40 DIY Advent Calendars to Help You Count Down to Christmas
Hello, my friend, hello again; today we come together to talk about 40 DIY Advent Calendars to Help You Count Down to Christmas and hope the blog can help you.
Build up excitement as you count down to Christmas with an Advent calendar that offers a fun surprise on each of the 24 days leading up to the big event. One of these 40 creative DIY twists on the tried-and-true Christmas counter may be just what you need to start a new tradition that will delight family and friends for years to come.
Countdown to Christmas
Part of the joys of the holiday season isn’t just the big day, but the preparation and anticipation leading up to it. Make an Advent calendar to help you count along to December 25. While you of course could buy one, making your very own calendar could be the start of a new tradition.
Seasonal Snaps
Treasure fond memories while counting the days till Christmas by re-creating Sarah Hearts’ photo Advent calendar. The hand-painted tree on a plywood board is filled with 25 printable cards (yes, there’s one for Christmas Day too!) that you can customize with your own photos of family, vacations, or pets.
Santa’s Special Delivery
Thanks to an array of paper “mailboxes,” this refillable wood-framed foam board from Houseful of Handmade delivers tiny toys from Santa to your kith and kin. Its sturdy construction means you’ll be able to use it for many Christmas seasons to come.
Related: Must Be Nice: 10 Extravagant Services People Hire for the Holidays
Fun with Felt
Following this tutorial from A Beautiful Mess, hang hand-stitched felt stockings from a frame made of wooden rods, yarn, and beads so little ones can reveal a daily surprise from Father Christmas.
Acts of Kindness
This Advent calendar from Alice & Lois encourages you to give back as you count down. Write 25 good deeds on slips of paper, then place each one into an envelope and hang the envelopes from twine or ribbon. Open up a new envelope every day, then get out there and do some good.
Up to Scratch
Friends or family members will feel like they’ve won the lottery when they get their hands on this scratch-off calendar from A Beautiful Mess. Paper snowflakes are topped with soap-covered circular card stock cutouts that have numbers written on them. To claim your daily prize, scratch off a circle to reveal the number, then look under the “tree” to find the corresponding gift.
Go Out on a Limb
For an evergreen Advent calendar idea, follow this tutorial from The Merrythought that uses matchboxes reinforced with birch plywood and jazzed up with white paint. Suspend the little boxes from an evergreen branch hung on the wall. Inside each matchbox, place the name of a person to call or write to, or a holiday activity for everyone to enjoy, so you can make the most of this joyful season.
Positively Magnetic
As the blogger behind Something Simple demonstrates, you can make a surprisingly glammed-up gift-giving station with little more than dollar-store party favor tins outfitted with magnets and mounted on a fridge (or stand-alone magnetic board) in the shape of a tree.
Merry Mountains
No matter the weather outside, you’re guaranteed a winter wonderland indoors when you make this showstopper from You Are My Fave. Three-dimensional card stock mountains are topped with painted-on snowcaps and accented with mini evergreen trees and numbered flags to set a festive scene.
Related: 25 Handy Stocking Stuffers Under $25
Christmas Village
Enlist the youngest members of your family to help construct this Christmas neighborhood from A Beautiful Mess with brown kraft paper or card stock. Number each little house and fill it with a tiny trinket before you tape it shut.
Hole-in-One Holiday
Inspired by the “Punch a Bunch” game on “The Price Is Right,” this nonstop-fun calendar from Studio DIY, made of paper or plastic bowls, tissue paper, and fringed garlands, craftily conceals 24 gifts behind 24 holes. Bonus: There’s an extra goody for Christmas Day stashed beneath the giant red bow topper!
Takeout Tower
Foodies can get Christmas to go this year by making this too-clever Advent calendar from Studio DIY. Treat-filled takeout boxes in all the colors of the rainbow are stacked in rows to make the season brighter.
Up the Wall
Those fond of organizing will revel at the prospect of counting down to Christmas with this rustic timber-and-fabric Advent wall chart from The Painted Hive. Five rows of chalkboard paper pockets are filled with merry memos printed on shipping tags—perfect for hanging on the Christmas tree.
Flying Colors
This Christmas, leave Santa some eye candy rather than cookies by building this Advent village from Lia Griffith. The dainty dwellings that dangle from the mantel are made of colored paper and red-and-white baker’s twine. They’re so irresistible that you’ll want to live in one yourself.
Pocketfuls of Simple Pleasures
Would you rather give your family members memorable experiences, or the latest toys or trinkets? In Rachel Denbow’s felt-paneled Advent calendar, each pocket holds a fun bonding activity like “Bake Brownies Together” or “Get a Movie from Redbox.”
Advent in a Jar
If an Advent calendar isn’t your jam, mark the time until Santa’s arrival like the blogger behind Poppytalk did. Scrawl sweet holiday messages or fun holiday activities on pieces of brightly colored paper, and glue a pom-pom to the end of each for easy retrieval. Fill a glass jar with the pom-poms, then take out one each day. After you remove a message, transfer the pom-pom to a piece of string. By Christmas Day, you’ll have a colorful garland of pom-poms for your tree.
In the Air
More than a pop of color, this Advent calendar created by Look What I Made promises a poppin’ good time. The wall-mounted driftwood “Christmas tree” brims with colorful numbered balloons, each bearing a loving note or holiday activity that is revealed when the balloon is popped.
Bright Baubles
Take a cue from Sincerely, Sara D to spread joy throughout Advent without doling out presents every day of December. Simply string up 25 miniature ornaments on a chalkboard-painted artist’s canvas labeled with handwritten numerals. Take down one ornament each day and transfer it to the Christmas tree for added sparkle.
Treats in a Tube
With the help of an old picture frame and dollar-store scrapbook paper, toilet paper tubes were artfully adapted into pillow boxes stuffed with miniature must-haves in this calendar from Smashed Peas and Carrots.
Related: Christmas Miracle: 8 Simple Fixes for All Your Tree Troubles
Decoupage Decor
This crafty counter from Mod Podge Rocks is a scene stealer in any room it occupies. Decoupaged papier-mâché boxes decorated with die-cut numerals are mounted to a merry, moss-colored canvas and filled with treats.
Boards and Not Much More
You can count on the folks at Home Depot to think up an Advent calendar design that requires joining a few lengths of pine boards together. Hammer 24 nails into the board so they’re still sticking out, and hang a numbered ornament from each one. Beautiful!
Celestial Cheer
In this Advent calendar from A Beautiful Mess, gold-leafed papier-mâché boxes are emblazoned with numerals, strung together into a garland, and filled with irresistible edibles and seasonal trinkets. Talk about star power!