Create a Christmas Book Advent Calendar
Have you ever heard of a Christmas book Advent calendar? It’s so simple and yet so fun. And best of all, it’s the perfect way to incorporate read-aloud time into your family’s holiday traditions.
Here’s How It Works
With a Christmas book Advent calendar, instead of a toy or a piece of candy, your child opens a Christmas picture book every day. It’s like a chocolate Advent calendar … only better!
Gather Your Books
First, gather enough books so that you’ll have one for every day of Advent. You can use my library list to gather books from the library, or you can use this holiday activity as an excuse to build up your own library of beautiful Christmas books!
So how many books will you need?
The traditional Advent calendar begins on the Sunday nearest the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (November 30) and continues through four Sundays, ending on December 24. This year Advent begins on Sunday, December 2, so that means you’ll need 23 books.
Wrap Your Books
Wrap enough Christmas books for every day of Advent and add a numbered tag to each one. Create your own tags or download our Printable Advent Tags and choose a set to print and attach to your wrapped picture books.
Display Your Books
Now it’s time to display your Christmas book Advent calendar.
Put the books under the Christmas tree, on a shelf, or in a basket. You might even want to keep them hidden so that your kids will have to hunt for them.
How you display them is up to you. Be creative and make it fun!
Countdown to Christmas with Picture Books!
Now comes the fun part. On each day during Advent, have your children open one of the wrapped books for your family to read together. The “togetherness” is part of the joy of this engaging holiday activity.
Perhaps this is the year you’ll start a new reading tradition in your household. Grab a cup of cocoa, a warm, snuggly blanket, and some kids, and get started with some beautiful Christmas books!
Looking for Christmas Picture Books?
If you’d like to create your own picture book Advent calendar but need some picture book inspiration, here are some of my favorite picture books for Christmas.
Click to download a checklist of my favorites to take to your local library.
Does your family have any favorite holiday book traditions? I would love to hear about it in the comments below.
Holiday Book Traditions Shared by Our Readers
- Use a mix of books and movies! – shared by Angela
- Go outdoors to read your books every day. – shared by Cheryl
- Read The Advent Book by Jack and Kathy Stockman. – shared by Danielle
- Wrap a new book for each child to deposit on their beds after they fall asleep on Christmas Eve. – shared by Heather
- Keep a collection of Christmas books that stay in a special basket during Advent. – shared by Danielle
- Re-wrap Advent picture books before they get stored for the next year! – shared by Beth
- Just leave unwrapped books under the tree for the kids to choose for anytime reading. – shared by Kelsy
- Keep a basket of Christmas books under the tree to read aloud during the Christmas season. – shared by Jessica L.
- Every Christmas our family reads each night from the Jesus Storybook Bible. As soon as dinner is over, we read a chapter and put a corresponding ornament on a little tree. – shared by Annette
- Start a “12 Days of Christmas” tradition with a different theme for each day. Have books to read, crafts to create, and movies or special foods to enjoy. – shared by Meggen L.
- Light the advent wreath’s candle and read a Christmas book. – shared by Elizabeth
Lovie Sellers
says:I have liked this idea for sometime. i hadnt thought about using library books.Thanks.
Kim
says:I’ve wanted to do this the last couple years but with a new baby I didn’t get around to it. This year I set the intention to do so, collected a couple more to add to my winter/Christmas library, and prepared myself after Thanksgiving(yay for that week between Thanksgiving and December!). I didn’t wrap them though, and just set out 6 for the week, with their covers facing outward as an invitation to read. My 6.5 year old and 2 year old have loved grabbing a book and asking me to read it to them. We snuggled in and read the stories, sometimes several times in a row. Now that we’re in the last 10 days to Christmas I think I want to make the effort of wrapping and will use the tag pdf you’ve provided. Thank you!!
Jennifer
says:My mom did this for us this year and we are loving it. Although a heads up that littles may have trouble just opening one a day 😉
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceOh, I can imagine the excitement makes it hard to keep to one a day, Jennifer! But what a wonderful thing to be excited about. 😊
Erin D
says:We do this, and we have a wonderful collection of books from years of playing the game! Even my adult children won’t part with the books they got over the years.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWhat wonderful memories you have made for your children over the years, Erin! (And I have a stack of books from my childhood that I will not part with either. 😉)
Kathryn Meachum
says:I’ve thought about doing this, but counting down to the Solstice, but I’ve had trouble finding enough on theme books
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKathryn,
Maybe you could supplement the books you find with solstice-related crafts, with the craft materials wrapped and ready to go? And maybe you can mix in some books that are about the winter season even if they aren’t specifically about the solstice? I hope you can find a way for this to work for your family.
Misty
says:I love this idea. My kids would love this too.
Jenn
says:THis is such a great idea
Steph
says:I love this idea! A great way to flood a home with s love of reading.
Nancy
says:This is such a fun idea.
Brittany Griffith
says:I love this idea! Thanks!
Amanda
says:what a great idea!
Rebekah
says:What I great idea!! I love it! My kids love doing the advent calendar so i’m always looking for new ideas to do it!! Can’t wait to try this one!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceHave fun adding books to your advent calendar traditions, Rebekah! It should be a nice change up that also encourages literature.
Courtney M
says:We’ve done this a few years! It’s a great way to make sure that the Christmas books get read too!
Meagan
says:This is a great idea! Saving for next year.
Kari
says:This is a great idea. We have ordered some additional Christmas books to add to our collection from this list. Thanks for this idea!
Bamallamaburgan
says:Perfect for December morning basket!
Natalia Gibson
says:Lovely idea!
Erika S.
says:What a great idea!!
Sarah
says:What a great idea! You get to look forward to reading a book together every day!
Katie Nolan
says:This is a wonderful idea! I home school both of my boys, and we are always looking for new ways to encourage reading.
Danielle Wenzel
says:I love this idea!
Carly
says:This is such a great idea. We are always looking for Christmas books at thrift stores to add to our collection.
Marie Rippel
says: Customer ServiceThrift stores are a great place to look for Christmas books! Thanks for the reminder, Carly!
Jill
says:This year each of my 4 kids gets to pick a Christmas book each night for read aloud. The 5 year old has chosen the same book every night!
Heidi
says:What a great idea! To keep costs down, I’d start with the thrift store. 📚 💕
Stephanie
says:Love doing this with the kids. Have gotten lots of christmas books through Scholastic for a good price.
Jenya Berelekhis
says:Amazing idea, thank you
Dawn Williams
says:I love these ideas here. Christmas is a magical time for children and adding reading about Christmas themes fosters the love of reading!
Becky Hinton
says:I gathered all my Christmas books that would be possible to read in one sitting. I had 13. I purchased another 11 books. My children helped me wrap them all, not being allowed to really have a good look at any of them. We printed off the labels and they cut them out and we tied them to presents. They had to wait almost a week before I would tell them why we had wrapped them. They were so excited. It has been so enjoyable to sit together and read Christmas stories each day. It’s something that I always want to do at Christmas time, sit and read with the children. But too often the season gets away from me without reading much at all. But this past week has been different, so wonderful to take the time to sit and read together. Thank you for this wonderful idea and for providing the lovely tags.
Marie Rippel
says: Customer ServiceWhat lovely memories you are making with your children, Becky! Thank you for sharing this snapshot with us! I’m glad you liked the tags. :)
Mia Hall
says:This is such a great idea! I will have my kids open the present for the day at our nightly storytime.
Danielle Camp
says:I love this idea!! Instead of adding to the endless list of Christmas activities it’s a simple stay at home way to create memories.
Nicole
says:We’re going to do this!
Morgan H
says:Love this idea
Nicole
says:Fun idea!
Rachel
says:I really love this idea!
Kateri
says:Love this—-unique idea rather than flat poster or flag…thanks!
Kristina
says:I love this idea! My kids will opening a present to read each day.
Carrie
says:This is a lovely idea. Thank you also for the booklist.
Joanna Adams
says:We’ve done a book advent for the past 5 years, and me and my girls love it!
Jennifer
says:I love this idea! Thanks for empowering me to make my own instead of using a generic store-bought advent calendar.
Pauline
says:Love this idea! We usually do a mixture of books, small toys, small sweets, crafts, and decorations. Sometimes we stage a scene for my daughter to wake up to, like elves climbing the tree or getting into the Christmas cookies!
Kathleen
says:We have been doing this for years! All 7 of my kids, even my teens love this tradition.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKathleen,
I love that your teens still love this tradition! I can just imagine the sweet, homey memories you are making.
Valerie
says:My boys and I are trying this for the first time and are really enjoying it. Leaving all the books out for display was too tantalizing for my three year old, so we just bring them out on the day they will be opened.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceValerie,
I never thought of the temptation that many wrapped “presents” might pose, but I can see how it could be difficult for a little one. Bring one out each day is a great way to still enjoy a book-a-day through the season though. 😊
Kelly
says:What a wonderful idea!
Katie B
says:I love the idea of enjoying a new book each day leading up to Christmas. It would be a great way to have some calming time during such a stressful season!
Holly Huffstutler
says:Great idea! We wrapped an old diaper box and keep our Christmas books in it under the tree.
Kate
says:Love this idea! And thank you for the great booklist!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Kate! I hope you can find a new favorite or two. 😊
Paula
says:What a thoughtful idea! I look forward to trying this out next year with the kiddos.
Danielle Lidster
says:Definitely want to try this next year!
Kendra
says:Such wonderful ideas!
Julie
says:Love this idea! Maybe we can try it for next year’s Advent.
Natalie
says:Oohh I love this idea so much! My kids get into the holiday spirit so much more when we read books and learn about it. They’re 4 and 1. It’s already the 5th of December but I’m still going to do this for them. Thank you for the book ideas. I’ll be looking for a few of them in store so I can get this together quickly
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceHere is still plenty of time, Natalie! Have fun making wonderful memories with your little ones.
Caryn
says:What a wonderful idea and great tradition! We’re a little behind this year but I’d love to start gathering books through next year to set aside for this purpose!
Jennifer Redford
says:Oh I love this idea!!!
Eve
says:This sounds like a great idea!
Tashlyn
says:This is one of our favorite things to do!!
Laura Stephenson
says:This is a great idea for Advent.
Lissa
says:I like to just check out a bunch of christmas books from the library, but the wrapping is to much for my plate right now.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceLissa,
I’ve heard of people buying gift bags or even just putting the books into a basket unwrapped. The point is to enjoy reading together this holiday season!
Shannon Snyder
says:I love this idea. I’m too late in getting started this year, but plan to use it next year with my elementary ESL students. I’ll post the link in Remind for parents too.
Jodi Taylor
says:Great idea. I know our local library does this too.
Jena
says:Love your materials I have found them most helpful with my 3rd and 4th grade students
Kim
says:I love the idea of using books to countdown to Christmas! As a relatively new ‘chapter book’ reader, daughter has a huge number of books on her Christmas list – what a great way to help her grow her library without an overwhelming number of presents on Christmas day.
Jessica
says:I absolutely love this idea! And I love the idea of using library books to lessen the burden of the cost associated with that number of books!!!
Sarah
says:What a great way to build special moments into a busy season.
Katie H.
says:This is a really cute idea! I can’t wait to try it!
Manuel Turazo
says:The blog article is useful. Do you know how to create a Christmas Book Advent Calendar? Reading the whole article will help you to know how to create a Christmas Book Advent Calendar. The article says that Christmas Book Advent Calendar is so simple and yet so fun. And best of all, it’s the perfect way to incorporate read-aloud time into your family’s holiday traditions.
Charlotte
says:This could also be a fun activity in a classroom, where books are wrapped as read alouds for each day, and students get to take turns unwrapping the read aloud for the day. My Gr. 4 students typically love this kind of activity and would be filled with great anticipation of our next book!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThat would be such a great classroom activity, Charlotte! I’m sure the kids would be so excited!
Ann Lee
says:The Cobweb Christmas is a wonderful read aloud!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceOoo, it looks like a sweet book, Ann. Thank you for the recommendation!
Tory
says:What a great idea! So fun!
Sara
says:Fun idea! This year we are starting to do a Christmas book or read aloud instead of our regular morning basket for the month of December.
Cosette
says:How fun! In my home, our advent activities include a smattering of Christmas books, but I’ve never thought to wrap them until I saw your post photo. I’ll add a title, The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, it’s one of our favorites.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you for the additional book recommendation, Cosette!
Heather
says:So many great ideas and never enough time!
Randi Duque
says:Love this idea! Much better than candy!
Randi Duque
says:Awesome idea! Definitely will have to look at doing this!
Shawnna
says:clever idea!
Kathy Dee
says:My kids love this!
Nikky
says:Have done this with my twins and they have loved it.
Ariana
says:My kids love this! Thanks for the new book ideas!
Annette O'Donnell
says:Great ideas!
Tanya
says:Love your suggestions
Anna Gerard
says:I love this idea! And all the tips at the end!
Shannon Pratten
says:What a clever idea! We love doing our traditional advent filled with crafts and community service. Now I will incorporate more books. Thank you.
Lisa Browning
says:Such a great activity!
JEn
says:We read Christmas books at breakfast all through December as part of our morning time.
Maggie
says:I live outside the US and English books are hard to come by but there are free Christmas-themed short stories available online. They can be printed and placed in an envelope.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWhat a great idea, Maggie! Thank you for sharing it.
Karen
says:I like the idea of gifting books, but this is a bit much – if I gave each of my kids 24 books each year, we’d have an incredible amount of books! Generally I prefer swapping old books for new ones at the library each month. There are just a few classics we like to keep at home.
Meredith
says:Hey Karen! No need to buy new ones!!! I wrap up all of our old favorites for our book advent! After all, advent is the season of waiting and anticipation!! It’s fun to rediscover all our old favorites together. Sometimes I throw in some new ones, but you don’t have to. My neighbor borrows library books and just makes sure they are opened in the first few days so they can be returned in a timely manner. And with 3 kids, we all just share one set of 24 books! They alternate who gets to unwrap and then we all sit and read it together!
Karen
says:Good idea!
Stacey
says:What a great idea!
Bobbye Pearson
says:I love buying books for my grandson! Thanks for the Christmas Book Ideas!
Megan
says:Thanks for all the great Christmas book suggestions
Jennifer Martin
says:We love books and keep and keep our Christmas books with our Christmas decorations. I think it would be so much fun to wrap them, and add a new one each year. It will make it an awesome activity to count down the days to Christmas!
Jennifer
says:What a great idea!
Jennifer Chandler
says:My children love doing this every year!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI bet your children love the wonderful memories you are creating every year, Jennifer!
Carol
says:Thank you for the book list. During the Christmas season, I like reading books about the Christmas season to my grandson. It is a special time for both of us.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceCarol,
I love that you share Christmas books with your grandson! Yes, that would be a very special time for both of you. 😊
Laurie
says:Love this idea! Many of our books would need to be library books though, as we only have a few Christmas books. I’ll just need to make sure they don’t go overdue!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceLaurie,
See how digitally savvy your library has become. My library now has an option that will email me the day before books are due, so I can either renew online or return them. It’s a great service and has saved me a lot of fines!
Tabitha
says:I love this idea! I am excited to do it this year!
Alina Rodgers
says:This is a great idea, especially for the little ones who love to read.
Dianna
says:Love this idea!
Andrea
says:Great Idea! Fantastic way to encourage and excite kiddos about reading!!
Lorraine Gilliam
says:Great idea
Jocelyne
says:Brilliant idea!
mona
says:Brilliant ideas to incorporate reading and tradition
M Harkness
says:Great idea!
Jeana
says:Sounds like a very fun idea. Look forward to trying it this year.
crystal mccord
says:Very neat idea.
Abbey F
says:I might go ahead and wrap the books up this year. Last year, my children read ALL of our books in the first two or three days of Advent, and it was a bummer.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceIt’s great to have such enthusiastic readers, Abbey! However, I can see how wrapping could help to spread the joy throughout the season.
vania
says:This is a very good idea! I always see the same thing over and over but my kids love christmas books and they’ll love this!
Jacqueline
says:I love this idea! I’m excited to start this!!!
Debbie
says:Awesome ideas!
Missy H
says:How cool! We have a special bin of Christmas books we’ve collected throughout the years. I bring it out after Thanksgiving.
Amber
says:I love this idea. Thanks.
Ruth
says:What a great idea. Never done this before, will have to try it this year.
Heather
says:Thanks for this great idea! We love Christmas books!
Lindsay Wilson
says:I started early this year (September, when they aren’t all checked out), checking out Christmas books from the library in September to review books myself and see which might want to add to our family’s collection. There are soooooooo many out there, to choose from, and many of them fell short of whatI was looking for in a book.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceClever, Lindsay, and so organized to start preparing so early!
Courtney
says:Love this idea!
Raiza
says:They look so cute!
Stan Wheeler
says:Awesome idea!
Evelynne
says:We do this every year. So fun!
Olivia
says:This is a wonderful idea! Though I’ve never wrapped the books, we have read special books throughout the Christmas season for several years. I add a new book or two each year, such that we’ll soon have one for each day of December. We also have special fall and Thanksgiving books, of which our favorite is Thanksgiving at the White House, which is set in the time of the Lincoln’s residence there.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceOlivia,
We did certain special books at certain times of the year when my kids were younger. It’s a great tradition!
Dorothy
says:We’re going to do this next month!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI hope you have lots and lots of fun with it, Dorothy!
Carrie
says:I love this idea!!
Mira
says:I LOVE this idea!!!
Jessica
says:So fun!
Tara
says:With having little one that loves books, this is a great Idea!
Molly Patz
says:What a Great idea!
Eli’s mom
says:Love this idea! I like the tip of alternating books with movies! Thanks!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI like that idea too. I love Christmas movies! 😊
Sabrina Lagace
says:Love this idea!
Katy
says:So fun! Thanks for sharing your list!
Heidi Johnson
says:This is a great idea! We’ve learned SO much from picture books over the years.
Sherry
says:Love the Christmas Advent book idea. What a fun way to spice up thereading plan.
Marie Fletcher
says:Although I I live in Sweden I just love your articles and material. Thank you.
Bliss
says:Thanks for the great idea! :)
Emily Cook
says:I love this idea!
Maria
says:This is such a great idea! And those printable tags are so pretty! Thank you!
Allison
says:We usually check out lots of Christmas books from the library; Santa also leaves each child a Christmas book in their stocking each year, so we’ve built up a collection that onlycomes out at Christmas time each year
Jane
says:What a great change to the typical chocolate and small toys!!
Mary
says:LOVE this idea! Thank you!
D. Dorsey
says:Wonderful and unique idea to get excited about Christmas.
Becky Lind
says:3 stories we enjoy:
The Little Drummer Boy illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, illustrated by Susan Jeffers
Holly Pond Hill, A Child’s Book of Christmas with poems by Paul Kortepeter, illustrated by Susan Wheeler
Linda Difino
says: Customer ServiceThank you so much for these wonderful recommendations, Becky! We’ll add them all to the readers’ recommendation box at the end of the picture book post!
Kathy
says:Great idea. I used to do something similar, but some nights I planned other Christmas activities like wrap cookie cutters and make cookies that night, etc.
Kayla
says:I have done this with my own kids when they were young. This year I think I will do it in class so that they might stay interested and use it as a behavior incentive. Thanks for the reminder and the number tags. PS I am starting my daughters’ collections for when they have kids. Each Christmas they get a new Christmas book to add to their collection.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKayla,
I love that you are buying books for your future grandchildren! What a lovely idea.
Erin H
says:This is a great idea! I’m going to do this!
Angela Cox
says:I am seeing my son learn to read using this program. It is exciting!
Lauren Rasmussen
says:I’ve always waned to do this and never thought to use library books! Fantastic idea!
Kristin Pennington
says:Great idea!
Chanel
says:Very excited to do this with my little ones this year! Thanks!!
Jamie
says:Such a great idea! I had put our holiday books in our morning basket, but love the idea of wrapping them to increase the anticipation :)
Cindi
says:Love this!
Robin
says:LOVE this idea! We keep our Christmas book collection under lock and key all year so it is extra special when they open them up every December! Like seeing old friends ❤️
Larae
says:Ive heard of this traditional before. I may have to act on it this year. We also love Jothan’s Journey and series that have advent readings for each day.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you for the recommendation, Larae!
Felicia McKibben
says:My MIL started this tradition for my kids and they love having a new book to read everynight and getting to open a present! Love the tag idea.
Jenny B
says:This is a great idea. Since our basket of Christmas books is already overflowing, I think I’ll try to think of a way to modify it so we don’t buy any new books, but make sure to read 25 of the ones we already have. Maybe I’ll write all the titles on slips of paper and have the children draw out one to read each day or something like that. :)
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceSounds like a great adaptation to fit your needs, Jenny!
Kristen Inch
says:I love this idea! What a wonderful gift to give your kids! Thanks for sharing!
Lisa
says:I love this! I’ve been searching for an advent calendar that doesn’t foster a consumer mentality. This is a wonderful way to spend time together while creating wonder, appreciation and anticipation. Thanks!
Melissa
says:I LOVE this idea. You have to get the Christmas books on hold early from my library though so planning ahead is key.
Rebecca
says:I want to do this
Claudia B.
says:I have already ordered books to do this, thanks for the downloadable tags! I know my kids will love it :)
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re welcome, Claudia! I hope you make lots of lovely memories this holiday season. 😊
Marie-Paule Hill
says:I have used this in the past. The kids loved it.
Katie
says:Great idea!!
Laura
says:So excited to put this together for my 2 year old! I have a lot of the books in my classroom, but will also be mixing in bible stories and fun crafts/activities to keep us busy!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceSounds like so much fun, Laura, and great memories in the making!
Caryn
says:this is such a great idea! I did it once before a couple of years ago. had a little bit of difficulty finding enough books from the library that i was able to check out all at once – tip: when using library books, use them first so that they can be returned and others can enjoy them during the Christmas season as well- so i couldn’t wrap all 25 at once. And my older children loved it just as much as the younger ones. This year I think I’ll take the suggestion to mix in a family craft during our Sunday advent night and a Saturday family movie. Might take a little more planning, but i know they appreciate the effort and it creates fun memories!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceGreat tips, Caryn, especially about getting the library books returned so others can enjoy them. 😊
Bee Kirchgatterer
says:My kiddos LOVE to unwrap a new book each night – this really leads into kicking the next year off the right way :) Lot’s of family reading!
Cindy
says:Love this program
robin
says:Can you do this with older children too?
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceDefinitely, Robin! This can work with older children, although you’ll need to get a bit more creative. If your older children are reading chapter books, you will want to intermix books with other gifts, as I don’t know of many people that can go through a chapter book a day! You could intermix Christmas movies and even things like journals and craft kits with the books. Or, you could do a book a day, but choose a variety of books to read throughout the year and not just Christmas stories.
If you need some suggestion of Christmas chapter books, I have a few. My family’s all-time favorite is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. We also love A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson is a touching one. The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements is cute and sweet, by a favorite children’s author. I’ve heard great things about Jotham’s Journey by Arnold Ytreeide, but I haven’t personally read it yet.
Did you know Iceland has the most wonderful Christmas Eve tradition? It’s called jólabókaflóð, which means yule book flood. In Iceland, pretty much everyone gives and gets a new book on Christmas Eve and then they settle down for a cozy read right then. Such a wonderful tradition!
If you decide to do this with your older kids, I’d love to hear how it goes!
Amanda Fowler
says:I LOVE this idea! I am going to do this. It’s hot summer right now, but it will be here before you know it!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAmanda,
Since this picture book advent calendar is a pretty big project, starting early is a great idea!
Genevieve
says:Such a cute idea! We have a holiday book basket, but wrapping them would add a fun element; I can imagine the excitement on my littles faces st the reveal of each one😊
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceGenevieve,
I’m glad we could give you an idea for next year!
Jessica
says:We are enjoying the Advent Book Calendar. Thanks for the great idea!
Brittney Galloway
says:We do this and often hide it in a room and have a quick hunt for it!
Megan
says:Such a wonderful idea!
Sherry
says:We always have a holiday stash of books but I’ve never wrapped them. As I’ve been trying to not use wrapping paper, it looks like I have more fabric gift bags to make. And, if my boys don’t like the idea, then I have lots of gift bags to use next year!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceSherry,
I have long thought that fabric gift bags would be the best way to do this. Plus, fabric gift bags for books would be especial easy to make!
Rachel
says:We are trying this for the first time this advent!
Michele Davidson
says:Love, love, love this idea! Thank you for sharing!
Jennifer
says:Someday I’ll be on top of things and read about a great idea like this before Advent begins! : )
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJennifer,
It’s not too late. You still have time to do two weeks before Christmas, or even more.
Melanie Christenson
says:Great idea. We’ve been read Tabitha’s Treasure which is an advent chapter book. Very good for many ages. It’s part of a trilogy.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you for the recommendation, Melanie! My children are far beyond picture books anymore (sniff), and I know others appreciate chapter book recommendations too.
Kari
says:Great ideas!
Tanya Bedford
says:Love doing this with my children. We have found some of our favorite authors by borrowing enough Christmas books from the library!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceTanya,
What a lovely way to explore new authors and find new favorites!
CyndiN
says:I love the idea of wrapping books to be read for Advent! I have a stack of books I am going to wrap this evening (better late than never lol). Thanks for sharing the tips :)
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWay to go! It is better late than never, and it isn’t even all that late.
Amber
says:We have done this in the past and the kids really enjoyed it! Great idea about pulling all your holiday books out and putting in a basket under the tree! Going to do that tomorrow!!
Emily
says:I love this idea!
Megan
says:This is a neat idea!
Jennifer Sherrill
says:Like this idea. I want my children to love reading!
anita
says:that is a an amazing idea!
Melissa Bills
says:We started this tonight we absolutely love it!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceMelissa,
Thank you for coming back to let us know that your family enjoyed this!
Jennifer
says:We have not wrapped our books, but we are reading one a day. 😄
Robyn
says:I collect the Christmas themed books from bookshelf and put them in a prominent place on the living room. We read 1 (or 2 or 3) most days through the season.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceRobyn,
I do the same, to the point that the kids consider the books are part of the Christmas decorations! I have always been very open to the children touching and playing with the decorations (at least the ones not high up!), so the books go right along with that.
Amy Stathos
says:I love this idea, but I wonder if my boys would be begging to open them all at once ;)
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAmy,
Yes, that could be a problem. Maybe you could view it as a lesson in patience?
Andria
says:I could see that happening with my boys…. you could always put one at a time out or under the tree.
Amanda
says:We might have to try something like this. Love it!
Michelle Paul
says:Love this idea!
Gina
says:Love this idea!
Dandi D
says:I should do this with my children–they’d love it!
Judith Martinez
says:I would love to do this! It’s on my wish list for next year. This year we have no room for that many books.
Menke
says:I like the idea, but I too think that it would create some confusion with the library books. Whenever we go to the library, the kids choose their own books and we read them whenever they want, when we get books any other way, they’re for keeps. Not that we usually have wrapped books… so I’m sure I could explain it up front, but I think I’d lean more towards choosing just a few books that I would actually want to buy and then give them on the advent Sunday’s or something (and if possible maybe on Wednesday’s too). That would work nice for my 4-year-old who still really likes to re-read books more than once before moving to the next one. I think a new book a day might still be a little much for her.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceMenke,
What a great way to make this idea work with your child’s desire to reread new books a few days before moving onto the next one!
Ashley
says:We just talkes about doing a 12 days of Christmas theme this way, too.
Sarah
says:Love this idea!
CReed
says:Such a fun way to create some excitement around reading – thanks!
Emily
says:Love this idea,
M Foley
says:Love this idea for younger children!
Jennifer
says:This is awesome. Hopefully it’s not to late to start something like this with my kids. I think they’ll love it.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceIt’s not too late. Go for it, Jennifer!
Elizabeth
says:We’ve done this before! So fun!
Amy
says:Wonderful idea!
Jessica
says:I love this idea so much!
BrandyJ
says:I have never thought of doing a book tradition like this, but I’m planning on starting this year! My boys will love this! Thank you for this suggestion!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou are welcome, Brandy. I hope your children love it as much as so many others have!
Cassandra M
says:What a great idea :)
Amanda
says:Fun!!! Great idea! I may not wrap library books though as the kids may think they are books to keep.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAmanda,
Ummm, that could be a problem. Maybe you could explain the reading of the book is the gift?
Nicole
says:My family loves this tradition as well! We have a sizable collection of Christmas books.😉
Sandra
says:We do this every year. So much fun!
Kristin
says:Awesome idea!!
Katrina
says:Super cute and fun idea!
Jodi
says:This is a fun idea!
Amity
says:This is neat idea
Jinny
says:Love this idea!!
Lori
says:Great idea! Not sure I will be able to get all the books around and wrapped by Sunday so I may just pick out books that we have (I have some new ones stored away to pull out periodically) put them in a basket and read one a day.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceLori,
A few families have told us they do the book basket approach and it has worked well!
Angela
says:We have SO MANY Christmas time books. This would be a fun way to go through all of them. :)
Jennifer
says:This looks like fun! I may need to dig through our shelves and find our Christmas books!
Chassidy
says:What a fun idea!
Cassandra Cameron
says:I love this! What a great way to show that reading is all fun!
Chanelle
says:I would love to incorporate this into our Christmas season! A little too late this year but plan on adding it to my list next year!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceChanelle,
It’s not actually too late. Many Christmas countdown calendars don’t start until 10 or 20 days before Christmas, and Advent this year doesn’t start until the 3rd. You would need to get busy, but you could make this work for this year!
MELISSA B
says:We should really do this thank you for the idea!
Mandy
says:What a great idea!
Candi Meadows
says:What a great idea, especially since we are book lovers!
Grace
says:What a great idea!
Melissa Holka
says:This is a wonderful holiday idea!
Rachelle
says:I think this is a great idea! Now to get organized enough to do it!
Beth
says:We do this each year! I hide the Christmas books away each year, and our three little ones LOVE unwrapping books, they get so excited to re-read each one they had ‘forgotten!’ It’s my favourite way to do advent!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceBeth,
I imagine you have lots of sweet, warm memories of snuggles with books during the Christmas season!
Sandra
says:This is a very helpful idea! Thank you! We have beeb using AAR and AAS for a few weeks now and we are loving it!
Heather
says:We read One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham every December. My parents had the same book when I was a kid. The pictures are just so beautiful, and the story is told so well.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you for the recommendation, Heather. I love that you share this book with your children, just as your parents shared it with you. That sort of multi-generational love of a book warms my heart!
For our family, it’s The Christmas Day Kitten by James Herriot. My mother read it to me when I was little, and now I share it with my children.
Tammy
says:I know someone who did this when her kids were younger. I need to try it!
Kimberly W
says:I have a ton of Christmas books. This is an amazing idea!
Kate
says:Love this idea!
JW
says:I love this idea but our bookshelves are already overflowing.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJW,
We have had some blog readers say they used books they already owned, finding titles that have been forgotten for a long while. Also, others use library books that can be kept for a few weeks then returned.
N Spradlin
says:Love this idea, we are big readers in our home!
Jennifer Horton
says:We did this last year for advent and plan to do it again! The kids and I really enjoyed it!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJennifer,
Thank you for letting us know your family enjoyed this last year and will be continuing it!
Trisha
says:This looks like so much fun! We’ll be trying this one
Valerie
says:Every year I want to do this! I’ve yet to wrap them but I do get all my seasonal books out. I plan to do this today.
Stephanie K
says:We have done this in the past and it’s so much fun!
Sarah Gentry
says:I love love this!
Trina
says:We have a ton of books (like a ton) so just for fun I wrap up ones we already home for this project! Nothing better than bringing a forgotten book back to life.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceTrina,
I love the idea of bringing back forgotten favorites in this way!
Kathryn Baird
says:What a great post! I have collected holiday books for the Christmas season but I love the added portion of wrapping them and connecting them to an Advent calendar. Thank you for sharing.
Jess
says:We love doing this!! So much fun for everyone.
Ollymarie
says:My daughter is barely learning to read and is really excited about it. Since it is Christmas I’m going to try to find some Christmas books that she can try to read to me.
Tylee fuller
says:Thank you for this idea! Great book list.
Nathan
says:Thank you for the wonderful resources!
Jenn
says:Trying this my girls this year. They are super excited just looking at the packages!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJenn,
I love that feeling of children’s excitement! Enjoy it!
Elena Taylor
says:I love the idea of having a collection and am glad some answered my question about redoing this tradition yearly.
Holly Koprowski
says:I have never thought about this. I love advent calendars and will give this one a try.
Krystal
says:We’ve done this for a few years, but I really dislike wrapping! :) So now I just put all our Christmas books in a few different baskets and let each child pick one (or more) out each day to read. And if I want to read one on a specific day, then I always get a chance to choose too!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKrystal,
I have thought about getting cloth wrapping bags for the books. It would have some of the fun of unwrapping, but would be reusable from year to year AND it would be much easier to set up than paper wrapping. However, your book basket allows for the perusing of the books at any time and may encourage more independent reading during the season. I guess there are benefits both ways!
Mikkel
says:I just put all the books on hold at the Library. I can’t wait to do this with my kids!
Tanya
says:Like the holiday book tradition. Your picture book suggestion has inspired me to have my kids create their own picture book using a 3-ring binder they can create by including all previous school artwork, activities etc. that they have done then adding to the binder each year all the holiday pictures they draw, color pages, mazes, stories etc The binder will be exciting to get out every year and keep out during the season to look at, read and share with others.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceTanya,
What a lovely idea! This will be such a special family tradition and provide such a lovely keepsake for years to come. Thank you for sharing this.
Linda
says:This is the first time I’ve heard of the book advent calendar, but I love the idea! This is great for kids.
Lara
says:What a great idea! My children would love it!
Kristin
says:I’ve been collecting books this year and will get more at the library to make my 22 needed. I like the comment too about doing it with books and movies.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKristin,
Yes! I think Christmas movies are almost as wonderful as Christmas books. :D
Johnna
says:I love this idea! What a festive way to enjoy the season while sneaking in some good reading. Thank you for this beautiful suggestion.
Sky Scott
says:What a great idea! I love AAR and AAS ! My kids can actually READ now! :)
Emily
says:I love this idea!
Suzanne
says:We have a basket of Christmas books we get out every year. I try to add on almost every year. I love your advent idea too!
Jessica
says:We did this when my daughter was younger. She loved it.
Anneta
says:What a wonderful idea!!! Thank you for sharing your awesome suggestions.
G
says:We do a holiday reading book basket, but incorporating Advent is a neat concept :).
Lakeshia
says:Alassane, has just turned one he has a passion for books and letters especially the letter A. It seems as if Alassane learned the letter A while in my belly. We’re always looking for fun and exciting ways to keep this passion Alassane has for books and letters going while not over overwhelming him. This would be a great tradition to adapt for our Alassane, as we look forward to getting started on the Christmas collection over this weekend.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceLakeshia,
Thank you for sharing Alassane’s enthusiasm for the letter A with us! He sounds like such a sweet and fun little boy!
Chelsea P
says:Thank you for the ‘library list’ and picture book list. This will be great for Advent!
Kris
says:We would really enjoy something like this for the holidays. We love the “All about Reading and Spelling curriculums.
Val
says:When the kids were younger I would buy a new Christmas book each year to add to our collection. Now I look forward to sharing them with grandchildren, though even my big kids still read their favorites.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceVal,
I absolutely love the idea of keeping books for sharing with my future grandchildren!
Nikki Albright
says:That’s a great idea!
Carla
says:Awesome idea and can easily be adapted and used in a classroom!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceCarla,
I hadn’t thought about that, but yes, I think it would work wonderfully in a classroom. Great idea!
Karla
says:What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
Joy
says:I love the idea of the Advent reading of books. Thanks for sharing the great idea.
Jennifer
says:fun ideas, thanks!
Crystal Kerian
says:This is a great way to add books back into the mix that the kids have forgotten about too, especially for the little ones! The older kids always want to read it to them because they remember that book from when they were small, and being the big kids they are all ready to read it now!!
Elizabeth
says:Love this idea!
Stephanie R
says:What a fun idea.
Mary EM
says:I love this idea of the Advent book calendar. We need to spend more time together reading as a family and this would be a fun and easy way to do that.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceMary,
Yes, this is a lovely way to make warm-fuzzy memories together during the season. :D
Kelly H
says:Wonderful tradition– so much is learned through reading to children and discussing books together (and the kids don’t even realize they are learning or “doing school”
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKelly,
Yes! We wholeheartedly agree!
Rachel
says:Thanks for the Christmas inspirations.
Tina Cook
says:Great tradition. (my original comment has an incorrect email)
Tina Cook
says:Sounds like a great tradition!
Carrie L
says:This is a favorite in our house!
Sylla Leeza Lee
says:Christmas Day would be forever exciting with your colorful and bright ideas. Especially the little ones. They will be jumping happily & can’t wait another minute for the celebration. Seriously a MUST do!
Tara
says:What a great idea! Thanks!
Jami
says:I love this idea! Thank you for the inspiration!
Kris W.
says:We started this last year and the kids love it!
heidi
says:Fun idea, I’m always late getting to the library for holiday books, will do this week!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceHeidi,
Yes, now is the time to snatch up the best Christmas books from the library. But after you read each one, return them so that others can enjoy them this season.
Trish Martinez
says:Love these ideas! Thank you for jump starting and inspiring our family to make this a fun,new and exciting Christmas!
Trish Martinez
says:Love these ideas!! Thank you for helping to inspire not only our children but our entire family! Wrapping Christmas books!! Yes!
Rachel
says:What a cute Idea! I’ll have to pull out our Christmas and winter books and do it! Maybe I can pick up a few new ones at the thrift store too. Each year we give the kids a new book for Christmas .
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceRachel,
Yes, thrift and used book stores will probably be pulling out their Christmas books right about now, making it especially easy to add to your collection.
Mikaela
says:Fun ideas! Thank you!
Lindsayann Anderson
says:I love this idea! Great family togetherness.
Amanda Ritter
says:Excited to get the books we own out and to put some new ones on hold!
LaKrisha C
says:We have done this in previous years, and we will do it again! Since our kids are older, we’ll do lengthier chapter books but not as many.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceLaKrisha,
That is where we are now too. This year my kids have requested Dicken’s A Christmas Carole again, even though we read it a few years ago.
Kelsey Demers
says:These are great picture book recommendations!
Julie
says:We have done this in the past, I think it is time to bring it back again.
Robbin
says:Last year we followed a December reading calendar from Rainbow Resource. It was such a special time for us, especially since many of the books were first time reads for our family.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceRobbin,
I didn’t know that Rainbow Resource has such a list. I need to go check it out!
Angela
says:Thank you for this amazing book list! I can’t wait to snuggle up and read as a family!
Mary S
says:I LOVE this idea! It will definitely become a new Christmas tradition in my family!
Dustyn Crocco
says:Awesome.
Val
says:Ahh. I love this idea! Another great way to bring the family together!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceVal,
Yes! I love how this idea is much more about the time together than about materialism.
Kristen Koenig
says:We love books in our home! What a great idea!
Andrea
says:Looking forward to this Advent twist of curling up with our littles and enjoying s Christmas story together. Great idea!
Angie
says:This is such a sweet idea!
Alissa
says:What a fun idea! My kids all love books and I’m always looking for more great books to add to our collection. Thanks for the list and ideas!
Jen
says:What a great way to celebrate the advent season! I appreciate all of your content. I am an American living in Switzerland and your work is a great roadmap as I plan my tutoring lessons each week. Thank you!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou are welcome, Jen. We are happy to be able to help you help your students!
Becky Uram
says:Interesting idea.
Angela
says:I love this idea!
Jamie
says:My kids love unwrapping gifts and reading–great idea to combine the two!!
Donna
says:Love love love this!
Nicole
says:Such a great idea!
Marie
says:Thank you- I love this idea!
Pat
says:This is such an interesting idea! I’d never heard of this.
Patsy Foy
says:Great idea! Thank you so much!
Melissa
says:We’ve done this in the past and the kids loved it!
Shannon Alexander
says:Great idea! Also, I never actually knew when Advent started, I just assumed it was the 25 days of Christmas.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceShannon,
I’ve never fully understood Advent either. However, this works just as well as a countdown calendar from the 1st to the 25th!
Laurie
says:Thank you for this idea!
M
says:This is right up our alley!
Courtney
says:I love this idea!
Cj
says:Marking this one down for next year! Thanks
Teresa
says:Love this! We give books as gifts for lots of occasions.
Jessica
says:Love this idea! I️ loving getting the kids new book for Christmas.
Kali
says:One of my favorite holiday memories is 25 days of books!
Jatina
says:Great idea!
Christina Fusco
says:I never thought to use library books! Good idea! I’m a book-a-holic, and I’m running out of shelf space, so as much as I love this idea, I was always hesitant to try.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceChristina,
The library is a wonderful resource!
Christine
says:We do this too!
Chris baad
says:This would be fun…
Sarah Budke
says:I our family we (the parents) give the kids books for Christmas. We started with books about Christmas, but now we have moved to any good literature.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWhat a lovely tradition, Sarah!
Ashley
says:Great idea! Would love to try this next year!
Patricia Phelps-Gray
says:I love this idea! I always give books as gifts.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServicePatricia,
I love giving books as gifts to young children and parents of young children!
Saab
says:Love this!!!
Pamela Crane
says:I love this idea!
Hannah Johnson
says:Great ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Sarah
says:We love all sorts of advent calendars! Great idea!
Amanda
says:This is such a good idea! So simple yet just what I was wanting for my family! Thank you!
Tara
says:I am getting this ready right now because I remembered it from last year- such great suggestions on the Christmas booklist- Christmas Day in the morning was our favorite last year!
I love your curriculum- my kids look forward to reading so much I have to tell them they can’t do more lessons that day cuz we have to do other subjects. I would love to get the credit so I can purchase levels 5-7 of spelling!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceTara,
Thank you for letting us know just how well your kids are reading and how much they enjoy it! We love hearing that!
Trisha Szczodroski
says:This is a fantastic ideas!! And a great excuse to put more books in my library!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceTrisha,
Yes, this is a great excuse to get more books! Enjoy.
Brenley
says:I have been wanting to do this with my kids for years. I think I finally need to do it.
And I would love to win $100 credit. I have been wanting all about spelling for awhile.
Melynda
says:I really love this tradition! My kids are always so excited to have a new story every night.
Miranda Brooks
says:Cool idea!
Amie Wouda
says:excited to do this this year. We have collected a mix of story books, activity books (like Christmas craft, decoration And baking) and educational books (like a lift the flap atlas)
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAmie,
I love your idea to mix in Christmas craft and baking books with the storybooks! Thank you for sharing this.
gloria
says:Im excited to get started!
Elise
says:What a fun tradition! Thanks for the idea!
Hollie
says:I love this idea! Now, finding enough Christmas Books…………….
Belinda
says:We’ve done books under the tree for several years. It’s always been fun for the kids. Now my girls are 14,12, 10 so we’ll all take turns reading a book this year instead of just me reading to everyone each night. They each have their favorite books and it should give them a good chance to practice reading outloud to people.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceBelinda,
I like the way you have found to have this tradition grow with your children! Thank you for sharing this.
Carrie
says:Thanks for the ideas listed here. I have a few Christmas books I pull out every year, but I appreciate that you included a list of books I can look for at the library.
Mary
says:Marie,
Your Advent list of Christmas books has a wonderful mix of titles. This is a fun and do-able idea to keep some sense of peaceful and relaxation (reading a good book is always relaxing to the spirit) during a busy season.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceMary,
I agree! Marie’s book Advent calendar is such a lovely idea for the Christmas season!
Nicole
says:This is a great idea!
Heather
says:I’ve always loved this idea but we haven’t managed to implement it yet. We do have 2 advent traditions that relate to books, though. One of our activities on the advent calendar is to spend an evening reading a bunch of our Christmas library books as a family. Even Daddy enjoys this one! We also wrap a new book for each child that is deposited somewhere on their bed after they are asleep on Christmas Eve. That way when they wake up Christmas morning they can enjoy their new book for a while as the rest of the family wakes up. :-)
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceHeather,
I love your tradition of waking up to a new book on Christmas morning! Thank you for sharing this.
Vicky
says:Love this idea. We did something similar last year but we didnt wrap the books. This year i will definitly wrap the books for added excitement!
Rebekah H.
says:I purchased 6 of the books on the list and wrapped them up for my sons to unwrap every half week during Advent. We all enjoyed the books and I will probably get another set of them for next advent.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWhat a clever way to do fewer books but still have the enjoyment. Thanks for sharing this idea, Rebekah.
Jane
says:Hi Robin,
So great to find someone else who loves The Christmas Day Kitten–it’s one of my favorite James Herriot stories. We did the Book Advent Calendar this year and my family agreed that it’s a tradition that we’re going to continue. I wrote a post with reviews of the books we read. I’ll be adding some of the books mentioned here for next year!
http://actively-reading.squarespace.com/blog/2017/2/3/aftermath-of-the-book-advent-calendar
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJane,
Thank you for this great blog post and the detailed review of so many Christmas books!
I’ll add that we read The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements this year, and my short review is that it was okay. It has some good ideas about the difference between popularity and leadership, but wasn’t as good as other Andrew Clements books we’ve read.
Mehgan Brooke
says:The past two years I’ve tried to read a Christmas or winter themed picture book every day of December leading up to Christmas with my boys. Somehow it always ends up getting put off until later or I completely forget about it until the boys are already asleep. This past Christmas I think I only read the books about 10 of the 24 days that I had planned to! BUT I had honestly never thought of wrapping all of the books and putting number tags on them all. The excitement of opening a Christmas book of the day would definitely ensure my boys wouldn’t let me forget! Thanks for the lovely tip! It’s so simple, I can’t believe it never occurred to me!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou are welcome, Mehgan. Next year should be especially literature full!
Kim
says:Love this idea!
Cindy
says:Great idea! I will remember this for next year:)
Laurie Hanson
says:Love family reading time during advent.
Christine
says:Love this idea! Sounds like a tradition we may be starting next year!
Nicole
says:My son is love the advent books this year. It’s going to be a great tradition for my family!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you for letting us know that this book advent has been a hit with your son, Nicole!
Meggen Loew
says:We started a “12 days of Christmas” tradition this year and will have a different theme for 12 days. We have books to read, crafts/coloring pages and some times movies or special foods on these days. We have used books already in our Christmas collection and I was able to pick up a few new thisbyear to add to add to some of our days.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceMeggen,
I love how you add in crafts, coloring pages, movies, food, and more! What sweet memories are must be making.
Marisa Harder-Chapman
says:We set aside our large collection of Christmas books to pull out each December – I look forward to finding a few new ones on your list!
Stephanie
says:I’ve always wanted to try this. Guess I better start collecting Christmas books!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceStephanie,
I imagine there will be after Christmas sales on Christmas books at book stores. Next week would be a good time to start collecting!
Erin
says:Love this idea!!!!
Annette W
says:What a fun way to show what a gift literature is!
Annette W
says:Every Christmas our family reads each night from the Jesus Storybook Bible. As soon as dinner is over, we read a chapter and put a corresponding ornament on a little tree (they can be found online). My kids love it! They would really like this idea of unwrapping a book to read too! That may be our next before bedtime Christmas tradition!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAnnette,
Your tradition sounds so beautiful!
Laura A
says:What a great idea! I will have to do that next year with my kids. Thank you for sharing the idea!
Stefanie
says:Wow – what a great list :) Thank you!
Audrey Slade
says:I love this idea
Anita
says:I love this idea! I wish I had started at the beginning of December. Maybe I will try it for January to make the cold winter months more fun!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWhat a nice idea, Anita!
M Moore
says:I love this idea. We might need to do just 12 days this year.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYes! There is still time to start this tradition!
Jamie W.
says:This is a great way to include all ages of family members! We have 2 and 10-year-old girls, so we are always looking for unique ways to include everyone (including ourselves)! We are loving AAS 1 and can’t wait to start the pre-reading level with our youngest! :)
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJamie,
This would be a lovely way to create warm memories between your two daughters! I see lots of photos of sweet book cuddles in your future!
Agy Fehr
says:I am definitely going to do this with my children.
Angela Leggett
says:My children enjoy reading through Christmas break and this would be a great way to help guide them to some classics.
Cheryl
says:My state has a sunny, warm climate so I plan on taking my children to a different locale each day to read our books.
Katie Morgan
says:We love to read A Christmas Carol every year!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKatie,
I’ll be reading A Christmas Carol again this year, because one of my kids requested, “The one with the businessman dude that has spirits come at night.” ;D
Jaime B
says:We’ve done this in the past- so fun! Our current tradition is observing advent with a Jesse tree. I just need to figure out where I put the ornaments!
Tara Bailey
says:I definitely want to do this with my kiddos
Kathy Brennan
says:Love this idea!
Rachel
says:We love you guys. Thank you
LeAnn Elliott
says:So creative! I really like your gift wrapping style!
Elle
says:Wow, so cute and fun!!
Karisa
says:This is such a great idea I’ve seen around. …but somehow I’d never thought to utilize the library. That helps so much!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceGlad to help, Karisa!
Ashley
says:<3 this idea!!
Samantha F.
says:We’ve done this every year for the last 4 or 5 years! My kids love it, even though we use the same books every year. We just put them away after Christmas!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceSamantha,
Thank you for letting us know that your kids love this, even though you use the same books year after year! I wondered about that, but I suppose the repetition is part of the tradition and fun.
Beth
says:We do this every year too! Love finding 50 cent books at Savers during the year to add to our collection. And I re-wrap them before I store them for the next year. Makes it so much easier to just pull out and go.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceBeth,
I love the idea of wrapping them before packing them away for next year. So organized!
Sarah
says:My mother-in-law did this or my kiddos last year. It was fantastic and was an excellent way to build our library.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAwwww, what a wonderful grandma your kids have, Sarah! What a blessing.
Alice Ross
says:What a great idea! Unwrapping the books builds suspense & increases interest. If you don’t number them it will surprise mom too. This could actually work any time of the year to add excitement.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI like the idea of not numbering, Alice! The surprise would be fun.
Nicole
says:What great ideas for Advent! I try to do something special every year for my kids, to reinforce the spirit of the season, not just the fun of gifts.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI agree, Nicole!
Christy
says:What a lovely Christmas tradition! Thanks for sharing this. :)
Jessica Hamer
says:I absolutely love this idea!! Thabks for sharing!! I think I will implement it this year😃❤️🎄
Jen
says:Great idea!
A Hughes
says:This is an awesome idea!!! Thanks
Kelly
says:We do this one! We don’t number them and let the kiddos pick one. They love it!
shelby
says:What a wonderful way to spend chilly nights, snuggled up with our beautiful children. It will be so enjoyable watching them pick out library books for this special time together. It will be nice to download from the technology in our lives for awhile.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWell put, Shelby. Here’s wishing you lots of snuggles and cuddles and family togetherness this season!
Jessica Boenick
says:Such a cute idea!!!!!
Whitney
says:Love this idea!
Karen
says:Super fun idea
Sarah Mason
says:I absolutely love this idea. I just have to increase my Christmas book collection to accomplish it.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAnd it’s a lovely reason to buy more books, Sarah!
Judith Martinez
says:This is a fun idea but I don’t know where we would store all the books if we did this year after year! I saw one idea that used library books instead and I might try that.
Aimee Wutka
says:We love doing this. We have all our books wrapped and ready to read.
Tonya
says:Thank You! This is so great. Love this! so much Fun to share with a warm cup of hot cocoa, a blanket and family .The Heart set right to receive all of The Wonderful Season Christ has giving to all who would receive Him.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceTonya,
Yes! This would be such a cuddle and snuggle activity, and a warm way to spend the Christmas season.
Brooke C
says:We love doing the picture book advent calendar!!
Jennifer Huffman
says:Love this idea! Thanks for sharing!
Julieta
says:I love this Idea! I had been thinking about getting one of the Lego Advent Calendars this year but this can be for the whole family not just one child and it’s another way of making reading fun, reading aloud and modeling reading to the kids! Thanks for the great idea!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou are welcome, Julieta. I hope it’s a great hit.
Laurie Carleton
says:Love this idea!
Amanda goodale
says:Love this idea!!
Wendy
says:I love this idea!
ERIKA
says:I have always wanted to to a book advent and never have yet!
Natalie
says:Cute!
Christina Burns
says:Great idea!
Tracey
says:Great idea! We love to read as a family.
Lisandra
says:Love the idea of a book each day of the Advent Calendar! My little bookworm will love this!
Lori Pavelka
says:We love this tradition!!! In fact this year we have so many books we’re doing 2/say!!!;)
Rachael
says:We did this last year and our boys LOVED it! Waiting for the library to call me :)
Melissa
says:We did this last year! It was a lot of fun. :)
Crystal
says:Did this idea last year for Christmas!
Erin
says:We love doing a book advent! ❤️📚
Debra Graybeal
says:What a great idea!
Vanessa Ast
says:This is perfect for little ones! Thank you for this idea!
Jillian
says:Love this!
Wendy Leonard-Richardson
says:What a great idea!!!
Julie
says:what a great idea!
Gloria Phillips
says:I’ve always wanted to do this idea…I did end up with our Christmas books in a basket one year but not wrapped. :-)
Kristen
says:We do something similar to this, except for the 12 days of Christmas instead of during Advent.
Brandi Morang
says:We love AAR :)
Angela
says:We are doing something like this for Christmas!! We have a mix of books and movies!!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceOoo, I like the idea of adding Christmas movies into the mix as well, Angela. There are lots of great Christmas movies.
Bonnie
says:Fun
Jill Jacobs
says:That is such a great idea!
Nicole
says:Such a great idea!
Valerie
says:This is what I will be doing tonight!
Denise Holsomback
says:What a great idea!
Jenny Page
says:This is a fabulous idea! It’s a great way to incorporate more reading into the business of the Season! :)
Bryanna Paice
says:I love this idea, and have wanted to incorporate it into our Christmas traditions. I have started wrapping! Great idea!
Trudi
says:I love this idea!
Nicolette Maxey
says:This is such a good idea!
Heidi
says:We do this, minus the wrapping.
Melanie
says:So fun!!!
Leigh
says:Great idea!
Tauni
says:We did this last year! Super fun…as long as you like wrapping books…I had my oldest help out ;)
Jessica Menteer
says:Such a good idea since my oldest 2 can read now to the youngers :)
Erin
says:Great idea!
Jacquelyn
says:Great idea! What a cute tradition!
LeAnn
says:I love creative and inexpensive ideas like this one!
Karen C.
says:Thanks for these great ideas!
Elizabeth T
says:I love the advent book reading idea. In the past I have made poster-size pictures for my kids to add a sticker every day til Christmas.
Marci
says:We are doing this for the first time this year! I’ve used your book list to accumulate books over the past couple of years and we now have enough. I’m so excited!!!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceHow exciting, Marci! Have fun.
Kathy
says:What a fun idea!
Deborah
says:Great idea! We did this with our younger kids. Now we get a full length book and read it together.
Joni Chambers
says:Wonderful ideas! Thank you.
Michele
says:Cool!
Shanna
says:LOVE!
Kelly
says:I did this one year and it wa so fun.
Marcee
says:Thank you for the idea!
Heidi
says:I love this idea!!
Kacie
says:Doing this this year! I’m so excited!
Leslie
says:LOVE this idea! Keeps our read aloud time fresh and focused during this hectic season!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceLeslie, yes! I love bringing the family focus back to the Christmas season.
Amanda
says:We love doing this in our family!
Lynae Yankee
says:I love this idea! Doing this next year!
Cathy
says:We started this last year and my kids loved it.
Tricia Schlegel
says:Trying to start some new traditions with my kiddos.
Sondra
says:Love this idea!
Mae
says:Would love to start this tradition.
Nic D.
says:This is a FANTASTIC idea!!!!!!
Katie
says:I love this idea!
Sarah
says:I as a book lover think your book advent tradition is wonderful. My family has a small wooden Christmas tree advent calendar and it has little doors numbered to pull out the ornament to place on the tree and so the tree doesn’t look bare as it gets its ornaments we hang miniature candy canes on it that the kids get to eat. My question is what is Advent? We have just always started the tradition on the First of December which has us opening 24 doors so that the Christmas tree is complete on Christmas Eve.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceSarah,
Advent is the practice of looking toward the celebration of Christ’s birth. Different traditions have it starting on different days, although the 4th Sunday before Christmas seems the most common traditionally and just the 24 days of December leading up to Christmas is the more common modern practice.
How advent is celebrated varies from little things to open each day, such as your Christmas tree calendar, to lighting of advent candles and special scripture or catechism readings.
Alena
says:We already have plans for a countdown this year, but I’m looking forward to this activity next year!
Kara Mixon
says:I love this idea! I’ll be checking out what my local library has tomorrow. Thanks!
Marci
says:We did this last year, and my children loved it!
Amber
says:This is a great idea!
Tracy
says:Great idea!
Jamie Jones
says:I love this idea!
Kristy
says:Cool idea!
Nathania
says:Great idea! I’ll be hitting up out library with the book list!
Heather
says:We have done this for years but with the addition of AAR my 10 yr old finds it especially exciting this year. As she says…” I can read it without you, mommy!”
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWhat a great achievement this year, Heather!
Sarah Ter Maat
says:We don’t have any special traditions, but I absolutely love this idea! I may just have to implement this.
Ashley Wakefield
says:Oh! What a great idea for a special Christmas tradition! Can’t wait to snuggle with my kids and some good Christmas books! 🎄🎄🎄 It would be a tremendous blessing to win! Next year I will be homeschooling a kindergartner. Thank you for the opportunity to win!
jess
says:Love this idea!
Stefanie M
says:Such a wonderful idea!
Aubree Johnson
says:I love the idea!
Christa
says:I love this idea! We always add a few new holiday books to our collection each year.
Nicole
says:Such a great idea!
Bethel
says:Winning Level 3 would be such a blessing! My first grade daughter will be finished with Level 2 by Christmas. She is becoming quite a little reader!
Michelle Bustamante
says:Totally going to do this with my kids this year! Thank you.
Carolyn Boyd
says:We try to do a different advent story or bible study every year. This year we started reading Jotham’s Journey and my kids are loving it!
Lisa
says:My kids love to read books and you combine that with Christmas and it’s even better. This is a great idea for advent.
Katie Olson
says:What a great idea! Thanks for including a list!
Tamara H
says:Thanks!
Tessa
says:Very fun idea! Now to make a book list and head to the library!
Lori Blake
says:I love this idea. I need more Christmas books!
Pat S
says:Nice idea for Advent!
Kimber
says:Love this idea! ❤️
Brittany Gell
says:Very cool!
Melanie
says:We don’t wrap our either…but we do definitely have Advent read aloud a each day, as well as Jesse tree readings.
Brittney Galloway
says:We love this! We don’t wrap ours, but we do have a set that we use every year.
Brianna
says:Great idea!
Julie
says:Tried this once. But I love all my Christmas books too much and got impatient to READ THEM ALL! Now we do Advent with something less tempting (chocolate) so I can have all the books at once.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceJulie,
I love how chocolate is less tempting than books!!!
Rebecca knepper
says:I love this, we are going to try this!
Andrea
says:LOVE THIS IDEA!
Kristin
says:Love this idea – thanks for sharing!
Kristen
says:What a great idea! Our boys would love this! May have to try it this year!
Kelly
says:This is such a great idea!
Autumn R
says:Great idea!
Jen
says:So crazy! Researching Christmas books and requesting them from the library was on my to-do list today…I went the other day and grabbed a bunch, and oh my, there were some REAL duds!! Thank you!!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI think you will find we weeded all the duds off our list, Jen!
Amanda
says:This is a great idea. I may try this next yr 🙂
Jessica
says:We did this two years in a row with my son. I hate to say it but I got lazy (so much wrapping!) after that. Now we just have a basket of Christmas books under the tree and we read at least one a day for the Christmas season. My son loves it and he gets a new Christmas book every year. We also put up the Christmas books at the end of the season and don’t read them until after Thanksgiving so they are brand new to him again.
Leisa H.
says:I love this idea!
Rachea
says:What a neat idea! We’ll have to make that a new tradition for our family!
Rachea
says:What a neat idea! We’ll have to make that a new tradition for our family!
Sonya
says:We love books !
Laura
says:Thanks for a great list of Christmas books!
Danielle
says:Cute idea!
Kim Fielding
says:I heard a great tip on a Read Aloud Revival podcast advent podcast. I think it was Elizabeth Foss who suggested gathering all the Christmas books after the holiday is over and wrapping them before they are packed away. Everything is prepared for the next year and their is no scrambling to get things ready for the advent season.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWhat a great idea, Kim! Then you can take advantage of the post-Christmas wrapping paper sales too. Thank you for sharing it.
Elizabeth Childers
says:We do something similar. I don’t wrap the books, but we have a collection of Christmas books I’ve added to over the years. They get packed up with the Christmas stuff, so they seem “new” when we get them out. Every night at dinner, we light our advent wreath’s candle and read one (or more!) of our books.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWhat a warm and lovely tradition, Elizabeth!
Bethany Furness
says:This is a wonderful idea, especially with the library and a book source! I read about something similar last year, buy it seemed so expensive. This way you can change out some books each year and keep your favorites.
Rebecca T
says:We don’t do this as an advent calendar, but do keep a box of Christmas books under the tree every year. They are fun and fresh because they are packed away all year. There is something so sweet about your littles reading books by the Christmas tree :)
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThat sounds like the perfect Christmas portrait opportunity, Rebecca!
Maria
says:Love this idea so much!! Think we’ll be heading to the library to find some books!
Kayla
says:What a great idea!
Kristy Spears
says:I’ve seen this idea before, but I always miss the start date! This year I could actually pull it off as it isn’t December yet, AND I have enough books for this year! Thanks for the encouragement on making reading fun!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this was timely for you, Kristy!
Yvette
says:Love this idea!
Alicia
says:I love this idea
Sandi W
says:What a great idea. I’ve seen this before but at least I got reminded before Christmas/December this year. :)
Brittany Adams
says:We love reading as a family every night. Wrote bed! What cute idea for unwrapping each book!
Katelyn
says:What a fun idea!
Davelle J.
says:This is a great idea. The kids would love it.
Amanda
says:We need to try this! What a fun idea.
Nancy A.
says:I love this idea for my budding readers!
Lauren
says:We have done this the past few years and the kids love it!
Kimberly
says:I LOVE this idea!!!
Daryn Kennedy
says:We have done this for a few years at our house. The only downfall is that after each year, I “need” new books! :) (Not really. We do reuse most, but phase out ones that are too young to be replaced with books for my older kids.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceBut what a lovely excuse to get new books, Daryn!
Anna S
says:We have done a book advent for a few years now and we love it. This year we are trying to decide if we want to wrap the books or just leave them unwrapped for all to read at anytime. It’s a great tradition that we really enjoy!
Tamara
says:Working on doing this!
Maria
says:I have a friend who has been doing this for years. She has enough books to do multiple advent calendars
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceMaria,
That’s a lot of Christmas books!
Priscilla Chavez
says:Fantastic idea!
Cheryl Barnette
says:My young readers would love this :)
Katelyn
says:I enjoy the idea of a book advent but we love to dive into our seasonal books from the start of December and I think we’d miss not having access to our favorites from the start. We love having countdown paper chains.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceKatelyn,
I rather agree with you. I like to set out the Christmas books are part of the season’s decorations. We can read them whenever, but we also get to enjoy how pretty they are.
Stephanie Federico
says:This is a fabulous idea to share some really great books this Christmas season!
Cindy N
says:I love this idea! Probably not going to pull it off this year but saving for next !
Brittany
says:What a wonderful idea!
Scott
says:Love this idea of opening books leading up to Christmas! Just another way to get my kids excited about reading! Love that our kids are in a program that not only is a curriculum but is still trying to help so many people in so many other ways than simply through the curriculum itself!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceAwww, thank you, Scott. :D
Callie Ramsey
says:Love this idea!
Jill Van Soelen
says:Such a fun idea! Love the book suggestions!
Lauren
says:Awesome!
Dara Shackelford
says:What an amazing idea! My 5 year old cannot wait to count down and now I have a meaningful way to bring reading into our holiday joy. Thanks!
Katrina
says:This is a great idea.
Amanda Banks
says:I love this idea!
Kelsy
says:We have a lot of Christmas books. I don’t wrap them, but leave them under the tree for the kids to choose for anytime reading.
Corrine Harris
says:Love this! We do an advent calendar but might use this idea this year. We could use some great holiday books.
Amber Gleaves
says:Such a fun idea!
Horton
says:Awesome idea!
Kristina Poehls
says:🌲
Bekah
says:Great idea!!
Jessica
says:Awesome idea! My book loving fam would love this!
Dawn P
says:We always read a Christmas book every day in December, but I haven’t brought myself to take the time to wrap them. I think that would be extra special& make for a great memory for my children!
Adrien
says:Thanks for the idea!
Shauna
says:Cute idea!
Rkapser
says:Love this idea. Trying it for the first time. I just finished wrapping my books this morning.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceHow exciting! I hope it’s a huge hit with everyone.
Amanda Jungquist
says:Love these ideas!
Kristen
says:Love this idea!
Katrina lewis
says:This is such a great idea!
Laura Gosnell
says:I am not sure I will wrap them, but the plan is to read one Christmas book a day, plus Tolkien’s Father Christmas.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceLaura,
I kind of like the idea of displaying Christmas books as part of the decorations.
Ashlee
says:I did this a few years ago with my daughter. She absolutely loved it! Now I have two girls. Definitely gonna do it again!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceWhat fun, Ashlee, continuing a family tradition this way!
Chris
says:This is always a fun tradition at our house!
Carrie
says:Love the idea of giving books for advent.
Andrea
says:I love this idea but I think I will have to wait till next year so I can plan ahead!
Katie Waalkes
says:We have been doing this for 3 years and my kids love it we have slowly built up our collection of books and they love unwrapping one a day. We put our books under the tree wrapped and we don’t put out the other presents till Christmas Eve so that if someone were to sneak a peak or accidentally unwrap one no surprises would be ruined.
Desiree SerpaTorres
says:I can’t wait to try this!!! 📚
Teagon
says:What a fun idea!
Elizabeth
says:Love this! My son will love it when I read Christmas books as part of his reading time!
Jennie
says:Great idea!
Tikisha
says:I absolutely love this idea. My daughter is a little bookworm so it would be perfect for her.
Mimi
says:I LOVE this idea! My grandson and I are doing his first year with AAR and AAS and so far so good! We started with level 2 and after a rocky start (due to UNschooling) we are sailing now! Today we found his inner goofball and he is reading in a funny voice and laughing! I am so very pleased with this program! We are entering the drawing for a free level! Would be wonderful to win level 3 and sail along through that too!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceMimi,
I love when young readers start reading with voices and expression. It’s soooo cute!