Christmas Book Advent Calendar

One of our favorite traditions is a Christmas Book Advent Calendar. It’s simple, fun, affordable and purposeful. What’s not to love?!

This is a fun tradition as children get to tear open the wrapping paper every day leading up to Christmas. They get to release some of the anticipation around gift-receiving. It also provides some fun, cozy time as a family each day.

This tradition is also affordable: you can just start with a few books and build your family Christmas book library each year. You can grab cheap wrapping paper and tape for $1 at the Dollar Store.

Last, this tradition is purposeful: you’re building your child’s literacy skills and love of reading while It’s also purposeful as it combines quality time with literacy-building skills.

Check out how to create a Christmas Book Advent Calendar, grab some free printable tags, and check out my family’s favorite Christmas books.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links; read more here.

Note: Amazon has a Buy 2, Get 1 Free Promotion right now that includes many of these favorite books! Scroll to the bottom of the post to see how to sort for Christmas children’s books.

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The idea is pretty simple:

Get some Christmas or winter holiday books.
Wrap them.
Label them with the date in December.
Open one and read each day leading up to Christmas.

Step 1: Get Some Christmas Books

Here’s some quick ideas for where to get some Christmas books.

look around for books you already have
visit a thrift store
use the library’s Christmas books (bonus – clutter-free, drawback – stock is possibly low leading up to Christmas)
order online – Amazon has a Buy 2, Get 1 Free Promotion right now!

Ten Children’s Books that Build Emotional Intelligence

More Favorite Children’s Christmas Books

Christmas Board Books

Religious Christmas Books

Some great religious Christmas board books for babies and toddlers (and enthusiastic preschoolers):

Step 2: Wrap the Christmas Books

Once you’ve gathered a collection of books, grab some cheap wrapping paper and scotch tape. Print out the free printable labels for the days of December 1 – December 24.

Step 3: Label the Books with the days of December

Cut out the dates and affix each one to a book for your Christmas Book Advent Calendar.

You don’t need to do 24 books. You plan to start on December 17? Cut off and recycle the rest of the dates.

Step 4: Read one book a day!

This is the best part. Let your children rip open the wrapping paper and discover a new (or old favorite) book. This can be a cozy first thing in the morning routine, or it can be your child’s bedtime story for the month of December.

Amazon’s Buy 2, Get 1 Free Deal

This sale isn’t super intuitive. Here’s what you do:

Go to the main sale page. It’s easier to do this on your computer than phone.
Select Department > Books.
From Books select > Children’s books.
Type Christmas in the search bar.