Advent Calendar

Step

outside of the traditional christmas countdown box emember the advent calendar of our youth (the cardboard calendar with tiny flip doors that hid the cheapest little chocolate treat)? Man, I absolutely loved them.

Each year I have big intentions to make an advent calendar. Something that jives with our style and gives the kids a countdown to Christmas. I’m twelve years deep into the parenting game and can you guess what I’ve done? The cardboard calendar with the tiny flip doors and the cheap little chocolate treat. What can I say — my mom heart wants to go the extra mile and yet my brain takes a holiday. Not this time.

First, let’s talk style. Each holiday season we pick new colors or a theme for our decorating. I’m leaning toward a Scandinavian look for 2017. The simplicity this offers meshes well with our century-old modern farmhouse thing we already have going on. My 12-year-old has always enjoyed decorating for the holidays. Most kids do, but ever since she was little she has been a participant in theme and color choices. I can’t forget the look on the face of the checkout girl at Michaels when five-year-old Vieve stated, “We are feeling more neutrals this year.”

I’m going to share with you a few options I’m trying this year to bring a fun countdown to Christmas with my littles. These advent calendars are affordable too, because who wants to be adding more expenses to the Christmas budget? Not this mama.

Embroidery Hoop Wreath

I wrapped each parcel with brown paper and put in lightweight sweet treats (Hershey’s Kiss) or coupons (e.g., go sledding with Dad, decorate cookies) in each, and then tied them to the hoop. Next I wired the greenery with floral wire to the hoop. All I purchased was a bag of treats and wire. Otherwise, I had everything else in my project stash. If you are starting with nothing, this will cost around $20.

Christmas Books

We love to read in our home. So for this calendar, we’ll unwrap another Christmas book each night. Before you pass on this idea for fear of buying 24 new books, please note that is not at all what I did with ours. I wrapped up our existing Christmas books and bought only a few new ones. We pack away our Christmas themed books with our decorations each year so that they are fresh for the holidays (a clever trick so we aren’t reading about Llama Llama’s holiday drama in June). After the books are wrapped you can put numbers them. You can buy tags, paint, use a sharpie or stamp.

Reverse Advent

This is an act-of-kindness based calendar. Each day we’ll add an item to the basket and then donate the contents. We’ve chosen to support our local YWCA women’s shelter this season so we’ll include some non-perishable goodies, some sanitary items and throw in a few kid-friendly toys and treats too.

There are so many alternatives to making DIY advent calendars at home so hopefully these will get you in the mood. And if you are curious about what we are doing to decorate for Christmas, I’ll be sharing how to make rustic felt trees and wooden disc ornaments, among other projects, on Instagram.

Cori’s Budget Tip

Wrap Christmas books that you already own. The kids will still be just as excited to unwrap an old favorite to read with you.