The lead up to Christmas is half the fun of the holiday season. DIY Advent calendars help you and your children count the days and sometimes reward you with a sweet treat. However, instead of buying the same commercially available version every year, you can try one of these crafts yourself at home. Former Advent calendars are believed to have originated in the form of simple chalk markings on doors or the burning of candles. The first printed Christmas calendar was created in the early 1900s, and since then we've enjoyed the novelty of checking each day until the big one finally arrives.
Chocolate has long been known as the choice of the Christmas calendar. Recently, however, we've seen an influx of designs made with beauty products, tea bags, and even pork stuffing. This suggests that we are a little more flexible with our calendars and for this reason we present the following DIY Advent calendars to you. We pay particular attention to how easy they are to assemble, how durable they are and, above all, how many goodies they can fit in.
These ideas can also be reused over the years and you'll be surprised at how creative you and your little ones can get with them. Regardless of whether you want to make a kitschy, colorful version or an elegant DIY Advent calendar, these 3 suggestions can provide the inspiration you need.
Craft with gift boxes
Start the Christmas season early with these 25 foldable origami gift boxes. Fill these with some goodies to create the right Christmas atmosphere before the party. You can also tailor the small gift packaging perfectly to the daily countdown according to your preferences.
Materials:
- 25 square sheets of paper (craft paper or white)
- Cardboard box or carton packaging
- Wrapping paper
- Adhesive tape and double-sided tape
- Scissors
- Bow (various colors)
- Felt (various colors)
- decorative beads
- Pompoms
- decorative gemstones
- colored pencils
- sweets
- small toys or children's toys
- Hot glue gun
- 8 wooden skewers
Directions:
- First, lay your paper pattern side down and fold it in half. Use a bone folder to press and fold the fold. Open the sheet, rotate it 90 degrees and fold it in half again. This time when you open the paper, the folds should form a cross.
- Then fold each corner toward the center of the sheet until your paper resembles the model shown in the photo.
- Then place the top and bottom pages in the middle of the sheet and then unfold it again. Repeat the process with the left and right sides.
- The folded paper should look like the picture with all 4 corners meeting in the middle.
- Then take your square and fold the bottom edge toward the center. Repeat for the other side until you have formed a rectangle. Open this, rotate it 90 degrees and do the same again.
- Start by lifting two opposing triangles until you fold the top flap together. You will need to pull these up to form the side of your box. This is the moment you may need to use some hot glue.
- If necessary, apply a thin layer of glue to each flap and allow to dry.
- When finished, the flap should easily fit onto the box to form the origami gift box. Now just make 24 of them.
Make the rest:
- Next, tape each mini gift with the double stick tape, tie it with the bow and apply the numbers 1-25 with the paint pens.
- Decorate the white boxes with the felt and decorative elements using the scissors and the hot glue gun. Don't forget to write down the numbers.
- Tape the corners of the large cardboard box to create a square.
- Use the hot glue to attach the 8 wooden skewers to the inside and outside corners.
- Then wrap the entire cardboard box inside and out with wrapping paper.
- Tape the back of each gift box with the double-sided tape and attach 24 of them to the inside of the wrapped box. Do the last gift box with the number 25 at the top of the DIY Advent calendar. Complete!
DIY Advent calendar made from toilet rolls
In the next suggestion you can make a lively decoration in the DIY Advent calendar from toilet rolls. This way you canrecycled materials for your Christmas decorationsespecially if your budget is limited during this time of year due to the remaining preparations.
Materials:
- Clothes hanger
- 25 toilet paper rolls
- Hot glue gun
- Felt (various colors)
- Bow (various colors)
- decorative beads
- Pompoms
- Yarn (various colors)
- Scissors
- colored pencils
- Cardboard paper
- decorative paper
- double-sided tape
- sweets
- small toys
- Ribbon
Directions:
- First, fold the edges of the toilet paper roll on one side to create a box of it. Use the double stick tape to stick the ends together.
- Fill the box with the desired contents of sweets or toys and close the top again by folding and gluing.
- Tie the yarn around and decorate with beads or pompoms using the hot glue gun to create the right look.
- Create different boxes by wrapping some of them with decorative paper and then tying a bow or yarn.
- Number the gift boxes from 1 to 25 using the colored pencils as in the first example.
- Thread 5 finished rolls onto a string and then tie them to the hanger accordingly. Arrange the remaining gift wrapping according to the same principle.
- Finally, tie a suitable bow on the hanger to make it look Christmassy.
Use paper bags or small envelopes
The third and final version offers a series of playful paper bags or mini envelopes that you can make from neutral or bright colors. In our example we will focus on the latter. Both children and adults will enjoy these fun Christmas crafts. It is exactly the right DIY Advent calendar with which you can flexibly decorate your home at the beginning of December.
Materials:
- white paper
- Decorative paper
- Cardboard paper
- colored pencils
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun
- Felt (various colors)
- decorative beads
- Buttons
- Pompoms
- Bow (various colors)
- Yarn (various colors)
- Lineal
- Pencil
Directions:
- First, take a piece of paper and fold it on both sides in a triangle shape, creating an X-shaped fold when unfolded. Use the ruler and pencil to get straight lines.
- Rotate the sheet so that the X shape becomes a + shape and fold the bottom corner to the middle and then again to the top.
- Then fold the left, right and finally the top of the sheet together to make it look like an envelope.
- Open the top tip again, bend the right tip outwards in the middle and open it again by pressing flat with your fingers.
- Insert a treat or greeting card and decorate with pompoms, bows, buttons or decoration of your choice.
- Once you have made all the mini envelopes, draw the numbers from 1 to 25 again with the colored pencils.
- Stick the double-sided adhesive tape on the backs of the envelopes and attach them randomly to a large sheet of cardboard paper to complete the DIY Advent calendar.
Also read “MAKE YOUR OWN SIMPLE TEA ADVENT CALENDAR – AROMATIC SIPS FOR THE SENSES BEFORE CHRISTMAS!“
