‘Tis the season for giving! I was thinking about holiday traditions and one of the usual things my family participates in is advent calendars. We usually go to the grocery store and get the chocolate advent calendars where you pop a small chocolate each day to count down the days until Christmas. This year, my whole family has been focusing on getting healthy. So, in order to not sabotage this process, I needed an alternative advent calendar. There are a TON of fun, non-food advent calendars, but I’m also trying to be cost effective. This is how the idea of making my own DIY advent calendars come to fruition.
I created four different DIY advent calendars: one for my mom, my sister and two for friends. I tried to think about their individual personalities when creating each different one. This is something you can do! Use the idea about how to set up the advent calendar, and then adjust it for whoever you’re making it for. You can do 24 day countdown, 12 day countdown, 5 days, whatever your heart desires!
The Christmas DIY Advent Calendar Box
I made this box for my Mom. It is a fun and classic way to present an advent calendar. You can get these types of boxes at a craft store or this exact one came from Target (in the dollar bin area…..my favorite!) I wrapped up some small gifts, wrote the number for each day and sealed up the box. It’s that simple. Here are a few things to consider:
- Depending on the size of your box, you might have to be really careful about the size of your daily presents. I did a 24 day advent for this and had to stick to small things. (But at the end of this post, there’s a download for advent ideas if you need help!)
- Use fun paper! I used some fancy paper from Paper Source. It is my favorite and I try to use their paper for special projects. My mom is a classic Christmas lover, so I did a fancy red/gold paper. But you can use any paper that you like! The more unique, the better.
The Santa Sack Advent Calendar
This is very similar to the advent calendar above, but with a different “vehicle” for the presents. The benefit of this setup for an advent calendar is that it provides you with more flexibility. If you get a big enough sack, you can get bigger presents. (And I don’t mean spend more money. Some of the small stuff is actually expensive!) I purchased this Christmas sack from Michaels Craft Store. They had a bunch and, of course, they were on sale! I picked this bag because it’s sassy, and so is the person I gave it to! (You know you are Bree). Basically, wrap up your gifts, write the number for each day and drop them in the sack! Things to consider:
- I used a Sharpie to write the numbers and then I circled each one as well. It helps to make the number stand out and makes it easy to find each one. We want this to be fun, not frustrating.
- You can make it even more interesting by adding in some extras into the sack to make it extra magical. For example, put some fake snow in with the presents, or bottle brush trees to make it look like it came from the North Pole!
The Christmas Garland DIY Advent Calendar
The garland advent calendar is super fun. I used small treat bags that I got at Michael’s craft store. Red and green bags are what I chose, keeping it traditional. I picked out animal themed Christmas stickers because the girl I was giving it to loves animals (Hey Mags!). I used these stickers to close up the bags. Of course, the dates are written on the front. Then I used small clothespins to connect the bags to a string of bright, obnoxious Christmas garland. You have to spread out the bags properly to distribute weight evenly. I suggest laying it out on the floor before you start pinning. Things to consider:
- The bags are small, so small items again. But, the more important thing is that they can’t be too heavy or they will weigh down the garland and/or fall off.
- Once you put this sucker together, it becomes large. In other words, it takes up space. So if you’re storing it for a while, you will need some space. The easiest way to store it is in a big shopping or tote bag.
The Bucket Advent Calendar
I love the bucket advent calendar!! I got this clear bucket at Michael’s craft store (apparently my favorite shopping location). It is so cute. My sister loves rainbow anything, so I got a rainbow wrapping paper at Walmart. It’s not a traditional Christmas wrap, but it works for her! Just to fancy it up, I added a rainbow Christmas garland instead of ribbon. (And yes, that garland is from Micheal’s). The final touch for this advent calendar was the topper. The top of the bucket was just a silver metallic. I got some rainbow heart stickers and created a rainbow Christmas tree. Things to consider:
- If you go the route of tiny heart stickers to create an image, consider tweezers. This took me a while and many messed up stickers because they are so small and not easy to handle with a fingernail. Alternatively, you use any sticker you want, maybe even one giant sticker.
- You can make this a Christmas themed bucket by changing up the wrapping paper and putting a red ribbon on top! Even think about adding fake snow on the inside with your presents.
The most important thing about creating DIY advent calendars is to have fun! There are no right or wrong ways to do this! Just be creative (or copy exactly what I did). Whatever works for you! Need some ideas of things to include in your advent calendar? Drop in your email and you’ll get a downloadable list of perfect DIY advent calendars present ideas. You’ll also get updates from the blog when new content is available. Happy gifting!! P.S. if you need some gift wrapping inspiration, check out EventOTB’s Pinterest board on wrapping.