Advent Wishes Jar

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities Blog Event)

Good morning, welcome to another day of Frosty Festivities. If you missed any of yesterday's posts, please go back and check them out!

We keep ending up with lots of chocolate advent calenders, as our parents buy them for Little Miss and Cheeky Boy. We also have two advent calenders that have little draws with tiny decorations in, and a wooden tree or mantelpiece above to hang the ornaments on. 

Whilst these are fun, I wanted something that would teach my kids to appreciate the things we have in our lives, so that the run up to Christmas isn't just about what presents they want or when they get the next chocolate! I've made this advent wishes jar, filled with things we can do each day, that will make us treasure our family life and the things we enjoy:

If you want to make an Advent Wishes Jar of your own:

Step 1: Find a jar approx 3½" tall and 2½" diameter, clean it thoroughly, and then use a foam brush to coat the jar with Sparkle Mod Podge:

Once it's dry it will give the jar a subtle glitter:

Step 2: Cut 24 Christmassy shapes from patterned paper. I used my Slice Design Cutter, with the Fa La La Design Card, and some My Mind's Eye All is Bright 6x6 papers. Most were cut on the 2½" setting:

Step 3: Write your 'wishes' on the back of the shapes, if the colour is too bold then write it onto white paper/card and stick that onto the shape:

Our wishes are:

* Make a yummy dessert together * Make an indoor tent with fairy lights * Explore somewhere new * Watch a Christmas movie * Make a cotton wool snow scene * Donate to charity * Collect some holly & ivy * Sing a Christmas carol * Have some hot chocolate with marshmallows * Make up a Christmas story for bedtime * Go to a Christmas shop * Send a letter to someone special * Make some gift tags for presents * Take a Christmas photo of all of us together * Go for a wintry walk * Bake some gingerbread biscuits * Look at the stars * Do a puppet show * Make a Christmas decoration * Go to the play park * Play a board game * Make some wrapping paper * Let's go to the beach * Draw a Christmas scene on the chalkboard wall *

There's a lot of things here that we might do normally, but for advent we'll make sure to do it as a family, and to make a proper 'occasion' out of it. I'm not sure if we'll manage them all, but I'm looking forward to trying, and spending some quality family time together this December!

Step 4: To finish your jar, cut out a tag and stamp 'Advent Wishes' onto it, then tie around the top of your jar with twine. I also stuffed the jar a bit with wadding (cotton wool would work too), to help bend some of the shapes around the edges of the jar, and allow some to peek out of the top - just to make it look a little better on display:

Be Inspired:

• Decorate a jar for display - it doesn't have to be filled with advent wishes
• Cut lots of Christmas shapes to use on a project
• Do a Christmas family activity to give you the festive spirit 

Don't forget that a comment on this post, or on any of my posts from this weekend, will count as an entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED} but only if you've registered your interest in winning that here!

Do you have any kind of advent calenders in your household? Since writing this post I learnt about a few ideas that Fay (aka Beautifulliy) has done in the past - one activity calender a bit like mine here (or I should say mine's like hers, as Fay's came first!), she wrapped up a different Christmas book to read each day here, and this year she's planning on a treasure hunt each day. I love that each year is different and special!

See you again at 11am! x

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