'Tis the season! One of the best parts of December is the lead up to Christmas, and one of my favorite things to do every morning (okay, every other morning, with siblings you have to trade off days) was to open the advent calendar! We have some super cute ones online, but if you are adventurous, MK & I have put together a DIY Advent Calendar!

Pssst: We'll be using the one we made for a special surprise for our customers...stay tuned on social media & sign up for our newsletter!

What you need:

- tape

- scissors 

- a box cutter

- varying ribbon

- varying wrapping paper

- a frame (we had one in store, you need a large frame, Goodwill is a great place to look!)

- 24 different sized boxes (save matchboxes, jewelry boxes, small milk cartons, etc...)

- poster board 

- paint & brushes 

- tags

 

 

Here's some of the paper we have! And oh boy, you should see our ribbon hallway...

Step 1:

Take the back out of the frame and use it as a guide, trace it onto your poster board. Cut it out with the box cutter (tip: make sure to place something under the poster board, I used a cardboard box, so the blade doesn't harm the surface underneath!). 

Step 2:

Place out the boxes inside the frame to figure out which one goes where. It's like a puzzle, and might take a bit to fiddle around with! Take a photo so you can re-create it later.

Step 3:

Paint the poster board as the back ground. We got our acrylic paint at Michael's and mixed a bright red and muted purple to create a soft red.

Paint it any color you want! Or even wrap the posterboard in kraft paper or wrapping paper, get inspired!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4:

Wrapping time! The main thing to remember is that the bottom part of the box will be glued to the board, so make sure not to wrap any paper or ribbon on the bottom.

We ended up just wrapping the lid by cutting strips of paper and taping it to the inside lid. Check out our steps below:

Time for ribbon! 

For the ribbon, we taped or glued the center part to the underside of the lid then tied a bow on top so the lid will be able to easily come off!

Mix and match ribbons, paper patterns, even add pinecones or greenery. Get creative!

 

 

 

To distinguish the days, we added little tags with ribbon, and either glued them on the top or tied the ribbon around the bow on the box. You can add the numbers in any way you want, even writing them straight onto the box!

 

 

 

Step 5:

Get your hot glue gun ready! Once the board is dry, place the boxes in the order you determined earlier. Then, one by one, glue the boxes onto the board. Make sure there is a lip around the board of empty space because it will have to fit into the frame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 6:

Assemble & add the daily surprises! Put the board into the frame and secure it.

Add whatever you want to the boxes, little gifts, candy, notes, holiday stories, the possibilities are endless!

Stay tuned to see what we added to ours....