DIY: Holiday Advent Calendar

Yesterday, while browsing Pinterest on my lunch break, I came accross some DIY Holiday Advent Calendars... and got totally sucked in. Googling, blog searching, etc. obsessed with the idea of making an advent calendar for boyfriend and I to enjoy this Holiday season.

I remember when I was kid how thrilling it was to pull that little cardboard door open & pop out the peice of chocolate everyday in December, counting down the days til Christmas.

But we're adults now, and I can go buy my own chocolate whenever I want. And I do.

So instead of chocolate in our calendar I came up with 24 activities for boyfriend and I to do together. But sorry, I can't list them for you.

Part of the excitment is the surprise of what is in the envelope - and if I tell you boyfriend might see it! (Tip: just google Holiday activities for ideas!)

To make sure I get in on some of the excitment of the surprise - I rushed out to Michaels yesterday for supplies ($20) and made my advent calendar last night. (On the theory that I will forget what I put in the envelopes by December 1...)

Also, I knew I was going to be up late watching the election results so I needed a project to keep me busy; otherwise, I would have fallen asleep. (Which I immediately did after I finished the calendar...)

 DIY: Holiday Advent Calendar

Supplies:
scissors
glue (I forgot glue!! But I had some modge podge on hand that I painted on like glue - whew!)
hot glue
marker (for the numbers, stickers could work too. I printed the numbers in a pretty font, placed my white circle on top of the numbered paper and used a red paint pen to trace each number)
holiday scrapbook paper (I printed a 2" circle on cardstock to use as a stencil to cut each circle)
envelopes (found these cute 3.3" square ones)
ribbon
white paper (I printed 24 1" circles on cardstock, and cut them out by hand)
any embellishments (Michaels has tons and tons of fancy stickers/glittery stuff)
Holiday activities (I just printed mine out and cute them into strips, folding to put into the envelope)

Directions:

1. Cut all (24) white circles. Trace/write/stick your numbers on.
2. Cut all (24) holiday circles. Glue your numbered white circles into the center of each.
3. Glue a complete circle on each envelope.
4. Stuff an activity in each one.
5. Lay your ribbon out flat. Position the filled envelopes so that they are all equally spaced. Hot glue a front corner to the back of the ribbon. (Otherwise it may be hard to open.)
6. Viola! Finished! My original plan was to hang it off of our mantle but since it was waaaay longer than expected, I'm thinking just along a wall somewhere...

Can't wait til December 1!

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3 & 4

Bad example of Step 5

Very truly yours, A. Bean