Grab Your Free Family + Couple Advent Calendar (New Year’s bonus activities included!)

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Looking for a simple, budget-friendly Christ-oriented Advent calendar for your young family AND your marriage? Scoop up this free Family + Couple Advent Calendar to enjoy the time leading up to Christmas (and help prep for the holidays!).

Because Advent doesn’t have to be stressful, expensive or exhausting.

Before having our son, I’d always thought that Advent was really… complicated.

I assumed to do it “right” it had to include reading the gospels cover-to-cover, all kinds of cutesy hands-on activities, and making glamorous, Pinterest-perfect decorations and foods. I could just imagine my bank account, calendar, and energy getting emptied out by the time Christmas actually happened.

… which just made me tired, ready to watch a Hallmark movie, and postpone trying again for another year.

The thing is – Advent isn’t about #allthethings at. all.

It’s about remembering the One Person for the season.

If you want to use that time to be intentional and make some great memories along the way, go for it! You can go big or small with your activities. There’s no right or wrong answer.

Let’s hop into what you’ll find in this Family + Couple Advent Calendar – and what the heck those bonuses are!

(And if anyone hasn’t told you today – you can live intentionally with passion and purpose as God’s beloved.)

What is Advent about?

In a nutshell, Advent is about preparing your heart to celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas. It’s about remembering WHY we celebrate Christmas.

Family + Couple Advent Calendar: the priorities

We were rapidly approaching our son’s first Christmas and I realized that I wanted to give this Advent thing a try.

I wanted to be more intentional about focusing on Jesus during the season, prioritizing funtivities, and connecting with my husband. I didn’t want to keep postponing trying our own Advent activities for another year (and another and another…).

Quite frankly, I didn’t expect Little Man to remember much about his first few Christmases, so this was an excellent time to start. His expectations were ridiculously low. 😉

While researching Advent activity options, I wound up creating a blend of a bunch of ideas with my own – that you now get to enjoy!

When I whipped up this calendar, I wanted to prioritize:

• Scriptures to read with my young son… that he might actually listen to before running away (toddler life).
• Low-effort, safe activities I could do with a baby becoming a toddler who liked to cram random objects in his mouth.
• Low-stress and budget-friendly – because it’s silly to make life harder on yourself when you don’t have to.
• Mini-dates and ideas to do with my husband because he’s awesome and our marriage matters.
• Practical ways to incorporate holiday prep into the Advent rhythms (such as decorating for the holidays, creating Christmas cards for family, getting real about our priorities for the holiday season, creating a family photo book, etc.).
• Easy to read and print – I’m a total ink cheapskate, #notapologizing.

What you’ll find in this Advent Calendar

This Advent Calendar features simple, budget-friendly activities that include Bible verses, safe activities for small children, and mini-dates for you and your spouse.

Most of these activities are user-friendly for those who want low-key activities to do during the holiday season.

More importantly, the purpose of these activities is to point us back to Christ.

What’s featured for each day of the Advent calendar

I borrowed from several fantastic sources (resources named later in this post) to create a little kid + couple-oriented Advent calendar.

Each day has the following structure:

• Scripture
• Family Time
• Couple Time

For young children, it may be best to focus on 1-3 verses a day rather than reading a long section of Scripture.

I tried to choose family activities that weren’t choking hazards and friendly for were friendly for young kids who still like to nibble on random objects.

A few family activities include:

• Drinking hot chocolate or milk
• Making artwork for others
• Playing with Christmas decorations and gift wrap supplies
• Dancing to Christmas music

Finally, during this holiday season, it can be easy for times with our spouses to get buried in the chaos. For this reason, I included simple activities and conversation starters for you and your spouse to connect.

A few couple activities include:

• Grab a sweet treat and discuss our top priorities for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas.
• Name something I can make easier for you or how I can help lighten your load. Massages.
• Couples yoga or other favorite workout.
• Share our favorite holiday songs. Start a playlist!

Head’s Up: Advent Calendar’s Simple Format

If you’re looking for an image-rich advent calendar, this isn’t it.

If you’re looking for a simply formatted, low-ink usage option to print at home, this is for you.

(By the way, I’m not hating on the beautiful printable creators. They blow my mind! My printer is notoriously low on ink, and yours might be, too!.)

Grab your Free Family + Couple Advent Calendar here!

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Get your mind and calendar ready for the New Year

A new year can be so exciting. The time between Christmas and New Year’s can also go by incredibly fast.

It’s all too easy to realize you haven’t thought about the upcoming year until it’s already December 31.

With this in mind, I added some intentional activities for December 25-December 31.

As with the Advent portion, each day has the following items:

• Scripture
• Family Time
• Couple Time

A few of the New Year’s activities include:

• Watch family videos
• Start a photo book of your favorite memories
• Take a family photo
• Have a mock New Year’s party! (Early bedtimes are real.)
• Cast a vision for your family for the next year

Resources I used to create the free Advent calendar

There are countless Advent calendars out there, each with their own focus.

Here are some of the resources I referred to when building our calendar:

• Super Simple Advent with Toddlers (that won’t stress you out!)
• Bible Verse Advent Cards – FREE PRINTABLES!
• Countdown to Christmas: Marriage Style – a bunch of the fantastic couple activities are from her list. So good!

Articles related to Family + Couple Advent Calendar

• How to DIY Your Own Sexy, Fun Marriage Retreat at Home
• 4 Tips to Take a Spiritual Pause with God
• 5 Practical Ways to Actually Focus on Your Word of the Year
• How a Weekly Planning Routine Can Improve Your Life

What to do now that you know about the Family + Couple Advent Calendar

Hopefully, it’s pretty obvious – sign up to download your copy of the Family + Couple Advent Calendar!

Then you’ll want to check your inbox for the calendar and open up the PDF so you can get Advent-ing!

Regardless of what you decide to do, I encourage you to remember these key things:

• The reason for the season – Jesus! Use this time and the silly/sweet activities to grow closer and learn more about our Savior!
• Give yourself grace if things go awry. That’s okay. Do what works for you. Disregard and let go of the rest.

I hope this can be a joy-giving starting point for you to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s!

P.S. Want some crazy simple steps to start living intentionally? Grab the Embrace Your Potential Playbook. It’ll help you zoom in on your God-gifted personality and give you practical tips to be more intentional, passionate, and purposeful as God’s beloved so you can become the best version of yourself.