Picture Book Advent Calendar

Rebecca from Thirteen Red Shoes is with us today to share some lovely tips for sharing a picture book advent with your family this holiday season.

We have a family tradition: each day of advent the little ones get a picture book.  It is the only advent calendar we have in our home, so no little lolly delights or small toys, simply a new picture book to open.  I know that this is extravagant, but it is where we choose to spend our money.  I am such a huge believer and lover of children’s literature, that I budget this in every year. Instead of buying them all at once, I buy the books gradually throughout the year.

The books are wrapped and gathered on the mantle in our lounge room. Each night of December, once the littles are bathed and in their pajamas, we select a new book to unwrap and gather on the lounge to share. In the past, my book collection has included fiction, non-fiction, picture books, chapter books, as well as a few audio books.  The variety makes it even more exciting.

If you are like me and you store Christmas books away from January to November, you can wrap them up and add few newly acquired titles to create your own book themed advent calendar. 

There are so many delightful titles on the market!

Here is my most recent list of our favorite holiday books.

And for added inspiration, here are a few of our favorite authors:

• Mo Willems
• Julia Donaldson
• Oliver Jeffers
• Freya Blackwood  
• Alice Melvin
• Alison Lester
• M Sasek
• Jon Klassen
• David Roberts

Here a some other delightful ideas for advent:

• Envelope Delights
• Modern Branch DIY Advent Calendar
• Mini Tree Advent Calendar (with number tags used above)
• Paper Bag Calendar
• DIY Advent Bags