sixth of december

Today is a very exciting day in our house. It’s Saint Nicholas Day ~ and we get to celebrate Christmas early with a little gift that he brings this morning. It’s a tradition celebrated in some cultures, and just like we did when we were growing up, we are enjoying seeing our little girl jumping with joy over the toy that St. Nick will leave under her pillow…. So as the excitement continues in our house, let me jump into a different topic – my late posting of our cute advent calendar.

Honestly I wanted to do something really crafty as I see so many wonderful ideas out there to mark the countdown to Christmas, but realistically I knew it just wasn’t going to happen. I did start a cute alternative to having 24 gifts but I didn’t think this was blog worthy ~ until I saw the real excitement of this through my little 4 year old’s eyes. So maybe it’s not the craftiest project, but it sure is a hit and of course I have to share just in case someone out there has a little kid and still wants to jump on the advent-calendar-bandwagon.

What I used was 1 box and 1 bow and 24 Little Pet Shop and Bratz toys and accessories ~ if you have a youngster in your family, you know this is really HOT stuff! ;) This is of course geared for girls, but any little toys such as Hotwheels would be great for boys around this age.

By the way, do you know the little tip for tying the prefect bow?

To tie the perfect bow, all you need to do is simply arrange the gift you’re going to wrap away from you ~ so you’re seeing it’s back ~ and tie the ribbon upside down. It seems unnatural to tie a bow upside down ~ but this is really as simple as that. You get a perfect bow every time and there’s really no tricks ~ you tie it as you would your shoe strings ~ and then turn around to face you and fix a bit to even the sides and trim the ends.

Now back to my little girl with her presents…. So this is what happens: I put one toy in the box and wrap with ribbon and hide it somewhere in the house. Then upon my daughter’s return from kindergarten we play the Hot and Cold game! This is an insanely fun game and an exciting way to find her gift.

The next day, I re-use the box and ribbon ~ see, told you this was easy ;) and repeat! My daughter kind of thinks there’s wrapped up gifts all over the house from day one – ahhh to see the wonder through the child’s eyes ;)

Here’s a happy Saint Nicholas Day to you ;) Who wouldn’t love an early Christmas present, right? My little girl is getting a Yoda, Star Wars toy ~ don’t ask! lol (cause I can’t even explain that one ;)

By the way, Santa just sent a message for Miss G ~ take a look at this video here. She was in such excitement over this! If you have not heard of Portable North Pole yet – you must set this up for the kids in your family. It is so much fun ;)

ps. I have a lot of things lined up for you this week ~ be sure to visit often for special posts including a giveaway ;) xo