Countdown with The Grinch

Last year I came across this great idea for a Christmas Countdown from Chica and Jo and shared it in a Too Cute Not To Toot

Of all of the various countdown ideas I found this is the one that really stuck with me and is the one I knew I wanted to do with my kids.  Why?  Because it is based on a fun book!!  Now, I purchased the over door shoe holder several months ago but, as is normal, I set it aside and didn't get around to doing anything with it until this past week. I used Green Ribbon around the outside and red sparkly ribbon on the holders.  I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Here is what mine looks like :-)  In the blog link above you will find the printable 24 cards with the story on them.  From there, I used my Cricut and cut out the numbers (but you could also use stickers or just markers) and, because I want to use this for years to come, I laminated all of the cards.

Here is a sample of the cards.

Lets be honest, buying 2 (and sometimes 3) little gifts can be expensive even at the dollar store.  Instead of doing fancy things each day, I picked one day each week for a bigger item.  Then I looked for things that were in bags (candy, army men, play dough) that I could put on multiple days (I.e. they get a little package with candy once a week, some army guys once a week, and a small tub of play dough once a week).  In the weeks to come, I'll be sharing what they opened each day.  For wrapping?  I just used tissue or crepe paper, depending on the item!  It's cheap and easy to use!

I could not find that grinch doll anywhere (I should have bought it last year when I first looked at this idea!).  For now, I made this stick puppet and will keep an eye out for a small Grinch Doll because I think it is much cuter to have that guy stuffed in the pocket!