Every year, on December 1st, I hang a festive clothesline across the window between my kitchen and living room. Using tiny white clothes pins and small brown envelopes numbered from one to 25, I construct a make-shift advent calendar. In each envelope is an activity. Some nights are easy and built around our regular schedule. With three kids, we have a lot of nights committed to basketball practice, tennis, or art class. For those nights, I put activities like setting a kindness challenge at breakfast and coming together at the end of the day to regale one another with stories of how we spread love and good cheer before rushing off to sports practice. Other nights are more about protecting our peace and pocketbook because no one wants to spend the entire month of December running themselves ragged in a desperate bid to have fun. On these nights, our advent activities look like watching our favorite Christmas movies or having a dramatic family reading of Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch by the fire. The rest of our advent activity nights are spent attending pageants and parties, and for me, the most important things — the traditional activities we must fit into December somehow, or I’ll spend years regretting that we didn’t—these activities look like Ice Skating, baking cookies, and seeing Santa. Let me tell you, putting these non-negotiables on our schedule at the end of November, before we’ve obligated ourselves to every Tom, Dick, and Harry that expects us to populate their holiday parties, is my number #1 Christmas hack.
People tend to feel overwhelmed and suffocated by all the well-meant invitations they receive this time of year. The very idea of committing yourself to an activity a day at the outset of the holiday crush probably sounds like peak insanity. In a world where most of TikTok is encouraging us all to say “no” and “slow down” this holiday season, but actually doing so feels completely out of our hands, an advent activity calendar may even sound controversial. But hear me out — making plans means having plans. Even if your “plans” are simply “cozying up by the fire and silently reading individual books with your crew”. If you know on December 4 that your kids will be pulling down the envelope for these plans on the morning of December 10, your Aunt insisting on holding yet another family holiday gathering on that night isn’t your problem. You’ve already made plans.
Now what my family does for Advent is tailored to our schedule. Yours will necessarily look very different. However, for inspiration of what it looks like as well as for plenty of fun, free, relaxing activities, and some of the best holiday fun Kansas City has to offer, here is a sample Christmas Activity Advent Calendar.
Christmas Advent Activities for Kansas City and beyond
Friday, December 1 – Christmas Tree Farm
We went to Fort Osage Christmas Trees and Weddings in Independence this year. I’m a tree farm girl, not a tree lot girl, and certainly not an artificial tree girl. Of course, this is just a personal preference. But if you’re like me, you may have a similar vision for what the ideal Christmas Tree Farm experience will offer. Fort Osage was just the place. There were acres of trees to roam, complimentary hot cocoa, and complimentary spice tea made from long held family recipe. The staff couldn’t have been friendlier, and buried in the back woods of Independence, the farm itself made the perfect winter wonderland, even without snow.
Saturday, December 2- Powell Gardens
We LOVE Powell Gardens Festival of Lights. It simply isn’t Christmas until we’ve bundled up our whole family in scarves and mittens and driven out to Kingsville, MO, to explore the magnificent light show by Kansas City’s Botanical Garden and Evergy. They have Santa, fire pits to huddle around with your friends, a three-story building that offers views of the incredible show, and all the hot drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
Sunday, December 3- Draw Names for Secret Santa
See how we did that? Two days of outings in a row means it’s time for a day with no plans whatsoever. A way to do this while maintaining the spirit of the activity advent calendar is to do a Secret Santa with just your family. This took two minutes of my day. I wrote out names on a piece of paper, put them in a hat, and had each family member draw a name (if they get their own, they redraw), and instructed each of them to make sure the person whose name they drew has a fantastic December. This means leaving notes, making snacks, surprising them with little presents, and offering to help them with chores. When we have our big reveal on Christmas morning, we get to find out who made our seasons so bright.
Monday, December 4- Watch Home Alone
Mondays are hard, and Home Alone is a classic. The activity advent shouldn’t make your holidays more stressful but less. So why not fill your calendar with cozy movie nights? Remember, this way, when you tell people that you “have plans,” you’re not even lying a little bit.
Tuesday, December 5- Read the Christmas Story
It’s a midweek school night, for our family this means another night of keeping it lowkey. A quick reading of Luke 2 at dinner is a great way to continue preparing our hearts for Christmas without making our kids sick on sugar, too many get-togethers, and late nights. For you, this could be any book or story or even another movie!
Wednesday, December 6- Kindness Challenge
As I described earlier, this is a great activity for a day you actually don’t have any free time. Starting in the morning, we throw down a challenge — be as kind today as you can. Do at least three things to make other people’s days brighter as you go about your usual routine. At dinner that night, we share our stories, the things we did, and how it made us feel. My kids get extra treats for their friends in the lunch line and help their teachers by being extra respectful. As adults, my husband and I send encouraging emails to our colleagues and drop extra cash in the Salvation Army bucket on the way into the store.
Thursday, December 7- Candlelight dinner
That’s it. Literally. I dig some candles out of the cabinet, turn off all the overhead lights, and then we eat our spaghetti or soup or whatever I planned for dinner that night by the light of candles. Easy, free, my kids are thrilled by the magic of it all, and if I’m honest, so are my husband and I.
Friday, December 8- Pick Out Ornaments
This is one of our family’s annual family traditions. We go to Target, and all pick out one ornament a piece, bring them home, and put them on the tree together. This makes decorating the tree each year an absolute joy as we reminisce over our favorite ornaments from years past. Remember when you were obsessed with King Kong and picked out the gorilla ornament? Do you remember when you chose the scarab ornament without realizing it was a scarab? You can steal our tradition or swap this one out for your own, and again, you’re not just squeezing in your important traditions wherever you can force them; you are putting them on your schedule without apology.
Saturday, December 9- Seeing Santa at the Crown
It’s a Saturday. And after a week of cozy nights and minimal outings, we are ready to get back out there and grab Christmas by its reindeer antlers! We love devoting a whole afternoon and evening to Crown Center in downtown KC. They have an ice skating rink, Fritz’s Hamburger Restaurant (we’re talking fast food prices for dinner and a bit of a show), a large toy store, the Mayor’s Christmas tree, plus SO much more. The golden lights at the Crown are simply magic.
Sunday, December 10- Cut out snowflakes
This is one of our favorite activities, and all it takes is printer paper, a few pairs of scissors, and tape to stick your snowflakes to every window in the house. Here’s a quick tutorial if you need a refresher.
Monday, December 11- Game night
Another Monday night that must be protected for rest at all costs. Sometimes, pulling out a jigsaw puzzle or a beginning a three hour round of Monopoly may sound like it’s own special hell on a Monday night, but maybe for your family this looks a Mariokart tournament, or a couple rounds of UNO. The important thing for our family is to foster a lasting connection between quality time as a family and the holiday season. Because someday, I hope my kids will move heaven and earth to see their parents at Christmas, and this is where it starts.
Tuesday, December 12- Watch Muppet Christmas Carol
Best Christmas movie of all time. Enough said.
Wednesday, December 13- Love Dinner
A love dinner is way less of a whole thing than it sounds. A love dinner is simply going around the table at dinner and having each person say name something they love about every person at the table. My kids are always pink with delight at the end of one of these.
Thursday, December 14- A family dramatic reading of Dr. Seuss’s The Grinch
We do all the voices, sometimes even look for Whoville-looking costume pieces around the house, and get very into it. Everyone takes turns reading a page—another free, fun, and cozy memory maker for advent.
Friday, December 15- Shopping for siblings
Whether or not you have kids, dedicating an afternoon or evening to Christmas shopping is never a bad idea. Of all the things that fall through the cracks over the holiday season, this one falls the easiest, and it’s the only one that simply cannot fall. Now, for our family, we love consumerism as much as the next guy, and for us, presents are a major reason for the season. However, we don’t want to teach our kids their only job is to receive. We want to teach them that the best part of presents is being a giver. Helping them shop for one another is a great way to do this.
Saturday, December 16- Bake cookies for the firefighters
Setting an entire Saturday aside for this activity may seem a bit much, and for other people, it very well may be. But since I bake cut-out sugar cookies from an old family recipe and whip my kids up enough homemade frosting to give them all the colors of the rainbow to work with, it takes us a whole day. And that’s on me for discovering pre-made Pillsbury dough too late in the game. Afterward, we head to our local fire station and thank our firefighters for keeping us safe.
Sunday, December 17- Drive around and look at Christmas lights
It’s a big deal. We pack hot cocoa in a thermos, blast Christmas music, and hit up every over-the-top light display in the Kansas City metro. I highly suggest you do the same.
Monday, December 18- Watch It’s A Wonderful Life
Because it just isn’t Christmas until Sam Wainwright says, “Heehaw, and Merry Christmas.”
Tuesday, December 19- Make Christmas candy
Fudge, peanut brittle, turtles, macaroons, and dipped pretzels make great Christmas presents for those on your list who don’t need anything.
Wednesday, December 20- Construct Gingerbread Houses
Invite friends, or keep it family-only. Everyone loves pasting gumdrops onto gingerbread (or graham crackers, if you’re my kids).
Thursday, December 21- Go Ice Skating
I know I mentioned the ice rink at The Crown Center earlier, but my family loves ice skating too much to make a 20-minute part of a bigger day. Last year, we went to The Rink at Zona Rosa. Those lit-up crowns gave the open-air rink a golden glow, and after we finally wore ourselves out from chasing one another, ice dancing, and falling down…a lot. We went over to the nearby Barnes & Noble, got hot cocoa at Starbucks, and looked at the books for hours. This is the Advent activity my kids are most excited about this year, so I’m pretty sure we nailed it.
Friday, December 22- Christmas at YaYa’s
Alpacas at Christmas. Getting pictures with a century-old sleigh. Christmas crooners. Don’t sleep on this hidden Kansas City holiday gem.
Saturday, December 23- Extended Family Christmas Celebration
I almost didn’t add this one here because it’s my family’s get-together, not necessarily yours. But my guess is, the Saturday before Christmas, you’ll have something. And that’s how this activity advent calendar is supposed to work. You schedule in the essentials first — from Grandma’s house to watching Home Alone on the couch, and then you let everything else crowd into the cracks if they can. But if they can’t, that’s okay too. They aren’t the essentials.
Sunday, December 24- Christmas Eve traditions
For our family, this means attending a candlelight service, having Christmas dinner, opening presents from our siblings, and scurrying off to bed in our brand-new Christmas jammies. For your family, maybe it’s running a Christmas Eve 5k, volunteering at a soup kitchen, or going caroling.
Monday, December 25- Christmas Day
You know what to do.