Games + Activities

Well, well, well, it’s that time of year again. Social media is starting to ping with festive posts and this weekend sees 1st December swing around. In this house that means the return of Laurie the Elf (Ewan named him when he was 3!) but if you don’t do the elf don’t worry, you can still easily join in with this advent five minute fun if you fancy!

Right here is last year’s blog post explaining how it’s done, or if you prefer, below is a video of me in an elf hat explaining it all!

However this year I have some variations. I had quite a few messages asking if I was doing the five minute advent again and a few even asked if it would be a same message. So I got to thinking of some other ways we could do it:

The original message was F A T H E R C H R I S T M A S I S C O M I N G [TONIGHT] but here are some alternative messages you might want to create. They all just have 24 letters OR 24 words, so you could easily think up your own personal one. If you think up a good one please share it with me!

1. S A N T A C L A U S I S C O M I N G T O T O W N
2. F A T H E R C H R I S T M A S S E N D S L O V E
3. H A V E Y O U B E E N N A U G H T Y O R N I C E?
4. T I M E T O G O A N D H E L P S A N T A P A C K
5. F A T H E R C H R I S T M A S S A Y S H E L L O
6. J I N G L E B E L L S B A T M A N S M E L L S…[WHAT’S NEXT?]
7. I L O V E C O M I N G T O S T A Y W I T H Y O U
8. S A N T A C L A U S I S G E T T I N G R E A D Y
9. THE BEST WAY TO SPREAD CHRISTMAS CHEER IS SINGING LOUD FOR ALL TO HEAR . WHICH CHRISTMAS MOVIE IS THIS FROM? SHALL WE WATCH IT?
10. THANKS FOR HAVING ME BUT IT IS TIME FOR ME TO HOP ON THE POLAR EXPRESS BACK TO MY FAMILY IN THE NORTH POLE

You can add one in for the grown ups if you like… LET’S GET MERRY ON THE SHERRY!

If you like you could do each word a different colour or red and green alternately so that the kids have to unscramble the word anagram once the colour changes. Or do the whole thing as one BIG anagram that you help them solve on Christmas Eve.

It really entirely up to you depending on the ages of your little ones and how arsed you can be! A single letter each day is plenty to build excitement, trust me.

I think I might do two messages this year. The elf will bring green words for Ewan for his message and red letters for Florence. Ewan’s message will be the one about the Polar Express and I will wrap up that movie (which we already have, along with two of the bells someone gave us a few years ago!) for the elf to deliver on Christmas Eve. Florence’s will be the original ‘Father Christmas is coming’ tonight message to help her recognise some initial letters and their sounds.

If you join in I love to see so tag #fiveminuteelf or #fiveminuteadvent and if you have no interest (and yet have still read this entire blog post!) then please don’t worry. All this stuff is ADDITIONAL. It isn’t what makes Christmas special. People, time together and little traditions you make for yourselves are what brings the magic. So never ever put pressure on yourselves to do anything you don’t want to. I only do this because I love it. We skipped Fireworks night because it just seemed like way too much effort - not everything is necessary!

And if the “elf” forgets a letter? Well, it’s a good chance to explain that not everyone can remember everything all the time. The elf fell asleep and forgot. Tomorrow night he will bring two! Can your kids think of a time when they forgot something? And boom, the elf has taught them a lesson in understanding and empathy! 😉

Happy Advent all. Let the magic commence…