25 Ways to Count Down to Christmas

Now that Thanksgiving is over, many of us are turning our attention to preparing for the holidays!  Advent calendars and other types of countdowns can be a fun way for kids and adults alike to note the passing of the season, as well as provide a special element of holiday decor.

Some countdowns are just  that - a way to keep track of how many days there are left before Christmas:

1. DIY Wood Clock Christmas Advent Calendar ~ Thrifty & Chic

2. Easy DIY Countdown to Christmas Printable Dry Erase Frame ~ Everyday Savvy

3. Santa's Coming to Georgia ~ Artsy VaVa

4. DIY Christmas Countdown Tutorial ~ Heather Hess

5. DIY Christmas Countdown Chalkboard Ornament ~ The Idea Room

6. DIY Rustic Christmas Countdown Sign ~ Making It in the Mountains

Many countdowns make use of pockets, pouches, boxes or other containers to conceal a special treat, tiny gift, or ornament for each day of the month. Most of these DIYs can easily be used year after year as part of a special tradition, and the treats can grow with the family's interests.

7. Boho Advent Calendar ~ My French Twist

8. DIY Printable Watercolor Advent Calendar ~ Hellobee

9. Easy No-Sew Burlap Advent Calender ~ Finding Home Farms

10. Muffin Pan Advent Calendar ~ Wesens-Art

11, Tin Can Upcycled Advent Calendar ~ Pillar Box Blue

12. Christmas Countdown Tree ~ Life, Love & Thyme

13. Sunday Funday Christmas Advent! ~ BoBunny

14. Midnight Christmas Village DIY Advent Calendar ~ Skip To My Lou

A great alterative to treats and gifts are to use your Christmas countdown to create memories!  Each day, you can draw slips of paper that could be anything from suggestions for holiday fun such as baking cookies or taking a drive to view holiday lights, to passages from the Christmas story, to acts of kindness or even riddles and jokes.  Here are a few ways to create a Christmas Activity Countdown:

15. DIY Advent Calendar ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

16. Beautiful Advent Calendar Made With Paint Chips ~ Crafts a la Mode

17. Holiday Advent Calendar + Printable ~ The Lucky Pear

18. Christmas Kindness Advent Calendar ~ Love Inspired Details

19. Farmhouse Plaid Christmas Advent Calendar ~ Houseful of Handmade

20. Random Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar ~ Coffee Cups & Crayons

21, Free Printable Scratch Off Advent Calendar ~ Studio DIY!

Finally, there are Christmas countdowns that are geared to the interests of the recipients - here are a few for inspiration - there is everything from a nightly bedtime story or an Advent busy book for the youngest members of the family, to an advent calendar full of tea or even beer!

22. Make a Tea Advent Calendar ~ Craft & Creativity

23. Travel Advent Calendar Sew-Along ~ Creating My Way to Success

24. Free Printable Advent Calendar or Christmas Countdown Tags ~ Simple As That

25. Beer Advent Calendar ~ Chasin' Mason

I hope this gives you a few ideas, should you want to count down to the holiday!  And I'd love to hear if you have any other ideas - what treats or activities would you include in yours?

Awesome Life Friday #89

Welcome to Awesome Life Friday!  Happy Thanksgiving to our US readers - I hope this holiday weekend is full of good family, good friends, good food and good cheer!

We're so looking forward to seeing what you've been cooking, creating, growing, decorating, reviewing, giving away, and thinking about this week!

While you're here, leave your posts at the other link up we co-host here - Party in Your PJs!  It starts on Tuesday evenings, and runs through Sunday.  I hope you'll join us there as well!

Here's what some of us have been up to here:

Review: Board Game Bento (Game Plan Theme)
Review/Giveaway: Fairhaven Health Milkies Breastfeeding Package
Gluten-Free Apple Pomegranate Crisp

We hope you'll check them out if you haven't already!  Don't forget to peek at the sidebar and check out what other giveaways we currently have going.

  

~~~

And now our favorite part - the FEATURES !  This week we are all about the pumpkins! If you're one of our featured posts, we'd love it if you'd grab a button, and thanks to all of you who shared with us last week!

Santa Hat Cake Pops // A Bountiful Love

Make Your Own Winter Preparedness Kit You Can Count On! // Quirky Inspired

Normandy with Kids // Royal Little Lambs

Patchwork Gift Bag From Fabric Scraps // Creating My Way to Success

Christmas Memory Quilt // Gluesticks

Magnificent Cranberry Coconut Macaroons // Silver Foodie

If you are one of our FEATURED bloggers, this button is for you!

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Thank you all so much for sharing your awesomeness!

Are you all ready to party?  If you like, we'd love it you'd help spread the word by grabbing our button:

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Here we go!

An InLinkz Link-up

Party in Your PJs! #133

Welcome to Party in Your PJs!

Happy Tuesday!  Happy Thanksgiving week!

Welcome to the Party in Your PJs Link Party, where your posts will be seen on four different blogs each week.   In addition to Kim from The Cookie Puzzle, you'll also find Party in Your PJs every Tuesday evening at Grandma Ideas, Wood of Bell Trees and... here!

You'll also find the Awesome Life Friday link-up here at RCHReviews, every Thursday evening at 8pm ET so we hope to see you there as well.

Are you ready to party? I can't wait to see what you've brought to share!

Kim ~ The Cookie Puzzle | Facebook | Pinterest 
Nina ~ Grandma Ideas | Pinterest | Twitter
Lynda ~ Reviews, Chews & How-Tos | Facebook | Pinterest
Heather ~ Woods of Bell Trees | Facebook | Instagram

 Meet the Co-Hosts

Kim @ The Cookie Puzzle 

Kim is a small town girl who love simple things. Simple cookies, simple crafts and simple people. She is a wife, mother to one son and two adorable fur babies. Slightly addicted to reality TV and sitcoms, but she loves curling up with a good book or a good walk while listening to podcasts. You can find her at The Cookie Puzzle, where she shares her love for cookies and crafting. 

Nina @ Grandma Ideas 

How is this: Nina is wildly in love with her grandchildren. She delights in doing activities with them that strengthen their relationship –- playing games, doing crafts, snuggling, reading stories to them, and cooking together. She enjoys reading, technology, and traveling. (Tahiti is her most favorite place on earth!)

Lynda @ Reviews, Chews & How-Tos 

Lynda lives outside DC with her husband Michael and elderly beagle, Sadie. She and her daughter Jackie started RCHReviews as a way to spend time together in spite of living across country, and along the way they've added several friends as regular contributors. Between them all, they bring together many different perspectives and lifestyles with one common philosophy - try new things, have fun, and remember you are awesome!

 Heather @ Wood of Bell Trees

Heather is a wife of a peanut butter fanatic and mom of one silly human and one furry canine, wrangling life on 2nd shift and glitterizing everything as she goes!

Follow The Cookie Puzzle's board Party in Your PJs Link Party on Pinterest.

The rules for the group board include:

1. Limit of one pin a day.

2. Just like the party anything goes, but clear wonderful pictures with great descriptions are most successful.

3. Please no Spam ( Spammers will be deleted without warning)
4.  If you pin to the Pinterest Board, please link to the Party in Your PJs Party also, the party runs from 7 pm Tuesdays-Midnight Saturday (Central Time)

5.  Finally have fun and share this group board  with blog friends and followers!  The more success the group board is the more success you will see from your pins.

Want to be added to the group board?  Follow our Party in Your PJs board and email Kim at thecookiepuzzle@gmail.com

Features from Last Weeks Party!

7 Awesome Tips For Surviving Travel With Extended Family ~ Aging Lik a Fine Wine

Cider Donut Muffins ~ The Apple Street Cottage

Butternut Squash Soup - Perfect Sandwich Complement ~ Living On Cloud Nine

Setting Up a Realistic Christmas Village ~ My French Twist

 Make sure you head over to the other member of Party in Your PJs

 to see their features - we each pick our own!

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All links are pinned to a Party Board...you can follow the board on Pinterest...feel free to follow the board, there is lots of inspiration to be found there.

Ok...let's party!

Rules -Link to post, not your home page
-Link to something YOU made, wrote or thought
-No Etsy or Business Pages
-Link Parties, Roundups and Giveaways welcome
- Don't Link and Run! Please visit other links, make friends, learn something new, leave a comment, we all love comments
-If you were featured, grab a"Featured" button, found below.
-Consider adding our Party button to your Party Page or Post.

An InLinkz Link-up