Growing up, our family had one of the 1987 Avon Christmas countdown calendars with the mouse that moved from one day to the next. Although it is not a true Advent calendar since it simply counts from 1 to 24, the practice of creating expectations by marking the days leading up to the coming of Christ is etched in my memory (as is the spirit of competition with my siblings to be the one to wake up and move the mouse first, complete with the jubilant song “I Moved the Mouse” which is squarely outside the spirit of Advent).
Advent calendars and other similar traditions can be helpful tools for faith formation at home. Here are a number of options, some of which are free and others that require purchase or donations.
1. Lego Advent
The Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas collaborated with the First Baptist Church of Beebe, Arkansas, to develop a set of free printable prayers to accompany the Lego City 2025 Advent Calendar. Prayers for each day of the calendar from December 1 to 24 relate to brick buildings and uplift diverse members of our broader communities, such as musicians, farmers, grocers, and firefighters. You can follow the link to access the Lego Advent Calendar 2025 prayers.
2. Word of Advent
Word of Advent is a global Advent calendar offering images and meditations for reflection each day of Advent. You can sign up to receive a daily email on the AdventWord homepage linked above, and you can download the official #AdventWord graphics and find additional resources at the link above. AdventWord Resource Page. AdventWord is great for focusing on specific terms from the lectionary readings.
3. Pray in color
“Pray in Color” creator Sybil MacBeth offers free printable Advent calendars for “doodling” prayers, as she describes, each day of Advent. She also provides advice on how to introduce “Praying in Color” as a practice. You can access it Advent Models 2024 on the Pray in Color website.
4. Path of Love Calendar
The Episcopal Church has compiled a list of 24 prompts based on the Way of Love that you can use to create your own Advent calendar. Prompts can be helpful in sparking thought and conversation among older children, teens, and adults. They also complement the free Advent program “Traveling the Path of Love”. You can find the program and calendar prompts in English, Spanish and French at this link: “Advent Program Traveling the Path of Love.”
5. Advent Calendar Cards
THE SALT Advent Calendar offers printable cards with illustrations for each day of the season. The cards include activities to do during the week and scriptures and meditations to read on Sunday. You can put the cards in numbered envelopes, as SALT suggests, hang them up, or use them in another way. We love their beauty. Downloading for personal use costs $10 and offers very reasonable increased costs for larger scale use. They have a handful of other Advent and Christmas resources, including a Mason Jar Advent Calendar and a “Less Is More” Christmas poster and devotional on their Digital/Printable Resources Page.
6. Advent Cards Rituals and Prayers
Families celebrate Advent and Christmas contains cards for each day of Advent and Christmas with illustrations, short reflections, practices and prayers. They are ideal for families who want to incorporate rituals or activities into their daily lives during these seasons. The card pack costs $10.99 and is published by Augsburg Fortress. You can also download a free promotional pack from their website with ideas for using the cards in your church and several coloring pages.
7. A sanctified artistic Advent calendar
A Sanctified Art has released its resources for Advent 2025, and the collection includes two Printable Advent Calendars: one designed for children and their families and another designed for young people and adults. Their theme for 2025 is “What are you afraid of?” : Emphasize hope in this Advent.” The calendar for children and their families is a coloring and craft project that turns into a paper lantern, and the calendar for youth and adults offers breathing prayers for each day. Both calendars are sold together. Copies for personal use may be purchased for $5 each, and copies for church use may be purchased at varying rates depending on quantity, starting at $20 for up to 25 copies.
8. Illustrated Advent Calendar
The Illustrated Ministry has developed “An illustrated Advent calendar“in digital printable form for family or church use. As of the publication of this article, three different editions of the calendar are currently available at the link above: a version with geometric shapes, one with shepherds and stars, and a version with strands of Christmas lights. A new calendar, “Advent Calendar The Will to Dream“, has also been released for 2025 in conjunction with additional “The Will to Dream” training resources for children, youth, families and congregations. Each edition of the calendar begins on December 1 and ends at Christmas and involves coloring and other activities. Pricing is on a sliding scale for Shepherds and Stars and “The Will to Dream” editions ($2.99 for household, $9.99 – $15.99 per church size) and a flat rate of $11.99 for light highlights and geometric editions.
9. StoryMakers NYC Advent Calendar
StoryMakers NYC offers an Advent calendar with drawing, coloring, and journaling activities. The calendar consists of 25 prompts and each day has a scripture to read as well as an activity page. Stickers are also provided with the calendar. It is available for purchase for $20. You can find out more at this link: StoryMakers NYC Advent Calendar.
10. Outdoor Advent Calendar
While this list of calendars is designed to focus on faith-related resources, one calendar that is not explicitly Christian is worth mentioning. 1000 Hours Outside, a practice started by Ginny Yurich to promote outdoor time for children and families, created a “Outdoor Advent Calendar” for 2023. It includes 29 activities to do outside, and two different versions are available: one suitable for warm climates and another for cold areas. As the calendar is undated, it can be used in any Advent season. It can be a useful resource for integrating creation care into your Advent celebration.
What is your favorite Advent calendar? Do you know of a new one to add to our list? Tell us in the comments!
Editor’s Note: This article was first published on November 2, 2020. It was revised, updated, and republished for 2025 on October 29, 2025 with permission from the author.
The image shown is of Conger design on Pixabay
Katherine Malloy
The Rev. Katherine A. Malloy is Associate for Lifelong Learning and Director of Christian Formation Resources at Virginia Theological Seminary. She is a full connection deacon in the United Methodist Church with a secondary appointment at Floris UMC in Herndon. She is passionate about justice and preparing saints for ministry.
