Awesome DIY Advent Calendar Ideas {+25 Days of Ideas}

Can you believe it is already that time of year again? Time to pull out the Advent calendar and fill it will goodness. In our house this is a tradition we have had since the boys were tiny. We have an advent calendar that we got from Target after Christmas one year that has served us well. I never even thought of making my own until I recently saw a friend write about a DIY advent calendar she was working on. So I went on a hunt to see if I could find some creative and unique DIY Advent Calendar Ideas!

DIY Advent Calendars

Wow, did I ever find some cool advent calendars! With plenty of prep time and plenty of patience, we might just be able to make some of our own this year and set aside our tried and true advent calendar we have had for years.

Creative and Unique DIY Advent Calendar Ideas

Advent Calendar Idea

What Goes in Our Advent Calendar?

About 2 weeks before Thanksgiving the boys start to ask when the Advent calendar will be making its appearance. In the past, I have been uncreative and just added a Hershey Kiss in each door. Last year, however, I became frustrated with this part of the tradition, as I didn’t really want the boys eating candy EVERY DAY until Christmas.

That’s why I decided to start a little earlier with some planning.

I sat down with the boys and asked them for 25 of their wishes. What do they wish we could do together as a family? What memory would they want to make? What exploration do they want to do? This coincides really well with our first week of homeschool because the children are interested and eager to try many new crafts and explorations.

Our Very Own Advent Calendar Activity List

advent activies ideas

My plan is to type this list onto small pieces of paper and insert them into the calendar randomly. After finishing our list, I couldn’t help but research what other people like to do for their activities since this is only our first year adding this to our traditions.

So if your children are too young to give you ideas or you just need a few ideas to get you started, I found the following lists extremely helpful…

10 Advent Calendar Activity Lists

What do you add to your Advent Calendar? Do you make your own or fill a pre-made one? I would love to know.

Follow me on FacebookTwitterGoogle+, Pinterest, Instagram or subscribe by email in the sidebar. I can’t wait to hear your ideas.

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21 thoughts on “Awesome DIY Advent Calendar Ideas {+25 Days of Ideas}”

  1. Hi Dayna! I commented on your Facebook post making sure it’s ok with us if you reference Sarah’s Advent post. I thought I’d comment here as well, though, just to be sure you see one or the other of my messages. 🙂 You have our site listed as “Hip School Mom” above in your list. The correct name of the site is “Hip Homeschool Moms.” I just wanted to let you know and to ask you if you will please correct it. Thanks so much!

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  3. Found your post on the Newbie Bloggers Club. I really like how you used activities instead of treats or candy, such a great idea. And thanks for sharing the ones you used too. 🙂

    1. Thank you so much for all your kind words. We are a bit behind on our advent calendar due to kiddos getting sick and splitting time with Mr. X. But I hope to update this list with posts from our advent adventures…Keep checking back, or stop by facebook and follow for updates 🙂

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  5. We have always made a simple DIY calendar by wrapping up candy in colorful tissue paper and hanging them up. This year my husband (he is a crafty one in our family) sewed up felt pouches (they are in my Afterschool Advent Roundup post). We are OK with daughter eating a candy every day, she does it anyway as a breakfast dessert, but this year we also inserted occasional “coupons”, especially for Sundays. I quite like your idea of asking children about their special wishes and trying to incorporate theirs into the calendar!

    1. Just starting homeschooling, this worked great because they are always asking “today can we..” I can’t fit it all in, I need some sort of schedule. The advent let me spread it out. I think I might do something for the other months too, what do you think?

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    1. Thank you for your kind words. I actually wasn’t planning on sharing the Advent calendar anymore since I figured it is a time sensitive post. 🙂

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  14. Fabulous post that can be re-read year on year!
    Thank you very kindly for linking to my advent activities list.

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