Magnet Board

These felt and magnetic boards are lots of fun and easy to make! They are a great combo of a felt board to play with on one side and a magnetic surface to play with on the other side. The other day I made 4 boards in under an hour. Two for my kids and 2 for our friends that were about to take a 13 hour (each way) car ride to visit grandparents for Thanksgiving.  They are great to play with on a long car ride, in a waiting room or at home.  This is also a great, cheap gift to make for kids as gifts.  I actually did all four for under 4 dollars because all I purchased were the cookie sheets.  I already had everything else.  Here is how you do it!

Safety Notes: The making of this project should be done by an adult since there are sharp scissors and hot glue involved.

-also-

Once made, this toy is best for kids and tots that are beyond the age where everything goes in their mouth as there are small pieces of felt and magnets.

D.E.A.R. ~ Best Books for November

For "Best Books for November" I tried to cover all of the general topics that we think of for this time of year.  Please feel free to add your favorite November books to the comments section below!