My family is starting a new tradition this year. A Christmas book advent with a book and activity or project each day until Christmas. I first heard about this tradition long before I had my son but knew it was something I wanted to do with my children. The idea for the activity or project with each book came from Alison at Oopsey Daisy. I will be shamelessly borrowing tons of ideas from her blog. If you have a chance stop by Oopsey Daisy, there are always lots of fun projects.
I labeled my books with a free printable from Clean Mama.
What We're Reading This Christmas
The Donkey's Christmas Song
Merry Christmas Stinky Face
Baby Elf's Christmas
Who Will Help Santa This Year?
A Merry Little Christmas A-Z
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Thrift Stores
I visited my local thrift store 2-3 times over the summer and came away with a rather nice stash of Christmas Books. I was surprised by the fairly good condition most of the books were in. Some of them appeared brand new. Most of the books sold for .50 cents which made my wallet very happy.
Scholastic Book
I love Scholastic book orders. They have loads of great books in each flyer. They have dollar books and value packs for Christmas. Plus, you support your child's classroom by helping them earn free books.
EBay and Half.com
Search EBay for Christmas book lots. Half.com often has used books in good condition for a fair price. You can save on shipping by buying multiple books from the same seller.
After Christmas sales
50% off Holiday books!
Trade with family or friends
My sister and I are both having a Christmas book Advent this year. Our children are only three weeks apart and we live in the same town. It made perfect sense for us to share books in order to come up with 24. If you don't have family around you could talk to your friends and neighbors and see if they would be interested in sharing with you.
Read books that have Winter and Snow Themes
Check your book stash for books about snowmen and winter. You may be surprised at how many you have already.
Library
Use the library reserve system to place holds on Christmas books you want. Most libraries allow you to check a book out for 2-3 weeks. You can use the library books at the beginning of the advent so you can return them without incurring fines.
Start with what you have.
Finding 24 Christmas books can seem like a lot if you only have a few. Start the tradition with the number of books you have and add a book each year. Your collection will grow slowly without breaking the bank. You can also fill in the blanks with activities, coloring books and Christmas music cds.
Come back and read about our book and activity each day as we count down to Christmas. What are your families favorite traditions?
We participate in these link parties.
I visited my local thrift store 2-3 times over the summer and came away with a rather nice stash of Christmas Books. I was surprised by the fairly good condition most of the books were in. Some of them appeared brand new. Most of the books sold for .50 cents which made my wallet very happy.
Scholastic Book
I love Scholastic book orders. They have loads of great books in each flyer. They have dollar books and value packs for Christmas. Plus, you support your child's classroom by helping them earn free books.
EBay and Half.com
Search EBay for Christmas book lots. Half.com often has used books in good condition for a fair price. You can save on shipping by buying multiple books from the same seller.
After Christmas sales
50% off Holiday books!
Trade with family or friends
My sister and I are both having a Christmas book Advent this year. Our children are only three weeks apart and we live in the same town. It made perfect sense for us to share books in order to come up with 24. If you don't have family around you could talk to your friends and neighbors and see if they would be interested in sharing with you.
Read books that have Winter and Snow Themes
Check your book stash for books about snowmen and winter. You may be surprised at how many you have already.
Library
Use the library reserve system to place holds on Christmas books you want. Most libraries allow you to check a book out for 2-3 weeks. You can use the library books at the beginning of the advent so you can return them without incurring fines.
Start with what you have.
Finding 24 Christmas books can seem like a lot if you only have a few. Start the tradition with the number of books you have and add a book each year. Your collection will grow slowly without breaking the bank. You can also fill in the blanks with activities, coloring books and Christmas music cds.
Come back and read about our book and activity each day as we count down to Christmas. What are your families favorite traditions?
We participate in these link parties.
Stopping by from For the Kids Friday. I LOVE this idea. Counting Coconuts has a post about this too. I am collecting books at the moment. Thanks for the ideas of how to get 24 and the other links of blogs doing the same thing.
ReplyDeleteSierra @ his4homeschooling.blogspot.com
Your packages look BEAUTIFUL! We unwrap Christmas books at our house too... but no project. That is fun to combine the advent & books!
ReplyDeleteI hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Thanks for linking up to TGIF & we'll see you next week! Don't forget to enter for a chance to Guest Post & Have your blog featured on my sidebar for the entire month of December - http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/2011/11/thank-you-want-to-guest-post.html
Beth =-)
Caaaaute! I love how you wrapped up your books. Thanks so much for the shout-out! This really made my day!
ReplyDeleteI love this idea. I'm definitely going to steal it. I love your blog. I'm your newest follower. (actually I thought I was already following you but I couldn't find you in my blog list. But now I am definitely following you)
ReplyDeleteWould love to see you DIY Home Sweet home.
Jamie
http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/
P.S. I have a linky every Monday. Would love for you to stop by and link up.
Love this idea and you have some new books on your list for me to check out. I wanted to let you know that I"m passing on the Versatile Award to your blog so hopefully we will both get more traffic. You can check it out at http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/2011/11/another-award.html.
ReplyDeleteI would love for you to share this at my advent linky party! I mentioned your post specifically as a great way to build up a stock of books :)
ReplyDeletehttp://his4homeschooling.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-book-advent.html
Just stopping by from the Advent Linky Party. What a great idea to incorporate a book a day into your advent tradition. Your list of where to find books is very helpful! My library also has books for sale (most less than a $1) and I usually find lots of treasures there! I'm your newest follower on GFC!
ReplyDeleteLisa
http://crisscrossapplesaucelearning.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-countdown-printable.html
What a fantastic idea! I love your blog, i came across it quite by accident today whist over at Busy as a Bee in Paris. I hope you don't mind but I have put a link to your article on my own blog www.non-nativebilingualadventure@blogspot.com as your idea has given me some great inspiration endless fun language learning opportunities for my budding bilingual baby.
ReplyDeletethanks again
Thanks for sharing at my advent linky party!
ReplyDeleteWow, I absolutely love this idea! Thanks for linking it up!
ReplyDeleteLove this! Visiting from The Children's Bookshelf linkup.
ReplyDelete