Easy Advent Resources for Busy Moms

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Is anyone else exhausted? Between Halloween, All Saint’s Day, my 38th birthday (November 3) and Election Day, I’m beat!

Now Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which means that Advent is quickly approaching. I know it’s hard for busy working moms to come up with easy but meaningful Advent activities to do with their kids, so I’ve compiled a few ideas I’ve found while tooling around the internet. I hope they’re helpful!

Reminder: if you haven’t yet ordered your Advent candles for your Advent wreath, you might want to do that ASAP so you’re prepared well in advance of the first Sunday of Advent (December 2 this year)! You can find votive candles here and taper candles here. If you do end up procrastinating too long, though, white candles with purple and pink ribbons tied around them work just as well (or, in a pinch, white candles colored with purple and pink marker).

I got crafty a few years ago and bought this candleholder as well as pink and purple paint from Hobby Lobby that would work on glass (I believe it was this brand). I painted three of the glass holders purple, one pink, and left the center one clear. This way, I can buy cheap white votive candles from the dollar store each year instead of trying to remember to order colored candles. All of my Advent wreaths have used votive candles, not tapers, and I’ve found it’s hard to find votive Advent candles locally, especially if you don’t have a nearby Catholic bookstore.

However, if anyone has the yen to buy me a new Advent wreath that uses tapers, I’ve always loved this one.

If you need a copy of prayers to say each Sunday when you light the Advent candles, there’s a great printable PDF here.

At any rate, here’s a list of easy yet meaningful Advent activities for Catholic families:

1. Holy Heroes features a Lego Advent Wreath, and it’s so cute and clever! I think this would be a lot of fun to build together as a family each week. It’s also affordable at only $14.99.
2. I love this Printable Advent Chain 2018 at The Catholic Toolbox. You print out one page on purple paper, one page on pink paper, and one page on white paper. If you put your Christmas tree up early but don’t decorate it until just before Christmas, you could put this chain on it (maybe along with Jesse tree ornaments; see below). Each link in the chain has a suggested (and easy!) activity for kids to do that day as they count down to Christmas. It’s a nice alternative to the so-called “Advent Calendars” that really are glorified December calendars.
3. I’ve never been ambitious enough to try the tradition of the Jesse Tree, but if you want to give it a go, here are some printable ornaments. You could get an inexpensive tabletop tree to put them on, or even cut a tree shape out of dollar store wrapping paper and tape it to the wall. Whatever works!
4. Speaking of the Jesse Tree, I don’t own it myself, but this looks like a lovely book: Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas by Ann Voskamp.
5. LifeTeen offers an Advent playlist  as an alternative to the Christmas music that’s constantly playing before Christmas actually starts, and Haley at Carrots for Michaelmas has suggestions too. These songs would be fun to listen to in the car in the days leading up to Christmas.

Do you have any suggestions for easy Advent activities? Share in the comments!