So you’ve got your gorgeous wooden Hong Kong advent calendar but it’s getting close to the 1st December and you are in a bit of a panic about what to fill it with! Never fear, we are here with some ideas for what can fit in those 24 drawers! And, you really couldn’t be in a better place than Hong Kong to be able to source all of these little goodies. My top tip would be to bring one of the drawers with you when you are heading out to the markets or shops to make sure that what you buy fits in :)
I would always say Sham Shui Po (especially Nam Cheong Street for all of the lovely haberdashery) is a great place to start - and one of my favourite places in HK! Patches, ribbons and pin badges galore with lots of little shops selling charms and beads as well! Why not buy some of the elements to make earrings or bracelets? Lots of the shops also sell the hoops or earring pieces to make them up. I can also recommend our Star Ferry pin badge too!
Take a wander to Fuk Wing Street for some little toys and kids gifts (try and avoid too much plastic if you can?) - maybe a few marbles per drawer, a stamp, a keyring, a wooden bracelet or hair bands or clips. You could also buy some elements to make up a sweet craft kit - different bits and bobs or sequins and sparkles, pom poms, googly eyes, feathers or tassels! Whatever your kids might enjoy making things with.
Petit Bazaar has gorgeous charms and little trinkets if you wanted a real treat for one or two of the boxes (I couldn’t help myself and got a small initial charm bracelet when I was shopping for ideas!) but they also had nice wooden bracelets/hair clips for children.
I got a some Tomy Takara little animals- at Toy Street (Tai Yuen Street)
I often find the top couple of floors of the Dragon Centre in Sham Shui Po are good for little bits and pieces - I pop in there for stocking fillers as well for the kids so you could kill two birds with one stone by stopping by.
Favourite HK Sweets - white rabbits are always my sweet of choice! My mouth is watering at the mere thought of them! I also love all the coconut milk sweets in their colourful paper wrappers. And a Christmas classic - gold coins! Available in M&S for definite but I’ve also spotted them in some of the local sweet shops as well. I love Haw Flakes… another childhood fave… which fit perfectly in the drawers. We have a several wonderful traditional sweet shops in Sheung Wan - my fave is only a minute away from LRP HQ just round the corner from the post office between Wing Lok Street and Bonham Strand (look out for the hairy crab shops next door!).
Your local stationery shop will help you out with some cute bits and pieces. I would buy those sets of 4 or 5 fun erasers/rubbers and divide them out amongst different drawers. A funky pencil sharpener and maybe a couple of strips of stickers are another idea, and washi tape is always a winner!
On Cat Street or in Stanley market there are small zodiac animal charms on strings which are very sweet! Choose an animal per family member which helps fill up those drawers.
For those slightly older a small lip gloss, lip balm, mini nail varnish or eye shadow perhaps? There are plenty local chemists that could have them or you could also try somewhere like Sasa. I managed to get a few small make up bits from Sephora as well. How about those tiny perfume samples that the local chemists sell? Plenty of those fit in the calendar drawers. What a treat for a tween/teen!
But it doesn’t all have to be things that have been bought. You could choose to fill all the drawers with the ideas below or maybe alternate little gifts on some days with these ideas below for others.
A do it yourself idea Positive affirmation notes - write them yourself and pop them in. ‘You are loved’ and ‘today is going to be a good day’ are a couple of starter ideas! Or write down something you love about your kids and start their day with a huge hit of dopamine!
Or why don’t you have a mindful idea of something that the kids can do in some of the drawers - bake a cake today, write a thank you note to someone (maybe your teacher to say thank you for all they do for you), call your grandparents or a family member to tell them you love them… adding a little sweet as encouragement is no bad thing ;)
Jokes - let google be your friend. Best Christmas Cracker jokes could be a good starting point!!
Please share any other ideas as well - tag @thelionrockpress on insta and we will spot them! We’d love to see what treats your family have in store for them as they open each day up!
