I picked up these small muslin bags a few years ago with the intent of making some kind of advent but didn't get around to using them until this year (a few weeks into December). After a few failed ideas, I went with something simple. I just stenciled numbers on each bag using silver glitter paint and put a simple ornament in each bag. I found the tree at Target (which I love but it sheds glitter like crazy). Over the years I hope to replace the cheap ornaments with more meaningful ones. Each day we remove an ornament from a bag and hang it on the tree.
I saw these advent bags at Ikea this year and knew I needed them for something. I strung them up with twine and small clothespins covered in festive washi tape (which is also how I like to display Christmas cards). Since we already had a few advents filled with treats, we decided to fill these with good deeds each day. Everytime we did something nice for someone, we could put a small bell in the bag (no significance to the bells...just had a large stash of them...and they made a fun jingling sound whenever someone ran into the bags).
And a few other advents hanging around the house...
The stockings were filled with daily activities...we used a paper chain for this when I was a kid (decorate a gingerbread house, make cookies, have hot chocolate, watch a Christmas movie, do a Christmas craft, see a light display, etc).
The kids always have fun unwrapping a Christmas book every night (some from our collection, some from the library).
