Ramadan advent calendar

For the last few years I’ve created Ramadan advent calendars to our home to add that extra special item for the month, and to instill excitement into the children as a way to countdown to everyones favourite day of the year Eid.

The first one I made was back in 2015, the boys were still young, (1 & 2.5) but despite their young age the purpose of the calendar was to link the month of Ramadan to joy and excitement. Similar to those you find around Christmas time. It’s never too late to make a calendar, some friends only make one for the last 10 days of ramadan, to minimize costs etc.

What do I put into each bag/box?
Each day varies, from small hot wheel cars, kinder egg surpises, shopkins, playdough, slime, I usually find these sort of items around the till areas of toy shops. As well as the mini gifts I include a good deed that the child must preform, to remind them little acts of kindness are always rewarded.
(Check out my Ramadan highlights on instagram to see what I put into each days bag.)

Ramadan 2015

This one was pretty simple. I bought 30 small favour boxes in two different colours, and glued them onto a blue foam board. Each box contained a small treat, which would either be a small sweet or a small toy. Even though he was still young, each day when the sun began to set and the Maghrib azaan was called, he quickly waited at the calendar for his next treat.

Ramadan 2016

Ramadan 2016
This year I went for 30 envelopes and hung them across the wall. Each was filled similarly to the past year, as the boys were still quite young (3.5/2). But at this point, Yousuf was learning Arabic so I opted to label each envelope with arabic numbers.

Ramadan 2017

This year I took the initi The kids were 4.5/3, and had a better understanding of Ramadan, and what Mum and Dad were doing.
The mosque was made up from a cardboard box, I cut out a door and wrapped it in paper wrapping paper, and added a wooden Ikea bowl to make the dome.
The minarets were the advent calendars, I had long cardboard boxes from an Ikea cabinet we had just opened a week or so back. I cut out 15 holes in each of them, I covered each hole on the reverse with tissue paper, and filled a plastic bowl with a treat and glued it against the tissue paper. The sign was made from foam sheets, using pre printed letters as an outline.

Ramadan 2017

Each day the boys would push through the tissue paper, and grab a treat along with a a moon with a good deed written on the back of it.

This got us to talk to our kids about charity and being thankful, that we are in a position to give. At 4.5 Yousuf was at a more understanding age and it got him to think deeper.

Ramadan 2018
This year I went for a simpler design of calendar, I used mini drawstring bags and stapled numbered labels onto each on. I then hung them with mini pegs onto a string that was secured onto a black foam board. I intend to reuse each bag, hence why there aren’t 30 on the board. The tent is from home centre, and the kids like to go in there with torches, or get crafty with their art work.

Ramadan 2018

Each calendar like the last has a small treat for each of the kids, as well as every other day there are examples of good deeds they can do, and the days in between a question about their faith. Alongside of these we talk to the kids everyday about Ramadan, or the prophet or read a small section from the story book Migo and Ali (more book recommendations can be found here).

The purpose of this year, is to increase their knowledge and understanding of the month more, and to be rewarded each day by the calendar too.

Websites and Instagram pages I look for inspiration are: