How to Make Your Own Advent Calendar

With Christmas less than a month away, and the 1^st December just around the corner, advent calendars will be flying off the shelves. Instead of buying a generic chocolate one for your loved ones this year – as lovely and tasty as they may be – why not try making your own? Not only will it be a fun activity, but it will also be a lot more personal, both to give and receive.

The first thing to do is to find a frame that can be filled. Whether you want to use an old shelving unit, a fruit crate, or make one out of cardboard and paint it, they all work well. The idea is to just have something to put your 24 gifts in, so that they can all be seen and pulled out in order. You can buy pre-assembled advent calendars online, but they will be considerably more expensive than trying to make the base yourself.

Next, you need to decide what to fill the windows with. If you have children in the house, it’s best that they aren’t involved with this bit, or else they’ll know what to expect when they open their gift each morning! You can put anything from chocolate to small gifts, to joke presents in these cubby holes. It might help to set a budget so as not to spend a small fortune on 24 presents.

The final step is to decorate your advent calendar. Add baubles, tinsel – anything you think can bring the Christmas spirit to your home! Adding things like cinnamon sticks and dried oranges can also add a lovely Christmassy scent to your home, which will really help to get you in the festive mood. Fairy lights are also a nice touch. Once you have decorated it, make sure to add numbers 1-24 on your calendar, and put it somewhere so it can stand pride of place.