Since this is the first year that gck-1 has really gotten into Christmas and understands it all, I figured that having a homemade advent calendar would be so much more fun for her than the usual one we get from World Market. Ya know the one that has a crappy piece of nasty chocolate behind the numbers… yeah, not fun for a 3 year old.

 

Handmade Advent (or countdown) Calendar

copy paper

sewing machine + colored thread

washi tape

goodies for each day

markers

ribbon, lace, string

binder/alligator clips

 

I simply folded the paper in half or cut it in half and then folded it in half (depending on the size of the prize), sewed around all the edges, added a number to the front, put some washi tape here and there and ta-da! The goodies are ready to be hung.

Then I measured where I would hang it, added a couple inches for a draping effect and hung the lace. Since my lace is stretchy, I had to reinforce it with some push pins here and there. No big deal.

Time to hang the goodies! I used binder/alligator clips for this part. I staggered the numbers and I started with the number 1, then 2, then 3… this way numbers 23, 24, 25 would be up front and wouldn’t be hidden behind any of the other numbers.

 

That’s it! It was so much fun to create for her and I won’t ever go back to a nasty chocolate advent calendar from World Market ever again!

Tags: advent, calendar, countdown, santa, toddler

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 and is filed under the fam, the house. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.