Growing up, my family made Christmas really special. Every year, I looked forward to setting up the Christmas village with my mom, stringing lights outdoors with my dad, going to meet Santa with Poppy and Grammy, opening one present on Christmas Eve, and making my mom’s famous family recipe: gooey balls!
Now with three kids (age six and under!) of my own, creating family traditions is really important to me as well. I want to bring to my family my husband’s and my favorite traditions from growing up and also discover new traditions to grow together.
Togetherness With an Advent Calendar
As a parent, seeing Christmas through my kids’ eyes is extra special. There’s so much magic in every single experience. And more than anything, I see how much my kids cherish our time together. (Cuteness overload: I can still remember my daughter frequently singing the Daniel Tiger song that says, “I love to be with family,” and hugging us).
A few years ago, I came across the idea of doing togetherness with an advent calendar, and I’ve been doing it with my family for the past three years. I’m excited to share our local Charleston spin on this.
Hot Tip: Keep all activities written in a Google Doc for easy reference. Because you have your children open the “togetherness activity” every morning, there’s plenty of time to switch things around! Exhausted? Change Tuesday’s outing to “Christmas bath bomb” and swing by Target midday! Crummy weather? Switch things around!
Whether you make your advent calendar or buy one as I did, the idea is the same. You’ll come up with a different family activity for each of the first 24 days of December leading up to Christmas.
Every morning, my kids take turns opening a little box and announcing the family activity for the day. From simple, like singing Christmas songs, to fun outings, like watching Christmas tree lightings, you can tailor your calendar to fit your kids’ interests and ages.
Below is the list I am going to use for my family this year, which includes plenty of local Charleston activities!
25 Days of Family Activities
December 1
- Write Santa a letter and visit him at Freshfields Village.
December 2
- Have your children make cards/gifts for their teachers.
December 3
- Skate the Stadium at CreditOne.
December 4
- Make wreath pizzas and watch a holiday movie (I love this list for less stimulating movies). Bonus: dress your babies in matching jammies!
December 5
- Have a holiday song and dance party by the Christmas tree.
December 6
- Attend Light the Lake at Colonial Lake. There are food trucks, crafts, carolers, and the lighting of the tree in the middle of the lake.
December 7
- Attend the annual Charleston Parade and Tree Lighting in Marion Square.
- OR the IOP Holiday Street Festival.
December 8
- Shop local vendors at the Christkindlmarkt Charleston.
December 9
- Make, frost, and decorate cookies.
December 10
- Watch the sunset at the beach while listening to Christmas music.
December 11
- Visit the aquarium at night, covered in lights.
December 12
- Hide candy canes around the house and have your kids go on a candy cane hunt. Kids can take turns being the ones to hide the candy canes too. My kids actually spend hours doing this!
December 13
- Roast s’mores by a campfire. This could be in your living room or backyard, or it’s also super fun at Salty Dog. (The place is dressed in lights and offers a complimentary S’mores/Hot Cocoa Bar every Friday at dusk!)
December 14
- Breakfast with Santa on Folly.
- OR Watch the Charleston Boat Parade.
December 15
- Watch the Mount Pleasant Christmas Light Parade. This is our favorite parade of the year because it’s at night, which makes it EXTRA magical.
December 16
- Set up snacks for delivery workers.
December 17
- Golf cart (or drive) around your neighborhood with hot chocolate to check out all of the festive Christmas lights.
December 18
- Craft time: make a wreath or red, green, and white play-dough.
December 19
- Attend the Holiday Festival of Lights. This sure is a family favorite! It’s so much more than just the lights – it’s the s’mores, the carousel, and all the cheer!
December 20
- Sibling tradition: Give each child a certain amount of money ($5 or $10) to buy each of their siblings a present to open on Christmas Eve.
December 21
- See lights and animals at Bee City Zoo’s Christmas Wonderland of Lights. We like arriving mid-afternoon so we can see the animals in the daylight (the lemurs are our favorite), but be sure to stay long enough to take the train ride! Book in advance.
December 22
- Volunteer as a family. We like to do a beach or neighborhood cleanup with our littles.
December 23
- Watch the snow at Charleston Place! Tickets are sold out this year, but they say they honor a certain amount of walk-ins every night, so it’s worth a shot. If you can’t attend, hop over to the College of Charleston and watch the Cougar Night Lights.
December 24
- Donate old toys (We leave Santa a bag of toys to take with him on Christmas Eve!)
- Open sibling gift.
- Make Gooey Balls, just like I did growing up with my own momma!
However you choose to celebrate the holiday season, my family is wishing you and yours the merriest of times together.
