What is a Book Advent Calendar?

And how to make your own!

This holiday season, give the most present gift. A book-shaped gift.

Our favorite new holiday tradition is to create a Book Advent Calendar. It's a fun-filled, cozy, and bookish way to celebrate the festive season ahead. A book advent calendar is a set of 24 wrapped books (some folks prefer 12) to be opened each day during December.

Using ThriftBooks Deals is a great way to make this an affordable project. Read more about how to use ThriftBooks Deals here.

Step-by-step instructions for making your own Book Advent Calendar

1. Select your books: You can go with 24 books, one for each day. Or you could pare it down to 12, if that seems like too many books. (Is that even a thing?!) We're including some sample lists below, along with ideas for themes and tips for how to get the best deals from ThriftBooks.
2. Wrap your books: Each book should be wrapped with care and given numbered tag. Festoon your packages with ribbon, candy canes, or any other decorative touches you like.
3. Make a book advent calendar guide: Create a guide so that you can track which day is associated with each number and cross them off as you go. This could even be something you post on the wall to keep the fun ritual top of mind.
4. Create your display: There are all sorts of ideas for arranging your books for a visual wow-factor. Line them up on the mantle. Stack them under the tree. Arrange them in a decorative basket. Just make sure the numbers can be easily seen. Add some goodies or hot cocoa packets to enjoy along the way.
5. Unwrap a new story each day: Gather with loved ones to open each new package and enjoy reading a new story together. Take turns for who gets to rip open the package. Maybe this is a ritual that happens after dinner or at bedtime—whatever works best for you!

For kids

Tailor your books to what your audience likes. If you've got a little dancer, there are lots of great books for that. If your kiddo loves the outdoors, find nature-related themes. You could even stick to a single long-running series like The Berenstain Bears or The Baby-Sitters Club. The fun is in uncovering the book and reading it together.

With a wide selection of books available for only $2.99 each, our Kids' Book Fair is a great way to make your book advent calendar affordable. Here's how it works.

Look for the red tag to find qualifying books. Here's a sample list of 24 titles that are currently available! Our list is made up of picture books, but if you've got middle-grade readers, we've got plenty of options for that age range as well.

1. Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
2. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
3. The Peace Book by Todd Parr
4. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
5. The Bears Picnic by Stan and Jan Berenstain
6. Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
7. Olivia Forms a Band by Ian Falconer
8. The Gift of Nothing by Patrick McDonnell
9. Penny and Her Song by Keven Henkes
10. Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni
11. Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say
12. Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban
13. Are You Ready to Play Outside by Mo Willems
14. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
15. A Pocket for Corduroy by Don Freeman
16. The Napping House by Audrey Wood
17. How Dinosaurs Say Goodnight by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
18. Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin
19. If You Give a Dog a Donut by Laura Joffe Numeroff
20. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
21. Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
22. Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
23. The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds
24. The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

For older kids and adults

Even if you're creating a collection for tweens, teens, or adults, you may still want to choose books that are fun for reading aloud. One of the loveliest things about this tradition is enjoying books together. Again, you could tailor your list to your recipients' interests. You could stick to a particular genre like romance or thrillers, highlight their favorite authors, or dial in the nostalgia with all your favorites from holidays past.  

Here is a sample list of 12 books available with our ThriftBooks Deals. (You may have already read some of these, but they're all worth a reread in our opinion and great options for read-alouds.) These include books for a range of ages from tweens to adults.

1. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
6. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
7. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
8. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
9. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
10. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
11. Anne of Green Gables by M. Montgomery
12. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Look for the red tag to find qualifying books. If something you want is no longer available, keep checking back. These will come back into stock quickly.

Pro tips for making the most of ThriftBooks Deals and Kids' Book Fair

1. Refine your search: Search for your favorite titles, authors, genres, or series and filter your search by clicking the ThriftBooks Deals box on your search filters.
2. Explore ThriftBooks Deals frequently: Our inventory is always changing, so check back often for fresh deals across all categories.
3. Bundle your purchase: Turn your ThriftBooks Deal into a screaming deal by adding more to your order and getting up to 20% off your entire purchase.
4. Join Reading Rewards: Earn points on every purchase to unlock even deeper discounts or free books.
5. Check the Deals filter if you don't immediately see a Deal: With some titles Deals get buried in the unfeatured editions of the book. Search for that specific title and click the Deals filter to check for these hidden deals.

We hope this inspires you to make your own Book Advent Calendar this holiday season. It's such a lovely and literary way to enjoy the season of giving with book-shaped gifts every day.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to connect with a community of readers like you and get daily book recommendations, literary tidbits, and more.

Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon