Intergenerational Advent Resources

The Intergenerational Advent Resources linked below will help you celebrate Advent whether it’s just as a household or as a faith community. There are resources for intergenerational worship and events, plus resources that you can share with households of all types and ages. You can choose what advent resources or ideas will work for your congregation and households.

Advent wreath

What is Advent?

Advent is a time of preparation. The word Advent means “to wait” or “coming”. It is the time when Christians recall their hope and expectation of the coming of Jesus, the promised Messiah. So, it is a time of acting out the “waiting” for the promised Messiah. Purple is the colour for Advent.  It symbolises royalty, repentance, & reflection.

Advent begins 4 Sundays before Christmas Day and lasts until Christmas Eve. The season of Christmas then goes from 25th December to 5th January. (Hence, why we have songs such as the 12 days of Christmas.) Although this resource page will focus on Advent there will be some Christmas ideas as well.

Celebrating Advent

Upside Christmas Tree decorating our worship space for an intergenerational Advent
An updside down Christmas Tree we used one year as Jesus’ coming turned the world upside down

There are many ways that Advent can be celebrated in an intergenerational way. From involving families in lighting the advent candles to decorating for advent/Christmas as a household.

Advent or Christmas are times when it easy to support families to add faith elements to what they are already doing.

Below are a number of advent resource links sorted into categories. Starting with ideas for worship and intergenerational events for the whole community. This is followed by many ideas for resourcing households to celebrate Advent together and explore faith at the same time.

Intergenerational Advent Resources for Worship

Lighting the Advent Candles

Many churches follow the tradition of lighting advent candles each Sunday of Advent. The advent wreath is usually made up of three purple candles and a pink candle on the outside with a white (Christ) candle in the middle. On the first Sunday of Advent the candle for Hope is lit, on the second Sunday of Advent the candle of Peace is lit as well as the first one, on the 3rd Sunday the pink candle of joy is lit as well as the first two and on the 4th Sunday the candle of Love is lit as well as the first three. On Christmas Eve and Christmas day all four advent candles are lit and the white Christ candle is also lit. People of all ages can be involved in the candle lighting liturgy. One Christmas Eve we had four generations from the one family involved in saying the liturgy or lighting the candles. Below is a couple of alternative ideas that you might like to use.

Intergenerational Events

The season of Advent is a great time to hold an intergenerational event to explore Advent or Christmas with multiple ages gathered together.

Advent Packs

Make up a box or pack for households to use during advent. These packs can include a number of resources in a box for households. If you’re catering for households with a range of different ages you might like to provide a sample of a range of resources that houses can then choose from. To find out more about this idea download my Collating Household Resources for Special Seasons e-booklet.

Advent Wreaths & Devotionals

You can buy or make an advent wreath for households to use.  One simple idea is to use a green plastic plate for the “wreath” with candles in little candle holders/jars or even battery operated candles.  Below are a few more Advent Wreath ideas, many also include weekly devotions.

advent wreath made with plastic plate and candles
Advent wreath made with plastic plate instead of a wreath

Devotions

Advent Calendars

Advent Calendar

There are many advent calendar ideas available that individuals and families can use.  Here’s just a few:

Or Advent Paper Chains

Jesse Tree

Jesse Tree with other intergenerational Advent resources in the background

In Isaiah 11:1 we read, “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Jesse was the father of David, Israel’s greatest king. And it was from David’s lineage that Jesus came. That’s where the idea of using a Jesse Tree to celebrate Advent came from. A Jesse Tree is a tree branch decorated with symbols representing the stories of people in Jesus’ family tree.

Advent Prayer Beads or Bracelets

Prayer beads give you something to hold and focus on as you pray.

  • Advent Prayer Beads – These prayer beads are a tool you can use to help guide your prayers during the season of Advent. Includes instructions for making the prayer beads, along with devotions for adults and children.
  • God’s Big Rescue: A family time activity – add a bead to a bracelet or key ring as each part of the story is told

AdventWord

#AdventWord is a worldwide movement where you can focus on one word each day during advent. The 2025 AdventWord prompts have been announced. You can share a photo each day based on the word. Download bulletin inserts and social media graphics here, or join their Facebook page.

Advent/Christmas Books

Books with ideas for home or church:

  • The Season of the Nativity by Sybil MacBeth
  • Hope for the Holidays – In this collaborative book my chapter, Birthday Cake for Jesus, I share our traditon of having birthday cake for Jesus, along with helpful tips and ideas on how to add faith-based traditions to your Advent or Christmas celebrations.

Books to read a chapter of each night during advent:

The first four books of the Jotham of Jericho series are written to be read a chapter each night during advent. They can be read in any order. The main character in each book ends up in Bethlehem at the time of the birth of Jesus. Each chapter ends on a cliffhanger so the whole family wants to find out what happens. Great for ages 4-18+

More books to Read:

Advent/Christmas Craft & Cooking

Colouring and Drawing

For home or church use.

Nativity Set Ideas & Printables

Nativity set minus the wiseman as they are travelling
Nativity set minus the wisemen as they are wandering to find Jesus

Messy Church at Home

  • Messy Christmas – This Messy Church at home session explores the theme of God’s gift to us in Jesus
  • Christmas Family Time – This minibook aims to transfer the core values of Messy Church to the home and family context, encouraging families to talk together, be creative, be hospitable, be Christ-centred and celebratory, and including activities for all ages.

Family Christmas Traditions Workshop

This Family Christmas Traditions Workshops is based on my chapter in Hope for the Holidays. I’ll share some of our families Christmas Traditions and then parents/families will have an opportunity to explore how they might adapt existing traditions and add a faith-based element to them. Or they might consider adding a new faith-based tradition to their Advent/Christmas celebrations.

In a Family Advent/Christmas Traditions Workshop parents will learn how they can:

  • add faith-based elements to their existing family traditions for the season
  • create new faith-based family traditions
  • tweak or change these family traditions as their family grows and changes.

This workshop can be run with parents or with families together.

This workshop could be run in person at your church (in the Brisbane area) or online. Visit my workshops page to find out more about workshops or contact me to explore the possibility of running a workshop with the parents/families in your faith community.

Alternatively, I’m offering an online Family Christmas Traditions Workshop on Tuesday 25th November, 2025 at 1pm (AEST). Please feel free to share this with any families who may be interested. Please note that this online Zoom session will not be recorded as it will be interactive.

To find out more or to register for the free online Family Christmas Traditions Workshop click on the button below.

Family Christmas Traditions Workshop

This Intergenerational Advent Resources page has mainly covered Advent resources. An Intergenerational Christmas resources page and an Epiphany Resources page are also available.