Activity Advent Calendar Ideas

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December is almost here which means it's almost time for the advent calendar. 

There are so many great advent calendar options out there, from the classic variety with the tiny chocolates to very specialized advent calendars with character toys, nail polish, make up, tea bags, jams, wine, socks, and even dog treats. We have a reusable advent calendar that I fill with small treats (usually chocolates) and vouchers for holiday themed activities. We've been using the same advent calendar for over a decade now and it always makes me so happy to take it out of storage and fill it with my home made vouchers each year.

So, just what sorts of activities do I include in our advent calendar each year? 

Good question! I like to include a mix of holiday activities that we can do at home with little effort, as well as fun local holiday events. If you're in Colorado and looking for holiday events check out my Christmas in Denver 2022 post here. For general activities keep on reading for my list below.

A Christmas Activity Advent Calendar: Colorado

Does your family have an advent calendar?

I grew up with the classic cardboard advent calendar with little pieces of chocolate hidden behind each panel. It was something I always looked forward to as December approached - even though the chocolate was never very good!

Our annual advent calendar is still something that I get very excited about each year, but it's rather different from the ones I grew up with. Each year our advent calendar is filled with vouchers holiday themed activities and events rather than chocolate. Well, it does have chocolate too, but the vouchers are the main thing.

I've shared our advent calendar here on Little Hiccups many times in the past, including a round up of the featured activities (which you can see here), but as many of the activities that I include are based in the Bay Area, it's time for me to add some new Colorado based activities.

While I'm sad that I won't be taking the kids to the Giant Gingerbread House at the Fairmont in San Francisco, watching the parade of lighted boats at Berkeley Marina, or checking our the light displays on Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda, I've learned that December in Colorado is packed full of holiday fun. In fact, there are so many parades, markets, lighting displays and Santa visits in our area that I'm a little overwhelmed narrowing it down!

I've been making lists of activities and events in the Boulder and Denver area that I think my kids will love and today I'm sharing them with you. We visited Colorado last year over the kids' Christmas break, so while we're still relatively new to the area, some of the activities that I'm including are not entirely new to our family. They tried and tested - and kid approved!

Welcome to Golden

Playing on a frozen creek in Estes Park

Checking out the Holiday Lights in Golden

Warming up with a hot chocolate at Blossoms of Light at Denver Botanic Garden

Denver City Hall

Here are the new activities I'll be adding to our advent calendar this year (click the links for more details):

Check out the colorful lights on the Mile High Tree in Denver

Ice skate outdoors in Downtown Denver or Louisville 

Visit Blossoms of Light at Denver Botanic Gardens 

Check out the illuminations and ice carving at Zoo Lights at Denver Zoo

Walk through the Ice Castles in Dillon

Fill up on German treats at the Christkindl Market in Denver

Watch the Parade of Lights in Louisville 

Take a dog cart ride in Golden

Visit Santa's Village at Chatfield Farms

Ride the Holiday Carousel in Downtown Denver

Take a walk through the Holiday Lights in Golden

Watch the Lights of December Parade in Boulder

Drive through the lights of Christmas in Color 

Take a horse and carriage ride through Downtown Louisville
Watch the holiday parade in Downtown Golden
Play on a frozen creek (we did this is Estes Park last year and the kids LOVED it)
Check out the Christmas displays at Union Station in Denver
Watch the light display at City Hall in Denver
Find a Snowman at Freezie Fest in Boulder

Ice skating in Downtown Denver

Ice Castles in Dillon during the day

Ice Castles in Dillon in the evening

Blossoms of Light at Denver Botanic Gardens

Union Station in Denver

Driving through Christmas In Color

If you live in Colorado (or have visited over the holidays) and have other suggestions, I'd love to hear!

The Little Ice Rink

This post is sponsored by The Little Ice Rink. All opinions are my own.

Last Sunday was our day of wintry fun. We started the day with a trip to the "snow" at the annual Snow? In Berkeley? festival (which you can see here), then spent the afternoon ice skating at The Little Rink in Alameda.

The Little Rink is located at Alameda's South Shore Center and is a great spot to spend the afternoon.
We skated for just over an hour as the sun began to set and it was perfect. Ava is our little skater girl and despite the fact that she hasn't had lessons in a year and a half she took to the ice like a pro. Within no time she was showing off with one foot glides and attempting spins. Lola is still a little nervous on the ice and needed help but I could see her confidence growing as she skated.

Our Little Christmas Tree

As if visiting Santa on Friday night wasn't exciting enough, we upped the Christmas spirit on Saturday by taking the girls to choose a Christmas tree.

The past few years we've visited a Christmas tree farm and cut our own tree. This year we kept things simpler and visited a nearby Christmas tree lot and bought a pre-cut tree. 

Visiting Santa at Macy's

Friday's advent voucher was the one that the girls' look forward to the most out of the whole calendar: the voucher to visit Santa at Macy's.

We headed into the city in the evening after Ava's skateboarding class and the girls couldn't wait to see Santa. As usual Ava and Lola were a little nervous when it actually came time to go talk to Santa but Mathilde was pretty intrigued and happy to go sit on his lap. The big girls warmed to him pretty quickly and in no time they were telling him about all the things they'd like for Christmas: a tv, puppies, American Girl accessories, a computer, a chess set...

Letters to Santa

December is Christmas crazy all month long in our home. The advent calendar goes up on December 1st and every day the girls find a voucher for Christmas activities. Vouchers for ice skating, choosing a tree, Christmas crafts, Christmas movies, visiting Santa...

Every year the first activity in the advent calendar is the same: writing a letter to Santa.

The Little Ice Rink Giveaway

Can you believe that the holiday season is almost upon us?

December will be here in just over a week. That means I'm going to have to get cracking on this year's advent calendar. I'm a big fan of giving experiences as gifts and our advent calendar is no different. Rather that filling the calendar with chocolates or candies I like to fill it with vouchers for fun activities for the kids: writing letters to Santa, visiting the Giant Gingerbread house, baking Christmas cookies, making Christmas crafts, decorating the Christmas tree...

My all time favorite activity that appears every year in our advent calendar is ice skating at an outdoor rink. Having spent most of my life in Australia I'm used to hot, Summery Christmases with ice skating only possible indoors. I absolutely love that Christmas falls in Winter here. Even though we don't have white Christmases here in the Bay Area, there's just something magical about Christmas in Winter. Being able to take part in wintry Christmas activities like ice skating outdoors makes it feel even more magical.

This year we'll be visiting The Little Ice Rink at Alameda's South Shore Center for our outdoor ice skating. I can't wait to take the girls and they're pretty excited about it too. My favorite thing about skating at The Little Ice Rink is "Bobby" the Seal skating aide (you can see it pictured below). Ava took ice skating lessons for a year and a half so she's a pro on the ice, but Lola has only skated a few times and is not so confident. Usually when we go ice skating I spend half my time hunched over holding Lola's hands. With "Bobby" Lola will be able to skate around on her own with confidence - or take a rest and be pushed around! How cool is that? 

A Christmas tree... finally!

On our advent calendar there are always two activity vouchers that the girls just can't wait to get their hands on. The first is visiting Santa at Macy's which came up on the advent calendar a week back. The second is choosing a tree from a Christmas tree farm. They've been waiting so patiently for their second favourite voucher and it finally appeared yesterday.

The long awaited advent voucher

Advent Calendar: Day 1

It's the first day of December and that means it's the first day of the advent calendar. Ava and Lola have eagerly been waiting the arrival of the advent calendar so they were pretty excited this morning when they walked out of their bedroom and discovered it hanging in the hallway.

As usual I have filled our advent calendar with vouchers for Christmas themed activities rather than the traditional chocolates. And as usual first up in the advent calendar was a voucher to write and send letters to Santa, something which Ava has been very eager to do for weeks.

Letters to Santa

Giant Gingerbread House

Just like last year one of the activities on this year's advent calendar was to visit the giant gingerbread house at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

And just like last year, the giant gingerbread house did not disappoint. Standing at over 22 feet high and 23 feet wide and made of thousands of gingerbread bricks it is quite a sight to see. The girls were enchanted by the masses of gingerbread with its, wait for it... two thousand pounds of royal icing and candy. My teeth are aching just thinking about that number!

Giant gingerbread house and Christmas tree in the Fairmont Hotel lobby

A visit to Santaland

Day 3 on our advent calendar was home to the voucher that Ava had most eagerly awaited: Visit Santa at Macy's!

"Visit Santa at Macy's" - the voucher we've been waiting for!

For weeks Ava has been asking if we can go see Santa. For weeks I've been telling her that she has to wait until it comes up in the advent calendar. You can imagine how excited she was when she saw the name Santa on the voucher. She couldn't read the rest of it but she recognised that one word and that was all she needed!

So, last night after Ava's iceskating lesson (and Holiday Ice Spectacular rehearsal) we headed to Macy's to meet the man.

Ava was pretty excited but Lola was a little apprehensive, especially after seeing a particularly seedy looking Santa here in Berkeley last week! The REAL Santa at Macy's however, is friendly and inviting and engages with the kids in a way that really warms them to him. Ava popped up on his lap straight away and started reeling off the list of things that she'd like for Christmas: an electric dog called Bouncy, a scooter, a fortune cookie maker... Lola hung back a little and when asked what she'd like for Christmas she yelled across the room "A present and a ball and a toy truck"!

After a little while Lola felt more comfortable with Santa and was happy to stand in front of him and pose for photos - but only if she could be on the same side as Ava. For the first time ever we ended up with photos of both girls smiling with Santa. Woo hoo!


Here's a look at the girls with Santa.

Our "official" Santa portrait