Starting your own Christmas and holiday traditions are so much fun when you become a parent yourself. Of course you love them growing up – I had an amazing childhood with so many memories and traditions from this time of year (which probably fueled my love for this season). But there is a whole new type of excitement when you are the one creating the magic for your littles.
As a person who loves to read and is in love with children’s lit, I had to pull together this tradition as soon as I saw the idea on Pinterest. Willow is also a book lover (YAY) and I am hoping Fiona will follow suit.
The idea is to gather 25 books – I chose a mix of seasonal/winter and Christmas-themed – wrap them, put them under the tree, and open/read one every night until Christmas. It’s the perfect countdown.
Now I know that books can be expensive and no one wants to dish out an extra $100+ around this time of year, but you don’t have to. I wrapped books that we were gifted over the years and filled in the gaps with thrifted ones. I went to Savers, which are $1.29 per book with the 5th one free in my area. SCORE. I also grabbed some at a kids consignment event (which were anywhere between $0.50 – $2.50) and Once Upon a Child consignment (which were buy 1 get 2 free). I already had about 14 wintery/holiday books that were gifted/already in our library and the last bit only cost me a little over $10. Not a bad investment for 11 books. And let me just say… it is the BEST feeling when you are scouring the shelves at a thrift shop and find a book that is on your Amazon wish list for over $10 and it is literally a dollar or two. WHAT A FEELING.
And if you don’t feel like spending anything to do this, you can visit your local library and just check out your favorites! Just make sure you can have them for as long as you need and don’t forget to return, of course.
Willow is only 2 so she may not get it right away, but I plan on doing this every year (using the same books and possibly a few new sprinkled in as I thrift during the year). It’s my hope that it will grow into something that both girls look forward to. And I definitely wanted to do something a little special for Willow this year with all the changes we’ve had with our new arrival. Something that we can both look forward to together and spend extra time snuggling up.
So anyways, maybe you have seen this on Pinterest before or maybe you already do this, or maybeeeee it is entirely new to you. But I thought it would be fun to share our plan to do it and show you the books that are wrapped up this year. You can grab them on Amazon if you are impatient or you can try your hand at thrifting and seeing what treasures you can find yourself! Either way, I hope this inspires your list. xx bianca
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- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- The Snowy Day
- Llama Llama Holiday Drama
- All You Need for a Snowman
- Gingerbread Mouse
- Babies Love Christmas (Lift-a-Flap)
- The First Christmas (Lift-a-Flap)
- The Snowman
- The Night Before Christmas (Board Book)
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (based on TV special)
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- Llama Llama Jingle Bells
- Snowflakes Fall
- The Night Before Christmas (Vintage Disney)
- Clifford’s Christmas
- Corduroy’s Christmas Surprise
- Funny Faces Santa Claus
- Peppa’s Christmas Wish
- The Snow Must Go On
- If You Take a Mouse to the Movies
- Pick a Pine Tree
- Over and Under the Snow
- Little Blue Truck’s Christmas
- Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
