40+ Filler Ideas for Your DIY Advent Calendar (Adults & Kids)

Last updated: September 24, 2025

Put together your own advent calendar this holiday season using these epic advent calendar filler ideas to suit the whole family. 

No matter the age of the gift recipients, there’s something for all your family members in this long list of DIY advent calendar ideas. 

Christmas is the perfect opportunity to put together your own DIY advent calendar for loved ones. Not only is it a lovely gesture but it’s also a lot of fun to buy gifts to go in fillable advent calendars each year. 

You can completely personalize an advent calendar with special gifts and small items that you know someone close to you is just going to love. 

The challenge is to find gifts that fit in to the usually-small boxes and bags that make up an advent calendar. Fortunately all the gift ideas below are the perfect size for any advent calendar you have, and the best part is that most of them are very affordable as well as lots of fun to receive. 

Putting together your whole family’s advent calendars one tiny gift at a time is a fun way to get in the Christmas spirit. It also means that, if you do this every year, you’re creating your own family traditions that everyone will love at this magical time of year. 

Below are lots of ideas to fill your reusable advent calendars for every day of December right up until Christmas Day. 

Advent calendar fillers for adults

Most of these are little gifts which will fit in the smallest of advent calendar boxes or little bags. 

A fun idea is to start off small with some of the least expensive fillers, such as a lip balm or some sweet treats. As you get closer to Christmas morning, make the gifts get bigger or more valuable so you end up with a really good Christmas present in the calendar on Christmas Eve. 

In fact, if you do have a really special gift for an adult this Christmas, the perfect way to build up the excitement is to put it behind door number 24 in an advent calendar. It’s great fun for the recipient and as an added bonus they get to enjoy loads of other small gifts throughout December as they work their way through the Christmas countdown calendar. 

Here are some great advent calendar stuffers for adults:

adult coloring book and pens

art supplies

bath bombs

beauty minis – for example lip gloss, mascara and face masks

bookmark

books

cactus or succulent clippings

candles – votive, tealight, or scented

car air freshener

cash

Christmas ornament

coffee – K-cups, ground, whole bean

compact mirror

coupons – for back rubs, breakfast in bed, date night

crystals

diary

DIY gifts like mini flashlights or tools

essential oils

fidget toys

flavored toothpicks

fortune cookies

frames

gift cards for coffee shops, restaurants and local retailers

gift certificates for massages, mani/pedis, facials at local spas and salons

gift set of spices, seasoning rubs, salts or sauces

gift wrap, tags, and cards to get a head start on holiday preparations

gloves

hand lotion

handwritten notes

headband

home baked goods such as bread, cookies and candy

hot chocolate sets

incense sticks

insulated coffee mugs

jewelry – earrings, necklaces, bracelets

journal

keyring

lip balms and scrubs

luggage tag

matchbooks

mini bottles of wine, champagne, or liquor

mini fragrances

mini marshmallow toasting kit

mini speakers

movie tickets

nail files

nail polishes

notebook

ornaments

passport holder

personalised pen

pillow spray

playing cards or mini games

positive quote cards or affirmations

power bank charger

room spray

scarf

scratchers

seed packets

shower steamers

smart home device like a Google Home or Amazon Alexa

socks

sudoku, crossword, or word search books

stationery – note cards, pens, address book

stickers for planners, journals, or crafts

stress ball

sunglasses

tea bags – herbal, black, green, flavored

tickets to a show or concert

tiny chocolates

wall calendar or planner

wallet

Why not try gifting an experience? Instead of another material item at the end of the countdown, try presenting them with a voucher to do something they’ll love. We recommend drink tastings, a voucher for their favourite restaurant or tickets to show as options everyone can enjoy.

Advent calendar fillers for kids

Children will also really appreciate this fun tradition, and any of these advent calendar filler ideas are perfect for them. 

These filler ideas for a child’s advent calendar are the right size to fit in to a pre-made wooden advent calendar or small paper bags to hang on the Christmas tree. 

The list contains advent calendar gift ideas for kids of any age group, from very young kids up to older kids. 

Most of these are very inexpensive to buy and you can even make some of them yourself to save some money. 

bookmarks

bouncy balls

bracelets, rings

bubble bath

bubbles

candy or chocolate

cars/trucks

chalk

child’s beauty products like lip gloss and sparkly nail polish

Christmas book

Christmas cookies

Christmas movie on DVD

Christmas soaps

coins

coloring books and crayons

craft kits

craft supplies like pom poms

crayons

dominoes

erasers

fidget spinners and poppers

flashlight or headlamp

glitter jars

glitter wands

glow in the dark stars

glow sticks

gum holder

hair accessories

harmonica

hot chocolate

jacks

kaleidoscope

kazoo

mad libs

magnifying glass

marbles

mini etch-a-sketch

mini games

mini lego sets

mini notebooks

money

paint sets

pencils, pens

personalized Christmas decoration

pipe cleaners

play dough

playing cards

puzzle books

rainbow slinky

rubber duckie

skipping rope

slime or putty

small jigsaw puzzle

snacks

snow globe

socks

spinning top

squishy toys

stencils

stick on earrings

stickers

stuffed animals

temporary hair chalk

temporary tattoos

tiny toys like Lego

traditional Christmas activities such as a letter to write to Santa Claus

traditional sweets like candy canes

washi tape

WikiStix

worry stones

yoyo

Items that should not go in an advent calendar include anything that may be hazardous, offensive, or inappropriate for the intended audience. Avoid items like sharp objects, small parts that can be a choking hazard, items with explicit or offensive content, and anything that goes against the spirit of the holiday season. 

Make sure you avoid anything that could spoil as well. Cheese, for example, is off the table and of course something like ice cream is a definite no-no! 

A good rule of thumb when putting items in your calendar is to alternate the contents. So, for example, start off with a yummy treat followed by a toy the next day, and an activity the day after. Then you can go back to something good to eat again, and so on. This is a simple way to ensure the contents aren’t too repetitive. 

The best pre-made advent calendars to fill with small gifts 

An empty advent calendar is perfect to fill with your favorite advent calendar fillers. 

You can re-use an old one from last year that perhaps came from a brand. For example, beauty advent calendars often come in gorgeous boxes that are perfect to use again next year. 

You can also buy empty calendars made from wood or other durable materials. 

A really great idea is to make your own. If you have the crafting talent then this is a really fun Christmas tradition. 

Whichever you use as your calendar, these advent calendar filler ideas are the perfect size to fit in it and will make Christmas season that little bit more special. 

Have fun making your calendar this Christmas and filling it with goodies for a truly personal touch. There’s many a perfect advent calendar filler idea to choose from in this long list, and these fun ideas and unique ideas will make the Christmas magic come alive from the very first day of December. 

Your loved ones will thank you for putting in so much effort to make their Christmas so memorable! 

You may also love: the full list of whisky advent calendars.  

To give back this Christmas, why not try making a reverse advent calendar for your local foodbank. 

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