Works for me Wednesday---Alternative to the chocolate filled Advent Calendar

A few years ago I made the mistake of buying one of those Advent calendars that has a piece of chocolate under each door. The chocolate was the same nasty stuff they make hollow Easter bunnies out of & really not worth the $10 I paid for that calendar, but the kids LOVED it. Last year, mean Mom that I am, we didn't have any Advent calendar. The kids complained for months afterward. One of the first Christmas related things my 8 yr old asked me this year was if we could get the calendar with the chocolate. Instead of paying way too much for yucky chocolate I came up with an alternative plan.

Our church had free Advent calendars on a table the first Sunday of Advent & I picked up 5. On the back they have a Bible verse, under each door they have a complimentary verse. 10 yr old, 8 yr old, 3 yr old & 1 yr old each have their own calendar....the 5th one is a spare for when the 3 yr old or the 1 yr old destroys theirs (I know it will eventually happen). Each night the 10 yr old reads the verse on the back for that day, they all open the appropriate door & 8 yr old reads the corresponding verse under the door. Then we count how many more unopened doors we have & finally they each get to pick a candy from the special present bag (recycled Christmas gift bag from last year). I bought a Hersey chocolate assortment & a Wonka assortment...spent about $6 for all the candy. Hubby asked if it was left over Halloween candy.....he knows me too well. Unfortunately I threw that all out before I hatched this ingenious plan.

The key here is that my kids are very HAPPY with this year's plan, they are enjoying the Bible verses & we have no fighting over yucky chocolate. Works for ME!!!

Be sure to check out Works for Me Wednesday over at Rocksinmydryer.