Heralding in a Delicious Christmas with Chocolate Advent Calenders {Guest Post}

With the holiday season drawing near, this guest post on chocolate and advent calendars sounds like a fun (and delicious) way to count down the days!

For many children, Christmas is the favorite holiday of the year. Children across the globe look forward to Christmas trees, sledding in the snow, and a variety of anticipated Christmas gifts. For children and young-at-heart adults, a chocolate advent calender can be a great way to keep track of the approaching holiday season.

A chocolate advent calender usually starts on December 1st, and goes through Christmas day. Every day, children get to open a new flap on the calendar, and find a delicious chocolate underneath.

While chocolate advent calenders are a recent invention, many cultures and traditions have counted down the days until the holiday season. Advent calenders first started with German Lutherans in the 19th century, who would physically mark down the number of days until the 24th, often using a piece of chalk or other simple marker. Other cultures expanded on the advent calender, with small gifts for children to open each day until the 24th. Many advent calendar gifts are based on ideas from Hannukah, a Jewish holiday.

For creatively-minded people, it’s possible to make your own chocolate advent calender . Begin by taking a large sheet of construction paper, and cut 24 window flaps. Glue a second sheet of construction paper as backing to the first. You can draw a different theme in each window flap, and create a general holiday-themed drawing on the main outside sheet. Place a flat piece of chocolate in each window flap and tape the opening shut.

There are many variations on the advent calender for a creatively-minded person. If you have a holiday theme, you can create a different chocolate treat for each day of the month. A larger advent display can incorporate items such as small gifts.

For busy people, many companies and retailers offer pre-made chocolate calenders, in a variety of themes and gift types. Many advent calenders are available in a sugar free version for diabetics. Some advent calenders come with other food items, such as candied nuts or other sweets.

(This is a sponsored post.)