Even though this Christmas will technically be Nora’s 2nd Christmas — I highly doubt she’ll remember her first Christmas since she was just 5 weeks old. And besides the pictures we have as proof, I don’t think Dave and I remember much of last Christmas either!
So, since this is kind of Nora’s first Christmas, I wanted to start the tradition of using an Advent Calendar to count down the days until Christmas {starting on December 1}. I’ve always thought that would be a fun tradition to start with our kids — however, since I don’t have loads of extra time for fancy crafts right now, I started our family tradition with an ULTRA SIMPLE Advent Calendar.
Seriously folks, it took me less than 15 minutes to create!
Yes, I know, Nora won’t understand… and I know she won’t remember, but I figured I should just do one this year so we get in the habit.
Plus, I know this will be a simple project some of you might enjoy it too 🙂
Here is the very small list of supplies you’ll need to make this Advent Calendar:
- one 24-count mini-muffin tin
- 24 – 2″ x 2″ square pieces of paper (you can get as crafty and creative as you want with this)
- 24 – 1.5″ white circle stickers (or you can cut paper and glue it on)
- Scissors
- Marker to write the numbers
- Tape, poster putty, or something to stick the paper onto the muffin tin (not in the picture)
Advent Calendar Directions:
1. Cut 2″ x 2″ squares out of a holiday colored paper
2. Stick one round sticker onto the center of the 2″ x 2″ square
3. Write the numbers 1 – 24 on each of the white stickers
4. Attach one square paper to each of the mini-muffin tin openings with tape or poster putty
5. Fill each opening with a tiny treat or treasure
6. Hang it from a nail or hook somewhere in your house (my muffin tin has a lip on the back, so it hangs just like a picture frame… however you could also super glue a ribbon to the back side and hang it that way)
DONE — Told you it was simple!
What to put inside the tins?
Obviously, you won’t be able to put huge presents/prizes inside the mini-muffin tins, but here are a few ideas:
- Small candies/treats
- Tiny toys
- Folded pieces of paper with Bible versus or holiday quotes
- Folded pieces of paper with a destination (ex: under your mattress, in the dryer, under the middle couch cushion) and then you could hide a larger present or treat in those locations.
- Papers with people’s names or specific prayer requests — and then your family could pray for that person or those requests each day.
There are lots more possibilities, but hopefully these will get you thinking 🙂
I suppose the only down-side to this Advent Calendar is that you won’t be able to use your mini-muffin tin until after Christmas — but thankfully, I have 2 others!
Do you do Advent Calendars?
What ones are your favorites? — feel free to leave links to any ideas in the comments below!
Charon Benton says
Something my family likes to do is write down fun things to do the entire month of December, such as light-looking, make hot chocolate, pizza and a movie night, etc. Simple things that are fun to do together. We write each idea on a piece of christmas colored paper and drop them in a big old fashioned jar, then pick one paper every night. It has become a favorite thing for our family!
Lee Cockrum says
I was going to suggest like someone above putting the numbers on magnet sheets, that way they can be used year after year! You can use the magnets that people give you for free on your fridge, or you can buy sheets at Lowes or Home Depot, in the heating section, they are magnetic vent covers!
Karen @ Abundance on a Dime says
We love Advent calendars at our house. My boys are now 13 and 15 (and as tall as I am) and yet I suspect they will still want an Advent calendar this year 🙂
We have 2 reusable calendars: one is an Advent quilt of a Christmas tree and you hang an ornament on the tree for each day, the other is a felt calendar with pockets large enough to place treats. Some years I have filled it with candies, some years I have done as Dawn mentioned and write a holiday activity on a strip of paper for each day. One year I wrote a Christmas joke or riddle for each day (copied from a book I got out of the library), the kids got a kick out of that!!
Dawn says
We have an Elf on the Shelf named “Snowy” and she is going to bring an envelope/ornament for our tree each day for our countdown advent calendar. I’ll have a piece of paper in each one telling what we will be doing that day – make Christmas cookies, go see the Christmas lights around town, go see Santa, play a game etc. It’s going to be really fun.
Dallas says
This is so clever! I am definitely going to use this idea!
Bronwyn says
This is so cute! I’ve seen a similar idea before and that person used stick on magnet sheets as the backing for the ‘covers’ so it held onto the tin.
In our family we always use the felt Advent calendar my mum made for us. :o) Bring on the season!
AuntieShawna says
When my sister and I were little our mom quilted this teddy bear advent calendar. At the bottom is a little saying and you move the bear all around the house until Christmas Eve and he finds the tree and his family. My sister and I are in our 30’s and we still tease each other about who gets to place the bear on the 24th. It’s a great tradition.