Counting down to the big day can be fun if you use your imagination and some of these great finds!

Holiday movies are a great way to spend an evening with the kids.  Pull out your favourite DVDs from past years and consider adding a few to the mix.  Among some of the family friendly movies out this season are Scholastic Storybook Treasures: The Night Before Christmas (NewVideo) , Shrek the Halls (DreamWorks) and the Berenstain Bears Christmas Tree (Sony Wonder).

There is no shortage of sweet countdown calendars out there.  Consider adding a new style of countdown this year.  Last month we featured an easy scrapbook countdown project.  The little drawers let you tuck just about anything into them, we suggested slips of paper with family favourite holiday books, one or two each day!

Another great chocolate-free countdown idea comes from Stampin’ Up! This year’s holiday lineup includes a beautiful Christmas Countdown Vinyl Rub-on in their Décor Elements.  Adhere it to a glass window or picture frame and use it every year.  The kit comes in different sizes and colours and is easy to use.  All you need is a stack of cardstock for your numbers and you are set.  Write a note on the back of each number with a surprise for the kids each day.  Why not includes some of these: Play a game, bake cookies, or go for a drive to see the lights.  Sneak a few little gifts in during your countdown to make it fun!  Stampin’ Up! also has a cute little stamp in the Spotlight On Christmas set that could easily be used to stamp small pieces of paper with the “days till Christmas” and then tuck into a child’s lunchbag for a fun countdown at school.

Still looking for ideas?   Why not pick up the annual Lego City Advent Calendar.  Each year, Lego comes up with a fun way to help kids enjoy the season while building with their favourite building blocks.

For the creative kid, Klutz has a great little kit called, Make Your Own Angel Ornaments that lets kids create miniture angels.  Great for a mini-tree!

And while you can’t count down with these extraordinary pencils, Smencils are perfect when writing a letter to Santa!  This unique line of scented pencils has a special set out for the holiday season (Sugar Plum, Ginger Bread, Sugar Cookie, Candy Cane and Cinnamon).  The pencils are made of recycled newspaper!

Posted on November 25th, 2008 by helen
Filed under: Christmas, Family Fun, Ideas, The Home