Reading Confetti: Book Tree Advent

This is a combination of a wrapped book advent and book trees. It was actually a suggestion by a reader (Thanks, Val!) I wrapped 24 Christmas books (some borrowed from the library) and turned them into little Christmas trees. You could skip the wrapping part, but I think it adds to the fun.

Remember when you covered your textbooks in grocery bag paper? Yeah, me neither. So I did it like this to avoid getting tape on the actual book:

Add numbered stars stuck on with a little tape and you have a cute display and advent calendar in one.

I put these on top of the bookshelf in our front room, but they would look great on a mantel too, if you have room. I couldn't display all 24 at once, so the others are waiting under the Christmas tree for their turn.

Here's another version: an unwrapped book advent calendar:

http://www.readingconfetti.com/2013/11/unwrapped-book-advent-calendar.html

Some of our favorite Christmas books:

Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood
The Little Crooked Christmas Tree by Michael Cutting
Christmas Tree Farm by Ann Purmell
Where, Oh Where, Is Santa Claus? by Lisa Wheeler
A Christmas Tree for Pyn by Olivier Dunrea
The First Christmas by Allia Zobel-Nolan
The Very Snowy Christmas by Diana Hendry
Olive, the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh
Santa Duck by David Milgrim
The Twelve Days of Christmas by Hilary Knight
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry
Christmas Angels: Read and Share by Gwen Ellis
Rock-a-bye Christmas by Matt Novak
Not Enough Beds: A Christmas Alphabet Book by Lisa Bullard
One Shining Star: A Christmas Counting Book by Anne Vittur Kennedy
Christmas Mice! by Bethany Roberts
Where's Prancer? by Syd Hoff
Santa's Toy Shop by Al Dempster
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett
The Story of Christmas by Patricia A. Pingry
Reindeer Christmas by Mark Kimball Moulton
Christmas for the Snowmen by Wolfram Hanel
The Littlest Christmas Tree by R. A. Herman
Are You Grumpy, Santa? by Gregg and Evan Spiridellis
A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree by Colleen Monroe
Corduroy's Christmas Surprise by Don Freeman
Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini
The First Night by B.G. Hennessy

20 comments:

Renee C.November 26, 2012 at 6:52 PM
Love, love, love this idea. You've been pinned and tweeted about! I'm sooo doing this with my kids! :D
Deb ChitwoodNovember 27, 2012 at 9:37 AM
What an appealing idea for a Christmas countdown! I featured your post and photo in my 40+ Christmas Countdown Activities at http://livingmontessorinow.com/2012/11/27/40-plus-christmas-countdown-activities/
UnknownNovember 27, 2012 at 3:06 PM
This is such a cute idea. I am going to try this as an addition to our traditional advent calendar that we have each year.
AnonymousNovember 27, 2012 at 3:14 PM
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful idea! Thanks so much for sharing it with us. :)
AnonymousNovember 29, 2012 at 4:27 PM
Such a beautiful idea - I too am going to pin this. Thanks for sharing.
Tammy - housingaforest.comNovember 30, 2012 at 2:57 PM
I love this idea!
UnknownNovember 30, 2012 at 4:04 PM
I saw your link on Living Life Intentionally. I love the book idea. Thanks for sharing your book list too.

Bridget @ Building Legos with Christ
TrinaNovember 30, 2012 at 9:23 PM
I love this idea!!! Thanks for sharing! I just put a few of these on hold at the library and counted how many Christmas books I own to be able to start this tomorrow! Thanks! :)
Trina @ Teaching My Blessings
RainbowsWithinReachDecember 1, 2012 at 4:18 PM
Seriously a clever idea! Finished effort is simply stunning. Thanks so much for linking it up over at PreK+K Sharing. I hope that some new eyes find your site as a result.

Debbie Clement
Melissa TaylorDecember 2, 2012 at 10:43 PM
love this idea! What do you do if the kids want a favorite book that you've saved for a later date?
momandkiddoDecember 3, 2012 at 8:37 AM
This is a clever idea. I've never had a book-a-day for advent because I have much too hard a time waiting for each book! Thanks for sharing at The Children's Bookshelf. I'm pinning this, too.
Elise EnghDecember 3, 2012 at 1:15 PM
Super awesome way to decorate and get some reading in too! I love it!
The Picture Book ReviewDecember 3, 2012 at 4:11 PM
This is brilliant! I'm going to have to do this for my son. Thank you for sharing this! I'm so impressed!
Michelle JohnnieDecember 3, 2012 at 5:50 PM
This is such a great idea! I am doing this with my kids!!!! We love to read. I am featuring this at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com
Trisha @ Inspiration LaboratoriesDecember 3, 2012 at 8:52 PM
Love this book display!
KeithaDecember 7, 2012 at 6:23 AM
This is such a cute idea. We wrapped all of our Christmas books last year and my son loved it.
Natalie PlanetSmartyDecember 9, 2012 at 5:01 PM
Really cute idea. I did Christmas book advent last year (with a switch to Hanukkah books in between), but without wrapping. I kind of don't like to waste paper even though it looks super cute!
Savannah McQueenDecember 10, 2012 at 4:46 PM
This is a really great idea. I wish I had been following your blog before advent started. I am stopping by from Twiddle Twaddle. I really hope you'll consider adding this to my monthly link up - Look What We Did. -Savannah http://lookwhatwedid-homeschool.blogspot.com
CraftyMummyDecember 19, 2012 at 3:57 PM
Great idea for the wrapping! I've been giving my kids books this year too but this looks much better than my wrapping!
Sun Hats & Wellie BootsNovember 16, 2013 at 5:35 PM
Love this idea! Just a perfect way to countdown to Christmas ♥

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!