Christmas Diy: How To Make An Advent Calendar?

The Advent calendar is a tradition that comes from Germany. This type of calendar has 24 boxes or bags, corresponding to the days of December before Christmas. This playful object allows to deceive the impatience of our cherubs by offering them each morning a treat or a small gift.

What is the principle of the Advent calendar?

Commercial Advent calendars are usually in the form of a cardboard sheet with 24 windows filled with chocolates.

In the following article, we explain how to make an advent calendar yourself so you can personalize the gifts or even involve your child in decorating this item.

The very easy model we suggest you make consists of a decorated plywood board on which you will hang with the help of tacks or small nails 24 small cloth bags.

You can then hang your creation on a hook or place it on a table, as long as you lean it against a wall.


What is the necessary equipment?

To make this easy advent calendar, you need:

- 1 large sheet of card stock (large enough to fit 24 bags).
- 1 piece of plywood cut to the same size (available in hardware stores)
- paint, markers, glue
- 24 tacks or small nails
- a piece of red fabric 1.5 m x 3 m
- gold gift ribbon.

What is the step-by-step method?

1- On the sheet of paper, draw and color a big Christmas-themed design, such as a Christmas tree, a snowy cottage or a jolly Santa.

Please note: your design should be large and colorful enough that it is not completely obscured by the bags that will be hanging on it. You can, however, add details that will reveal themselves as your child unhooks their presents.

2- Glue this decoration on the plywood support.
Choose the placement of the nails according to the size of the bags (about 4cm by 6cm) and drive the nails into the support.

Above each nail, trace with a felt pen and in disorder the numbers from 1 to 24. To embellish your design, you can use silver or gold colored markers.

3- The next step is to make small red fabric bags using the method below.
To get 4cm by 6cm bags, cut rectangles of 5cm by 12cm.
Fold them lengthwise and sew the sides together.
Now all you have to do is fill these bags and close them with gift ribbon (which you can also use to hang the bags).


What gifts can we put in it?

When making an advent calendar, size and weight of the gifts are the only limits.

So you can hide all kinds of little surprises in the bags: candy and chocolates, but also small stationery items, a keychain or even a Gift Certificate or a movie ticket.

If you are planning this calendar for a girl, the barrettes and scrunchies, costume jewelry and small makeup items (lip gloss, eye shadow) will certainly please her.


Where does the tradition of Advent come from?

Advent (which comes from the Latin 'adventus': the coming, the arrival) refers to the four weeks before Christmas. According to Christian tradition, this period begins the fourth Sunday before Christmas.

Originally, children were given a pious picture each morning, which was later replaced by candy.

Another tradition related to this period is the Advent wreath made of fir, pine, Holly or mistletoe branches and decorated with four candles.

The four candles symbolize the four weeks of Advent and an additional candle is lit each Sunday before Christmas.