5 Fun DIY Christmas Advent Calendar Ideas for the Family

As a kid, Christmas was always my favorite time of year. And part of what always made it exciting, and built anticipation for the big day was an Advent Calendar to count down the days. Want to make yours even more exciting this year? Why not pick one of the below creative DIY Advent Calendar ideas and make your own this year. Many of them can even be made with things from around your house, or from low cost items at your local dollar store. It’s even a lot of fun for the kids to make it as well. In fact, it will make it that much more meaningful to them.

Miniature Santa Bag of Gifts, Advent Calendar

https://modernparentsmessykids.com/diy-advent-calendar-to-make-with-the-kids/ This cute advent calendar is a fun way to count down to Christmas using little cotton sacks you can pick up at any crafts store, or even make yourself if you wish. Part of the fun for kids decorating these little Santa Bag. You can use stencils to add numbers for the days and cute patterns with craft paint or fabric pens. And of course, since this is an actual bag it’s super easy to throw in little treats or trinkets that kids will love. You can read full instructions on ModernParentsMessyKids.com.

Fortune Cookie Variant Advent Calendar

Source Handmade paper fortune cookies add a fun and exciting twist to the advent calendar. And the funnest part is being creative with what fortune cookie messages you decide to add to your fortune cookies. Simple and very low cost to make, you only need Christmas craft paper. You do little things like, a ticket to see a favorite Christmas movie at home with popcorn, a trip to go see Santa Clause, baking Christmas cookies, go ice skating, hot apple cider or hot chocolate, or any other creative idea you come up with.

 

Cracker-style Advent Calendar

Source This advent calendar is very easy to make, charming and fun for the kids. And of course, this advent adds to the Christmas décor of any room in your home. The Cracker-style advent simply requires either toilet paper roll tubes, or paper towel roll tubes cut in half, tissue paper, and a variety of different Christmas paper and/or wrapping paper. Place your choice of fun little gifts inside each tube, tying the ends closed. This is a fun advent for the kids to open, almost like a present. Then you finish by attaching to a ribbon that you can then hang or tack on the wall. So much fun! See full instruction by clicking here.

Magnetic Advent Calendar

Source These magnetic spice tins can be found at any Ikea, and are used for many different craft projects as well. A fun, and super cute project for you and your kids. To decorate, you only need some craft paper that you can draw, print, or use number sticker in for the days of the calendar. And since they are magnetic, they easily stick to your refrigerator or any other metal surface. The tins are a great size to put little treats in, or even little cute gifts. You can see further details on how to make this magnetic advent calendar at Twig and Thistle. http://twigandthistle.com/blog/2010/11/magnetic-holiday-advent-calendar-diy/

Baby Socks Advent Calendar

Source What a fun, and adorable idea. This one comes from JediCraftGirl.com, which is primarily a quilting site, but has some other fun craft ideas. I don’t care how old you are, though, this idea is fun at any age. If you don’t have a bunch of baby socks to use, you can get some really low cost and cute ones at a dollar store or somewhere like Walmart. Decorate these little socks with Christmasy decorations, and pin the day numbers onto them. Fill them with little treats and then pin them with small clothes pins to a long ribbon of your choosing. The ribbon can be placed anywhere, pin it to the wall, or even to your hearth, if you have one.