Homemade Advent Calendars

[LuvOrlando]

Anyone ever receive a homemade Advent Calendar, or make one? I've been looking and they all look like such junk it seems like it wouldn't be too hard to make up my own and put the stuff in a cute box, basket or maybe one of those big popcorn tins with small items wrapped up with stickers on them. Any ideas or suggestions, it'll probably take a while to collect enough fun items for everyone. Pretty sure my DD will be easiest but my guys might be tougher.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking? Do mean actually make an advent calendar or just mean fill a reusable one with your own choice of items? I do the latter each year for my kids. Yes, it’s kind of a pain in the butt to find items small enough to fit in the boxes that are also age appropriate and/or not a choking hazard (my kids are young). I do lots of soft candies, stickers, and mini-ornaments for their trees supplemented with “snowman days” which is when they get a little picture of a snowman. That means a snowman gift bag, linked below, is hidden somewhere for them to find. That allows me to include larger items that don’t fit in the tiny calendar boxes. (I’ve seen some reusable advent calendars with oversized boxes on places like Etsy before so you might look into that, if interested.) I would think calendars might be easier to put together for older kids, especially a girl where you can include jewelry, charms, and straight up cold hard cash.

If you mean make a calendar, I’ve seen plenty of ideas for that, too, ranging from numbered boxes to tissue paper wrapped poppers, to felt pockets hung on a string. Pinterest and Google image search will be your friend for ideas.

https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Dr...words=snowman+gift+bags&qid=1663172719&sr=8-2

 

[MamaMermaid]

Etsy has tons of options for the actual "calendar" itself - you stuff it yourself! Just a thought

 

[unrequited23]

I use the same refillable advent calendar each year. After the kids go to sleep on Halloween night I sort through their candy for looking for pieces that will fit into the small advent calendar boxes.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I was originally looking for a prepackaged ones, which were disappointing, then I switched to refillable boxes which were very bulky& expensive and now am leaning towards just a bundle of 24 numbered gifts in a basket or something like that so I don't end up with another set of giant Christmas things to store. If I could find something collapsable I could fill it would be great, but so far nothing.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I have one with little boxes/drawers that you can fill.

I was also going to make one for my DD out of 24 toilet paper rolls (empty, of course), put into the shape of a Christmas tree, with a little bottle of booze in each one. You could put anything into it--the "hard" part is coming up with 24 empty toilet paper rolls!

 

[lowlight]

We got sick of overpaying for the cheap prepackaged ones and my wife made a felted wool one with the family name on it and we pop in some candy we buy at a discount after Halloween and a verse of the Christmas story.

 

[TLSnell1981]

You can use multi sized tins or jars and stack them or put into a crate. One of the cutest and easiest we've done are cloth bags and hang them from a branch, rope, etc. Decorate to your taste and put the kids favorite goodies in each container.

 

[auntfrannie]

I've been wrapping up 24 gifts for the past few years. The first year they were all small so I had drawstring pouches with numbers attached to them. The gifts tend to be larger now so I wrap them and have number stickers on them. They go into a nice organizer bin so they can use it afterwards.

 

[PAsFab5]

I make “candy trains”…take clear plastic wrap and roll a long piece of it out on the floor, add 24 small pieces of candy with a little space between each of the pieces to make 24 sections of candy, fold the plastic to cover the candy and tie ribbon between each candy section…the kids cut a piece of the “candy train” off each day the the other parts stay sealed with the ribbon. It’s so inexpensive and the kids love it!!

 

[disneychrista]

We had a homemade one growing up. It was made from fabric/felt and could be hung up on the wall. It was a Christmas Tree with 24 different ornament you hung in it. When I moved out my mom passed it down to me. My daughters father’s grandparents threw it away thinking it was his grandfathers mothers (she had passed the previous year). They ended up throwing out most/all the decorations we had stored at their house.

 

[AppleDumpling]

A friend of mine made them for her kids using over-the-door type shoe organizers like this. They decorated the pockets with felt appliques, each in a different Christmas design (tree, snowflake, Santa, angel, etc.) and filled them with small (but bigger than candy) wrapped gifts.

 

[LynnTH]

A friend of mine made them for her kids using over-the-door type shoe organizers like this. They decorated the pockets with felt appliques, each in a different Christmas design (tree, snowflake, Santa, angel, etc.) and filled them with small (but bigger than candy) wrapped gifts.
View attachment 702441

That is a great idea. My kids are older 23 and 21. Last year, I bought a premade calendar with boxes from Amazon for both of them plus DS's girlfriend. It was hard to find items that small to fit in all the boxes. But they all loved it. Mostly did candy, snacks, liquor, beauty items with some $$ thrown in here and there. I also like the idea above of the cloth bags filled with stuff and hung on a tree. Hmmm. I better get going on this...