I have never done an advent calendar before. Truthfully I never even heard of one until a few years ago. But now that I have kids, every holiday seems more fun and magical, and at this age it’s fun to see their excitement and anticipation build for these special celebrations. Drake has been talking about Christmas, especially his elf who is scheduled to visit again after Thanksgiving since early October, so I feel like this year he really understands the idea of the coming holidays. He is learning months and days of the week at school so that helps when we tell him Christmas only happens in December and he knows December follows after November. I would love to try an advent calendar with Drake & Juliet and I always love a good DIY, so I have been scouring the web to look for ideas.
I love this muffin tin advent simply because it’s simple. I already own a muffin tin and a hole punch so it wouldn’t take me long to whip up at all. I found these tiny little animal erasers on Amazon and think this might be perfect for my animal loving Drake. I can’t imagine his anticipation everyday to see what new animal shows up in his tin. I don’t love the idea of doing little gifts every Christmas since Christmas is already pretty gift laden, but I also know the wonder of childhood will only last so long too, so maybe it’s best to enjoy it when they are young enough to still appreciate the magic as well.
These house advents look a bit more complicated to make but oh so darling too. The printable ones look more doable but I wonder if I could get Mr Chocolate to make the wood one for me one day as well.
And how creative is this toilet roll one?
You can also make elves out of toilet rolls!
What a wonderful mantle piece these little trees would make.
There are lots of options for bags, boxes , tubes and even cute cracker rolls.
If you don’t want to do little gifts all the time there are a few non gift options including printables like these.
Or this cute Santa cotton ball advent and cut Santa’s beard advent.
This punch out advent that would probably make for a lot of excitement among the kids.
When Drake is older, maybe we can try making a Lego advent too. You add one ornament each day on these Lego sets.
I like the ones that suggest activities rather than just giving out gifts daily. The jar just looks so cheery!
How festive is this garland of baby socks? I might have to search for cute ones for next year now!
This satchel tree might also make a great centerpiece for Christmas dinner. If you fill them up with some scents it can fill the whole room with Christmas cheer.
I am trying to learn how to use felt more in crafting so while I’m not up for this challenge just yet, I hope maybe one day I can hang something as lovely as this advent in my home.
How quirky yet adorable is this robot advent? It’s a printable and looks pretty easy to do. Fill them up or not it’s your choice, but the cute factor wins out no matter what.
If you have a chalkboard at home you could dress it up in all kinds of festive ways like this easy advent.
If I had more ornaments for my tree I might consider doing this one. Drake loves putting up the ornaments like most kids, so this helps stretch the fun for a little longer.
And if I could wrap better, I might want to try this little matchbook advent since they look like little individual presents.
I can’t get over this incredible glitter advent calendar. It’s so lovely to look at and would be such a statement piece for a party.
And lastly if I end up not wanting to do the muffin tin advent, I think this animal landscape one would be absolutely amazing for Drake. We could even leave it up in his bedroom after the season!
grapefruit / 4923 posts
i love advent calendars! though i will probably never make my own. love the muffin tin idea!
coconut / 8079 posts
I love these! We have one I bought at a craft store on clearance.
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
I bought all the supplies to make a felt tree advent calendar last year and never got around to making it. I thought I might try this year, but I saw a big old fashioned train advent calendar with chocolate at cost plus and had to snatch it up. I think Liam is going to love it and it’s one less project for me.
GOLD / apricot / 341 posts
@mrs. tictactoe: Same here! I have a big bag of supplies that I bought last year (or was it the year before?) to make a felt tree calendar. But alas – it’s not going to be done this year either…
@mrs. chocolate: Great post! Thanks for featuring one of the projects from my last advent calendar round-up! I just put together this year’s round-up and there are so many awesome calendars to make now, for all levels of crafter.