With less than a month until Christmas I thought that it was high time to get our Advent Calendar in order. There are so many wonderful Christmas traditions that we would like to participate in each year but simply don’t have time for. Random Acts of Kindness, holiday book-a-day, Elf on the Shelf, chocolate advent calendars, felt advent calendars, store bought Lego advent calendars…. the list goes on and on! We will always have a holiday book-a-day advent but here is how I have combined three other traditions into one calendar. Lego advent calendar, Elf on the Shelf (kinda) and random acts of kindness…
My boys are utterly infactuated with Lego. This year they have developed what is sure to be a life long passion for Lego and are on their way to becoming master builders. They just turned seven so now they can put together most of the sets on their own. Collecting and building Mixels during each of our camping trips last summer helped to cement their love for Lego. So when I saw this fabulous Lego Advent Calendar idea at Frugal Fun 4 Boys I knew that I wanted to somehow incorporate Lego into this years calendar. Last year they had store bought Lego advent calendars but they are so expensive! Be sure to visit Frugal Fun 4 Boys and show Sarah some love – she has tons of great Lego ideas for kids!
I purchased this Mountain Hut Lego Creator set and built just the house. It cost about $40 which is pretty cheap considering a store bought Lego advent would cost that for just one kid. We also don’t have an extensive Lego collection yet so purchasing Lego pieces was a must otherwise any building that I would have created on my own would be… grey… yup that’s about the only colour that we have in abundance *wink*. I plan on surprising the boys with the rest of the build in December.
I also picked up this Magical Christmas Lego building kit. Thanks to my friend Amy and her tip on where to find it locally (Michaels)!!! We need a Santa mini figure to complete the Lego part of our calendar! So here is how we are combining three traditions into this one calendar:
Tradition #1 – Lego Advent Calendar can now be built each year with Lego from our collection. Each day until Christmas, Santa is moved by the kids towards the “workshop”. On the 25th day he moves inside the house for a well deserved break.
Tradition #2 – Elf on the Shelf shinanigans! I have loved the creative mischief behind Elf on the Shelf but could not find time for another tradition and honestly all that spying for Santa sounds a little creepy hee hee. Our Lego mini figure Santa will be getting up to his own mischief (with help from Mom) every night. The kids will have to find Santa somewhere in the house every morning to see what he has been up to (they know that it’s me and not magic *wink*). Be sure to follow on Instagram to see what kind of trouble Santa gets into!
Tradition #3 – Random Acts of Kindness are near and dear to my heart. We have been doing this with the boys since they were two but the difficulty has been actually scheduling the activities to work with our day. When the kids find Santa in the morning he will have the days RAK activity with him. This way I can be sure to have an activity that can be completed each day (depending on if we have a busy day planned or not). Here is this years Random Acts of Kindness free printable if you would like to use it.
I made a few modifications to the original Mountain Hut, adding flat white 1×4, 1×2 and 1×3 bricks to the path and roof for snow. I also added 1×1 red and blue lights to the tree and house for a festive look.
What is fun too is that this house opens right up. It’s like Santa’s private little ski lodge.
Can you spot the fire in the hearth and logs stacked and ready for the next marshmallow roast?
What Christmas traditions are your favorite?
