A fun, easy DIY Advent Calendar to count down the days until Christmas.
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My kids love counting down the days until Christmas.
We typically do a Bible based advent calendar, but it doesn’t have a place to put a treat. I wanted to add a candy advent calendar, so I decided to make this easy DIY Advent Calendar.
Materials needed to make a DIY Advent Calendar:
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- Hot glue gun (I’m totally upgrading to this cordless hot glue gun once my current one dies)
- Glue stick
- Scissors
- X-acto Knife
- Four 12×12 sheets of cardstock for the boxes, or eight 8.5×11 sheets, or 24 toilet paper rolls
- One 12×12 sheet of Christmasy scrapbooking paper for the larger circles
- Printer and printer paper for the smaller circles
- One 8.5×11 sheet of paper for the origami star (I don’t recommend cardstock for this)
- One sheet of poster board (22×28)
- Templates below
I made a template for each box, which you can print out and cut out. You can use card stock to make these (like I did), or you can even smash a toilet paper roll flat and use those (I made these the same size as if they were made from toilet paper rolls).
The only downsides to using actual toilet paper rolls is that they are made from fibers set at a diagonal angle, so that sometimes wants to come apart. The other downside is that it can be quite difficult to get all of the glue off of them. However, if you want to use TP rolls, you could always paint them.
I’m including a template that you can print straight onto card stock if you want, or another template that you can cut out and trace, if you’re using a larger sheet, or something that can’t go through the printer.
To make the Advent Calendar, cut out boxes, numbered circles, and larger circles (if desired) using the templates.
Box Template
After cutting out boxes, fold each one in half, and fold in the little tab on the end. Hot glue the tab to the other end of the box. Glue the larger circles on using a glue stick.
Using an X-acto knife, score a curve inward on each end, as seen in this picture. It doesn’t have to be real exact, so don’t stress over it. It just helps it so that the box doesn’t end up bending in an ugly way.
Starting with the flaps on the back, push the flap in towards the center, until it pops into place. Do the same with the front flaps. They should stay folded in well on their own, due to the shape, but if not, hot glue them in place after filling the boxes.
For the star, I cut five pieces of paper into 2 1/2″ x 6″ rectangles, and then used these directions to make a modular origami star.
Hot glue the boxes into the shape of a Christmas tree, doing boxes 1-7 on the bottom line, 8-13 on the next line, 14-18 on the next line, 19-22 on the next line, and 23-24 on the top line. I recommend laying it all out first, and then hot gluing them in place once you’re happy with the setup. Top with the star.
You could also hot glue to a ribbon, or even make slits through the boxes to put them onto a ribbon.
I hope you enjoy this DIY Advent Calendar. Here are a bunch more advent calendar ideas brought to you by my blogging friends:
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