Faithful & Fun Advent Calendars

Growing up, we had four Advent calendars each year. Oma would get us a chocolate calendar and then we had The Muppets calendar that was their version of The Gift of The Magi (my dad does all the voices and it's the best!), a wooden nativity scene calendar, and a fabric calendar that was my mom's when she was girl (but with some new additions over the years). I am starting to buy Advent calendars for my "nieces and nephews" and it is actually kind of hard to find ones that are fun for little kids but still incorporate the true meaning of Christmas.

Advent card sets. These are probably for older kids, but I actually really like this idea. There are so many different kinds of card sets for Advent that you could get several and rotate through them. Plus, they are small and easy to store.

Ann Voskamp Advent calendar. Ann Voskamp combines beauty with truth and faithfulness. This is also a reusable calendar and it looks at Christmas from the perspective of the whole Bible leading up to the coming of Christ.

One-time use Advent calendars. While you could technically reuse these, they are not intended to be reused and this is the kind of thing I am currently planning to get for my nieces and nephews. There are so many choices of illustrations but they all include Scripture!

Lovepop Advent calendar. This is what I'll be getting them in a few years when the kids are a bit older and more of them can be involved in making the characters. It's a 3D nativity that you make part of each day. So it's really a craft and an Advent calendar! I think it is so cool! And while you can't make it every year, you could save it to be a Christmas decoration.

Let me be clear, I'm not against fun Advent calendars like Legos or candy, but I think that it is important to keep the meaning of Christmas forefront in our kids' minds and that is why I collected these examples of Advent calendars that build faith.

What Advent calendar(s) do you use?