Since we are now safely passed the mid-November mark, it’s an acceptable time for a Christmas post! As a kid, one of the staple Christmas traditions in our house was the advent calendar. Chocolate every day, before lunchtime! What a friggin’ treat. This year I decided that I wanted to bring back the advent calendar to my holiday celebrations. I wanted to have a go at making my own, since the regular supermarket kind aren’t vegan-friendly, and also because it seemed less wasteful to create one that I can use again. So if you are a celebrator of Christmas and are interested in making your own advent calendar for the December countdown, this will interest you!
What you need:
Something to make your calendar pouches with (I used brown parcel paper)
Scissors, glue, measuring tape/ruler
String
Mini pegs
Somewhere to hang your beautiful creation (I used my old corkboard)
Numbers to decorate your calendar pouches
Step One – Make your pouches
I’m sure you could find pre-made pouches or envelopes somewhere, but I had plenty of paper to use so figured that would do the trick. I cut the paper into sections of 9cmx16cm, and folded some thin tabs along the longer sides. I then glued along the tabs and folded the paper in half (tabs together), to make a little pouch as shown below:
This does take a bit of time when you are making 24 of them!
Step Two – Decorate
I was nosing through the craft section at The Warehouse and found a pack of mini craft pegs and some pre-made decorative numbers, which were perfect. You could absolutely make your own decorations for the front of the paper pouches, but I was short on time (and I’m not artistically talented and wanted it to look nice). I think I picked up both items for $7. So I glued all my numbers on and while I waited for them to dry, started setting up the corkboard.
Step Three – The finished product!
All that was left to do was get these cuties pegged onto the board. I pinned four rows of string horizontally across it, then attached my little pouches with my pegs and voilà! My very own DIY, reusable advent calendar. The final and most important thing is, obviously, deciding which treats will be going in it. Mine is still empty but I think I’ve settled on getting some fruity barley sugars to fill it.
If you would like to create your own advent calendar this year, there are heaps of awesome ideas on Pinterest, or feel free to make one like ours! We would love to see your creations. All the best for the holiday season! You can also check out our Christmas craft from last year, when we made gift boxes out of old toilet paper rolls!
header image sourced via negativespace.co
