Christmas is hot on our heels and I for one, am not complaining one bit. I am all about the Christmas life and every year I find another tradition to add to my long list of already well established annual traditions. A few I have carried on from when I was a child myself, when my parents would revisit the familiar rituals year after year. Last year I created the new tradition of the ‘December the 1st box’, which I will explain about in a blog very soon. This year I’ve thrown a new one into the mixture and that is “gratitude advent crackers”. I wanted to create something that wasn’t too complicated, but also helped support my strive in teaching my children gratitude and kindness, whilst still having fun and receiving a chocolate treat. I really want them to understand the true meaning of Christmas, that even though they receive a crazy amount of presents each year, it’s in fact about much more than that. I want them to learn it’s about the warm fuzzy feeling you get personally when giving to somebody else. That offering thanks to someone by lending a hand to them or just spending time with them is sometimes all it takes. I want them to show kindness to everyone and simply say ‘Thank you’ and mean it. I want them to learn a way in which to think about others that are less fortunate than themselves and show them a way they can help where possible. To me the true meaning of Christmas is giving, giving gifts yes, but giving thoughts, time, love and Thanks is what it’s all about. Yes I do go all out at Christmas, but my children are very grateful and I don’t frequently buy through the year just for the sake of it, so when they do receive a great deal at Christmas they are always so thankful. With all that said I have decided this year our advent countdown will be a little different to usual. I will be introducing gratitude advent crackers where my children simply pull one a day and find the random gratitude/act of kindness note to act on that day. I of course add a chocolate treat inside to keep them motivated. If this is something you would be interested in giving a try, here’s how I made them…

24 toilet roll holders

Cardboard/storage box big enough to hold the crackers

Variety of chocolates, enough for each child per toilet roll holder

Paper and pen (Christmas stampers optional)

Seasonal wrapping paper/tissue paper

Glue/sticky tape

String/ribbon for tying ends

Stickers for decoration

Sticky labels

Tinsel to decorate and fill out the storage box

• Decide on 23 child friendly, random acts of kindness or ways to show gratitude and write them all down. Cut them out and fold in half.

• Pop them inside each toilet roll holder along with a chocolate/sweetie per child

•Wrap the tube in the wrapping/tissue paper and secure with glue/sticky tape. Scrunch each end and secure with string.

• Add some stickers for decoration and number each cracker using the sticky labels

Optional idea~ make number 24 slightly different like I did by discarding the 24th toilet roll tube and use a small cardboard box/trinket box instead. Leave out the ‘act of kindness’ note and instead leave them a Thank you note from yourself. I wrote “Thank you for all the wonderful, kind things you have done for others this month. I am super proud and super grateful for such lovely children. Santa will be visiting tonight for sure!” I also left them them some pocket pennies in there too for good measure, it is Christmas after all.

I then lined my larger box with tinsel, popped all the crackers in and covered it with wrapping paper.

All that’s left to do is decorate the outside however you wish and bring it out on December the 1st ready for a countdown with a positive twist. Even though this isn’t their usual conventional advent calendar I just know my children will love these. It is something a bit different and a small way of giving back, which like I said is what it’s all about 😉

Would you try something like this yourself?

Thanks so much for stopping by ✨