Advent with kids
Advent with little ones is mostly waiting, and waiting is hard when you're seven. The saints of the season make the waiting an adventure.
Advent begins the fourth Sunday before Christmas. In 2026 that's Sunday, November 29. Four candles, four weeks, and more family feast days than any other stretch of the year.
You don't need to do all of it. Nobody does all of it. Pick one saint and one or two traditions, then do them every year until your kids would riot if you stopped. That's how traditions work.
Saints of Advent
December is crowded with friends. These two have full stories on the blog:
- St. Nicholas, December 6 The real Santa Claus, and why his story is better than the legend.
- Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12 Roses in December and an image no one has ever explained.
And here is the season itself, day by day, from Advent's doorway to the day after Christmas. Each feast has a page of its own, with the story, facts for kids, and a prayer short enough to say at breakfast:
- St. Andrew, November 30 The first apostle Jesus called. His feast is the doorway into Advent, and the traditional St. Andrew prayer is prayed from his day until Christmas Eve.
- St. Nicholas, December 6 The feast that opens December. Shoes go out the night of the 5th, and the season's first taste of secret generosity arrives by morning.
- St. Ambrose, December 7 The governor drafted as bishop by a child shouting his name. He taught St. Augustine and wrote hymns the Church still sings in Advent.
- The Immaculate Conception, December 8 A holy day for Mary in the middle of the busiest month. A good day for Mass, and hot chocolate after.
- St. Juan Diego, December 9 The humble man Our Lady chose on Tepeyac hill. His story and hers belong together, three days apart.
- Our Lady of Guadalupe, December 12 Mid-Advent, when the waiting feels longest, she arrives with roses. Mexico throws one of the biggest feasts on earth, and your family can borrow a little of it.
- St. Lucy, December 13 Her name means light, and her feast lands in the darkest week of the year. In Scandinavia the oldest daughter serves breakfast wearing a crown of candles.
- St. Stephen, December 26 The first martyr, remembered the day after Christmas. The season doesn't stop on the 25th, and his feast is the one Good King Wenceslas looked out on.
Traditions that stick
Every family we know has tried to do too much in December. These are the ones that survive real life. Two is plenty.
Shoes out on December 5
The night before St. Nicholas Day, shoes go by the door. By morning there's gold-wrapped chocolate in them. It takes five minutes, and your kids will still remember it at forty.
The Advent wreath at dinner
Light the candles before you eat. Let the kids take turns blowing them out, since they'll fight for the job anyway. One candle, one thing you're each waiting for.
Straw for the manger
Set out the nativity with an empty crib and a little pile of straw beside it. Every quiet act of kindness earns one piece of straw for the manger. By Christmas Eve, baby Jesus has a soft bed your little one built. He doesn't appear until Christmas morning. Kids check anyway. That's Advent, right there.
A Jesse tree, simplified
One ornament, one Bible story, one minute a night. Miss three nights? Catch up with three ornaments. Nobody is grading you.
St. Lucy breakfast, December 13
Cinnamon rolls by candlelight before school. Light in the dark week. That's the whole tradition.
The O Antiphons, December 17 to 23
If you sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel, you already know them. The Church prays one each evening in the last week of Advent. Sing the matching verse at dinner and you're doing what monks have done for over a thousand years.
Catholic Advent gifts for kids
If you're shopping for a Catholic kid this Advent, here is what we make, sorted by how big a gift you want it to be. Everything is hand-drawn and mailed from our kitchen table.
The subscription, for the whole season and after
A hand-drawn letter from a different saint every month, mailed to your kid with a prayer card, a sticker, and a mini zine. $9 a month, or gift six months for $45. December's letter lands mid-Advent, and January's shows up right when the tree comes down and the house goes quiet.
Gift a subscriptionA saint letter bundle, for a one-time gift
One past saint's full mailing, letter and prayer card and sticker and zine, for $11.99. Pick the saint your kid is named for, or the one from their class, or just the one with the best story. There are six to choose from, and the whole set of six zines is $19.99 if they'd rather read than wait.
See the bundlesCards and stickers, for the stocking or the shoe
Any three prayer cards for $8.99, or a pack of five saint stickers for $5.99. Small enough to fit in a shoe on St. Nicholas Eve, and a lot more interesting to a seven-year-old than the chocolate coins.
Shop cards and stickersAn Advent calendar alternative
The chocolate calendar is fine. Ours had one too. But if you want the countdown to leave something behind after the 25th, a letter from a saint does that. December's letter arrives in the mail during Advent, and it comes with a prayer card for the nightstand, a sticker for the water bottle, and a little zine to read at bedtime. Then in January another one shows up, and the habit of waiting for good mail keeps going long after the candles are put away.
If you'd rather build the countdown yourself, straw for the manger (above) is the best Advent calendar we know, and it costs a handful of straw.
Either way, there are free saint coloring pages to print while they wait, and the saint stories read aloud well by candlelight.
Advent questions, answered
When does Advent start?
Advent begins the fourth Sunday before Christmas and runs through Christmas Eve. In 2026 it begins Sunday, November 29.
Which saints have feast days during Advent?
St. Andrew (November 30), St. Nicholas (December 6), St. Ambrose (December 7), the Immaculate Conception (December 8), St. Juan Diego (December 9), Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12), and St. Lucy (December 13).
What is the shoe tradition on St. Nicholas Eve?
On the night of December 5, children leave their shoes by the door. By the morning of St. Nicholas Day they're filled with small treats, usually gold-wrapped chocolate coins, in memory of the gold St. Nicholas gave away in secret.
Will a gift subscription arrive in time for Christmas?
Letters mail after the 10th of each month, so December's saint letter lands during Advent. And since it's a subscription, there's no shipping deadline to miss: gift it any day and the first letter goes out with that month's mailing.
What are good Catholic Advent gifts for kids?
Something that lasts past the wrapping paper. A saint letter subscription mails a hand-drawn letter, prayer card, sticker, and mini zine every month, $9 a month or $45 for a six-month gift. For a smaller gift, a single saint letter bundle is $11.99, and a set of three prayer cards or a pack of stickers fits in a stocking.
What is a good Advent calendar alternative for kids?
A letter from a saint in the mail. December's Letters from Heaven letter arrives during Advent with a prayer card, a sticker, and a mini zine, so the waiting ends with something they keep. For a homemade version, the straw-for-the-manger tradition turns every kind act into a piece of straw for the empty crib, and baby Jesus arrives Christmas morning.
What are some Catholic Advent activities for kids?
Shoes out on St. Nicholas Eve (December 5), lighting the Advent wreath at dinner, straw for the manger, a simplified Jesse tree, a St. Lucy breakfast on December 13, and singing the O Antiphons from December 17 to 23. Pick two and keep them every year.
Want the saints to write to your little one all year, not just in Advent?
See the lettersChristmas gift? There's no shipping deadline. Or pick a one-time bundle in the shop.
There's a Lent guide too, for when winter turns to spring.