Last Christmas we started a new tradition. I have seen the Christmas Book Advent Calendar idea around a lot. We love Christmas and we really love books so how could we not do this amazing idea?!
When I first saw the idea of the Christmas Book Advent Calendar, I was scared off by being on a budget. I thought there is no way I can afford to buy 24 new books!
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How to do a Christmas Book Advent Calendar on a Budget
Then I realized you don’t have to have 24 new books to start this tradition with your family. There are so many other ways to make this fun idea work for you.
Here are some ways to find books by spending little or NO money.
- Use books you already own.
- Check out holiday library books – just make sure to keep an eye on due dates.
- Borrow books from friends or family members.
- Check the dollar stores for inexpensive books.
- Do a search on Facebook selling groups for Christmas books.
- Shop for books at thrift stores and consignment shops.
- Order $1 books from the Scholastic Book Club flyer.
Creating our Book Advent Calendar.
First, I pulled out all the Christmas books we already had around the house. I love having books for all the holidays. I store them away and refresh our reading nook with every holiday and season.
Since we didn’t have quite 24 books that I wanted to use for this project, I did purchase a few books at Dollar Tree. I was excited to find some cute Seek and Find books that were perfect for my preschooler.
They also had some fun Christmas Pop-Up Books. My kids both enjoyed all of these books and they were only $1.00. I was happy to add these to our collection of holiday books.
They each have four different titles available. I was only able to find three of each in my Dollar Tree store. The books are available online in a variety pack of 24. They also make great gifts, charity donations and stocking stuffers.
Once I had decided on the books, it was time to wrap them all. Since I have two children, I used two different wrapping papers. I also labeled the books with small star stickers for the countdown. One child was even numbers and the other was odd numbers.
Once I had the books labeled and wrapped, I placed them in a plastic bin from Dollar Tree. Then I put the bin of books under the tree. You could also decorate a box or use a basket you already have.
We all enjoyed seeing what book was unwrapped each night through Christmas Eve! I’m so glad I wrapped each child’s books in different wrapping paper. That really cut down on arguing who’s turn it was to open the book!
Reading Christmas Books
Of course, the Christmas Book Advent Calendar also encouraged even more reading time! I even added a few extra touches to our reading nook last year for the holidays. It was the perfect place for us to snuggle and read these books together.
Fun Twist to the Book Basket
Do you do Elf on the Shelf? Each year our elf usually picks one day to bring a special item. Last year, each child received a holiday Beanie Boo. They are obsessed with these adorable stuffed animals!
The elf had left a note to look under the tree for a surprise. They were very excited to find Candy Cane and Glitz there. When they opened the book for that day, it was a Beanie Boo story, The Cookie Thief. It was so fun and such a simple idea!
Christmas Books for Older Children
As children get older, it might become a little harder to know what books they enjoy. For my nine year old, I included some fun chapter books from a few of his favorite book series.
I knew we wouldn’t be able to read these together in one day, so I spaced them out through the book basket. His all time favorite chapter book series has always been My Weird School.
Older kids also usually enjoy joke books, comic books and activity books. Another idea would be to include a cookbook. Then pick out a recipe to make together.
There are so many fun ways to change this tradition up to fit your family. Christmas is getting closer but there is still time to put a fun book basket together for your Christmas Advent Countdown!
I never even thought about wrapping the books we have, but what a great idea. My kids want an elf on the shelf pet, but seeing your Beanie Boos I think the elf is going to bring one for each of the kids on the day he arrives.
I love that idea! I’ll have to look into those elf on a shelf pets for us!
I love this idea so much! When I was little, my mother always had a box filled with all of our Christmas books just sitting out in the living room, and I loved that. But gift wrapping them and making it a daily activity really takes the experience to the next level!
Thanks Nikki! It is a really fun tradition and we love having holiday books out on display!
Such an amazing idea! My husband is a teacher and he creates a book calendar for his students each year, sharing this with him.
Thanks so much for sharing with him! I love hearing that he creates a book calendar for his students. We appreciate our teachers so much!
Aw, what a great idea! I would have been over the moon excited to get a new book every day leading to the holidays when I was a child. My grandson loves books so this would be perfect for him. I see many you’ve pictured here that he would love. Thanks for the idea and I’m going to do this for him next year. Pinned 🙂
I love this idea! It reminded me of a book I used to have years ago when my older son was small. It had a story a day until Christmas. It was fun reading Christmas stories every night!
What a great way to encourage your kids to read! My kids always loved to get their hands on a new book!
What a wonderful idea! As an elementary teacher and a mom, I love celebrating the holiday season with books!