How to Create a Christmas Book Advent Calendar

2. Wrap the Books

Once you’ve collected enough Christmas books, the next step is to wrap them up. You can use the same wrapping paper for all of the books, or choose several papers that coordinate with your Christmas decorations.

Since our Elf on the Shelf delivers our books each year, I make sure to choose wrapping paper that won’t be used on any gifts the kids will receive from mom and dad. My boys are very observant, so having separate wrapping paper is an important part of keeping the magic alive.

What is a Christmas Book Advent Calendar?

An advent calendar is used to count down the days leading up to Christmas. Many traditional calendars used for the advent tradition include little doors that you open each day in December to find a small chocolate or other treat inside. Similarly, a book advent calendar is another fun way to countdown to Christmas by unwrapping Christmas-themed books each day.

How to Build a Christmas Book Advent Calendar on a Budget

In the first year of this tradition, purchasing twenty-four books can be quite an investment, but there are plenty of ways to build up your advent calendar book collection without breaking the bank.

• Shop Your Own Bookshelves – Start by checking your own bookshelf to see what Christmas, holiday, or winter-themed books you already own.
• Ask Family Members, Friends, and Neighbors – It’s very possible that others in your circle may be storing some Christmas books that they’d love to gift or loan to your family.
• Shop Thrift Stores – Thrift stores are a great place to find affordable books that are still in great condition.
• Shop Holiday Sales – Black Friday sales are a great way to purchase new books at the lowest price available.
• Add Just a Couple of New Books Each Year – Once you’ve built up your initial collection, you can use the same books year after year. When our boys were quite young, we started with a good mix of mini board books and Christmas classics, like Polar Express and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The next year, I bought one or two new books to mix in. As they’ve gotten older, we’ve slowly replaced the board books with bigger kid titles, and even some short Christmas chapter books.

Do You Open 1 or 24 First On an Advent Calendar?

Whether you are creating book advent calendars, chocolate advent calendars, or another type altogether, the question that comes up most frequently is “does an advent calendar start at 1 or 24?” Based on the historical context, the proper way to create an advent calendar is to count up toward Christmas Day, starting with box or gift labeled as number “one.”

When it comes to creating a new holiday tradition, I’m a firm believer that you should do what works best for your family. Since my kids were very little, they’ve always asked “how many days until…” (until Christmas, until my birthday, until school starts, etc). As a result, we’ve always opted to count down to Christmas by opening book 24 on December 1st and working our way down to book 1 on Christmas Eve.

Where Do You Store All the Christmas Books the Rest of the Year?

We believe that kids should always be surrounded by books, but when it comes to holiday-themed books, we prefer to store them with the holiday decor, bringing them out only for a month or so each year. By doing this, we are able to enjoy our favorite Christmas books year after year without the kids getting bored of them. Plus, storing them helps make room on the bookshelf for more non-seasonal books!

Choose One Book With a Story or Chapter Each Night of Advent

The following advent books are all designed to be read one story, or one chapter, each day in December:

• How Winston Delivered Christmas: A Christmas Story in Twenty-Four-and-a-Half Chapters
• The Christmas Chronicles: 24 Stories, One-a-Night
• Peanuts Countdown to Christmas Book
• Disney’s Countdown to Christmas: A Story a Day
• Cat Family Christmas (countdown the 12 days to Christmas with 140 flaps to open)
• The Advent Storybook: 25 Bible Stories Showing Why Jesus Came