Star From Afar: My Family's Honest Opinion Of This Advent Activity

This past year, my husband and I wanted to find a new way to engage our kids in the real Christmas story leading up to Christmas Day. Prior to having kids, we had done some Advent readings but our kids are still pretty young and wouldn’t grasp the Advent readings we had done previously. Besides, we knew we wanted a more hands-on approach to help our young children be able to engage with the story of Christ’s birth. After looking around, we decided to try the Christmas Star from Afar Advent Calendar.

Let me share with you my family’s honest opinion after using Star From Afar for a complete Christmas season. Also, you will find some great reasons why Star From Afar can (and should!) replace your Elf On The Shelf at the bottom of today’s post.

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Star From Afar: My Family’s Honest Opinion

My kids are young so everything about Christmas is magical to them. The fact that we have twinkly lights on our tree simply blow their minds. Often I find them laying on the floor under the tree just staring at the lights and enjoying them. (Cute little weirdos!)

When we introduced Star From Afar to our schedule in the weeks leading up to Christmas, they were mesmerized. My daughter (who is already a natural early riser) would be out of bed earlier than normal just so she could go searching for the star before her siblings were awake! If your kids are in these wonderful, magical wonder years of Christmas, Star from Afar will be particularly special for everyone.

That being said, I do see it being something that can be adapted to older age groups. I will honestly say that I doubt it will hold its appeal to teens but I don’t know for sure. Perhaps if you have the right adaptations and teens who are willing to play along and be a bit silly, they might still enjoy this activity. That will be up to you to judge the appropriateness of it for your family.

What We Love About Star From Afar

Large Wooden Pieces

The nativity set is made of quality wooden pieces. I wouldn’t leave my youngest unattended with it because I didn’t want him making teeth marks on it in case he put it in his mouth. That being said, I didn’t have to worry about choking hazards or small pieces breaking off which was super nice. My kids dragged this set around the house for the whole month last year and it still looks pretty much brand new.

Hardcover Picture Book

My kids don’t read yet but they love being read to. Star from Afar comes with a hardcover picture book sharing the Christmas story.

What makes the picture book so special to our family is that the pictures match the nativity pieces. Even though my kids couldn’t read the words, they would spend large chunks of time going page by page and retelling the story while matching the nativity pieces to the pictures on the page. Since we ended up reading the story at the front half of the book almost every day, they could practically quote it back to me by the end of the Christmas season!

Tactile Story Telling

Star from Afar is geared to help kids hold the Christmas story in the hands. My son is especially fond of learning in a tactile method. If your child prefers learning by doing, then they will likely appreciate this Christmas Advent activity too.

On December 1, you will set up the Nativity Scene somewhere in your house but you will leave the Wise men and the star out. Each morning, your kids will find where you hide the star in your house. After they find the star, they will bring the wise men to the star’s new location. Each day you will move the wise men a little closer to the manger scene. Finally, on Christmas morning, the star will be over the manger and the wise men will get to meet Jesus to worship Him and give Him gifts.

Due to the moving and talking about the Star and wise men every day, your kids will be given a chance to interact with the Christmas story in a whole new way.

Quality Storage Box

Let’s be honest. We only use this for one month of the year. The other 11 months, I have to figure out how to fit all my Christmas decorations in the small, somewhat organized, out of the way place in my house. I didn’t want pieces getting lost in the jumble of lights and ornaments in my basement storage boxes. Thankfully, Star from Afar comes with a sturdy storage box. Just keep the plastic piece that the wooden nativity snap into and it is a great storage unit to pack away from year to year. This box holds the book and everything so nothing has to be stored elsewhere. It is a small practical thing that is worth a LOT to me.

The Largest Drawback Of Star From Afar

This set is great but I wish it came with more concrete ideas to complete as a family or more of a daily reading plan. There is a section at the back of the hardcover picture book that has a verse to read each day which is nice. That’s it. No fancy bells and whistles daily devotionals or lessons to do together. Now that I know better, I am planning in advance to find some kid friendly Advent reading plans to do each day after we bring the wise men to the star.

While I had hoped for a little bit more curriculum that went with the activity, Star From Afar has definitely still found its way into our family’s favorite Christmas tradition list.

When my daughter talks about Christmas, one the first thing she mentions is getting to look for the star that lead the wise men to Jesus. I certainly expect to see Star From Afar being a part of our Christmas traditions for the next several years. And that might be in part due to the fact that it is so simple without all the lesson plans or devotionals to go along with it.

Final Thoughts: Star From Afar Can Totally Replace Elf On The Shelf

Perhaps you are tired of Santa being the focus on all the Christmas activities anymore. Maybe you just find the idea of an Elf watching you be naughty or nice kind of creepy (cause it is!) Mostly, you just want to connect with your kids in a meaningful way this Christmas season and point them more towards Christ and His birth. I would say there are several reasons Star from Afar can replace your Elf. Here are a few of my main reasons why!

Eternal Value Vs. Earthly Value

Elf on the Shelf is cute and fun but the tradition has no eternal value to it. Also, the whole point of the elf is to lead up to Santa, not Jesus. I don’t know about you but I am tired of the culture tearing away my kid’s focus on their Savior, Jesus. Santa can be a fun side note if your family desires but remember Christ is the reason for the season. Let’s help our kids learn to enjoy the true meaning of the season-Jesus!

Giving Vs. Receiving

Star From Afar focuses on the wise men who were coming to give Jesus gifts. The whole point of their journey following the star was to find the Savior and worship Him and give Him their gifts. Elf on the Shelf tends to make kids think about being “good enough” so that Santa will bring them gifts. Eventually it turns their minds to focus more on the receiving of gifts rather than the giving of gifts. Let’s retrain ourselves and our kids to remember that giving is indeed more blessed than receiving!

Time Saver Vs. Time Sponge

Star from Afar is simple. It rarely took more than 30 seconds to locate the next spot for the star before heading to bed each night. In the morning, it took 5 to 10 minutes for the kids to find and for us to read the corresponding book and daily verse. There was definitely a beauty in the simplicity! I have heard of some parents that spend a LOT of time getting their family’s Elf set up through elaborate scenes and what not. That is time that I honestly would not have the energy or creativity to manage for a whole month. For our family, the idea of simple wins out all the time!

Fear Vs. Joy

Did I mention that I kind of find the Elf creepy? The idea is that he is watching you be naughty or nice and reporting back to Santa is weird. As a kid, I would have lived in fear of my every action for the entire month of December.

If your kid is prone to anxiety or has fearfulness problems already, I can definitely see how Elf on the Shelf could be more distressing than encouraging in the behavioral department. (That might just be me-I was always the weird goody two shoes kid who never wanted to make a mistake. The thought of being watched and evaluated would have made me feel ridiculously pressured.)

Christmas should be a season filled with joy for our kids. Our Savior and Lord humbled Himself to become a small baby born in a manger. His love should fill us with joy. Perfect love casts out fear. Rather than stress our kids out over their behavior, we should use this season to teach our kids about Christ’s love for them-while they were still sinners! God gave the perfect Gift of His Son when we most definitely did not deserve a gift. Let’s remind our kids the joy that Christmas brings-not the fear and pressure of preforming like trained seals for a few presents under the Christmas tree.

Final Thoughts

Star from Afar is an Advent activity that gives your kids the daily excitement and build up to Christmas Day but it keeps the central focus on Jesus. And that is exactly where I want to be pointing my kids! I know you do too.

Your Turn

Has your family ever used Star From Afar? Is there something about it that your family enjoyed in particular? Something that bugged you? Share your review in the comments below!

Thanks for stopping by!

Star From Afar: My Family’s Honest Opinion

Star From Afar: My Family’s Honest Opinion