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November 30, 2016 · 10 Comments

Simple + Fun DIY Christmas Advent Calendar Ideas

Christmas· DIY Projects· Seasonal

I’ve always been a huge fan of activity advent calendars this time of year. Corey and I love to come up with unique ways to celebrate the season, and coming up with fun advent calendar ideas is such a fantastic way to be intentional about soaking up every single second of the season.

Also, it gives me a good excuse to eat a metric ton of cookies and spend entire days in my pajamas. I have to! The calendar says so!

I’m tricky like that.

DIY Christmas advent calendar

Our calendars have shifted and evolved a bit over the years – I’ll share a few links below to all of the different versions of our advent calendars. Our favorite method, however, is just a plain ol’ advent calendar (rather than a bucket list or another method) and I’m always so excited to dive in and get started. Each year, I spend a ton of time making sure that everything on our list is placed perfectly so that we don’t have a big activity planned for a busy weeknight and we don’t have too many “bake cookies” nights in a row.

Although let’s be honest, no one would complain about that.

Activity advent calendar

Advent Calendar Ideas

Here’s a quick list of all of our activity advent calendar ideas from years past – keep scrolling to see what’s on our list this year! 

  • Envelope Activity Advent Calendar
  • Simple December Bucket List
  • Toddler Friendly Winter Bucket List {Includes a free printable!}
  • Favorite Christmas Traditions and Projects

This year’s calendar was incredibly simple to make, and I think it’s one I’ll keep using for a few years, at least. Let’s chat about how it’s done.

advent calendar ideas

(This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.)

How to Make a DIY Activity Advent Calendar

Materials:

  • A frame (I used an old frame from an IKEA mirror I wasn’t using anymore)
  • A1 Kraft paper envelopes
  • Small cards
  • Graphite transfer paper
  • Sharpie
  • Clothespins or clips (I added glitter to mine by brushing on some Mod Podge, sprinkling glitter on top, and then doing another layer of Mod Podge on top – super simple!)
  • Hot glue gun + glue (If you do a lot of hot gluing, this one is totally worth the investment!)
  • Ribbon

How it’s done:

frame for Christmas advent calendar

I decided to use a frame I already had laying around – it’s an old Ikea mirror with the mirror part removed (it was just held in with those little metal folding prongs). I was going to hit up a thrift store to find something, but then I remembered I had this and it was perfect – such a good reminder to check your random stash of leftover mirrors before you go buy something.

What? You don’t have like 12 extra mirrors hanging out in your house? That’s just me?

Anyways. To make the frame itself I grabbed some pretty red ribbon and hot glued a few rows of it to the back of the frame.

advent calendar ideas

The numbered envelopes were incredibly simple to make. I just printed out some numbers in a pretty font then I used my graphite transfer paper to get a nice outline on the envelopes.

cards for DIY advent calendar

Then, I traced over ’em with a Sharpie. Done!

DIY advent calendar ideas

I didn’t do anything fancy with the cards – we probably won’t re-use these from year to year, so I just wrote our activities on them with a pen.

Then, I clipped them up on the frame with the glittery clothespins and that’s it!

easy advent calendar ideas Christmas advent calendar ideas

I love how this turned out and I am so excited to get started. Jackson really understands what Christmas is this year and has been talking about it nonstop for weeks, so I think he’s going to have a blast with this.

And even if he doesn’t, I know I’ll have a blast with it.

In case you’re curious, here’s a quick list of what is one each day of our activity advent calendar this year (and yes, I know some of them are repeats – who doesn’t want more than one cookie + Christmas movie night?!)

Christmas Activity Advent Calendar Ideas

  1. Write a letter to Santa
  2. Go to a Christmas festival
  3. Local Christmas parade and tree lighting
  4. Make salt dough ornaments
  5. Bake cookies and watch a Christmas movie
  6. Make homemade marshmallows
  7. Make s’mores
  8. Wear matching Christmas pajamas
  9. Make gingerbread houses
  10. Go see Santa at Magnolia Market
  11. Have a family movie night
  12. Go look at Christmas lights
  13. Bake Christmas cookies
  14. Play board games and make hot chocolate
  15. Color in some Christmas coloring pages
  16. Go out to eat
  17. Pajama + movie days
  18. Have hot chocolate and go for a walk to look at lights
  19. Have breakfast for dinner under the tree
  20. Bake cookies and watch a Christmas movie
  21. Have a Christmas music dance party
  22. Have a fondue dinner at home
  23. Cook and bake for Christmas Eve
  24. Set out cookies for Santa
  25. Merry Christmas!

envelope advent calendar ideas for Christmas advent calendar

I’ll be back on Friday with some photos of our Christmas decor this season – I’m so proud of how it all turned out this year and I really sometimes feel like my house was just meant to be decorated for Christmas all year long.

That’s not weird, is it?

simple Christmas activity advent calendar

Do you do an advent calendar? What kinds of activites do you like to put on yours?

Previous Post: « Our 2016 Christmas Cards
Next Post: 2016 Christmas Home Tour, Part 1 »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kati says

    December 9, 2016 at 12:25 pm

    I love it! So beautiful. We love doing an activity everyday to countdown to Christmas too.

    Reply
  2. Cat @ Pocketful of Posies says

    December 6, 2016 at 9:50 pm

    I think this is such a sweet idea! I really love that everything this is something you can do together, way better than chocolate!! Pinning!

    Reply
  3. michelle james says

    December 6, 2016 at 11:29 am

    Love the advent calendar!

    Reply
  4. Amy @ mylifefromhome says

    December 5, 2016 at 8:08 am

    This is darling!

    Reply
  5. Sarah says

    December 3, 2016 at 9:03 pm

    Such a cute advent calendar! I love the little activities for each day, too!

    Reply
  6. BonBon says

    December 3, 2016 at 8:11 am

    I love this idea and it looks like it will not be to hard to make. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  7. Linda at Mixed Kreations says

    December 1, 2016 at 9:43 am

    What a cute advent calendar, and would be so easy to make. I have a collection of frames that I’ve picked up at yard sales, and thrift stores. Thanks for sharing! Pinned!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      December 1, 2016 at 9:33 pm

      Thanks! It was SO easy to make!

      Reply
  8. Jamie says

    November 30, 2016 at 11:37 am

    Funnily enough, it was your activity advent idea that got me inspired to do one too! I like to do the bucket list format so that we don’t feel pressured to go out and look at lights when we would really rather just stay home and watch Love Actually! Maybe someday I’ll be organized enough to do an actual calendar!

    Reply
    • Amanda says

      November 30, 2016 at 6:40 pm

      Aw, yay! We liked the bucket list too…but I felt like we tended to forget about it sometimes so I’m hoping this will keep us on track again. We’ll see – it’s hard to find a good balance between feeling guilty for skipping a day and forgetting about the whole dang list, haha

      Reply

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Overwhelmed by DIY? Let's do it together! I'm Amanda, and I live in the suburbs of Austin, Texas with my husband and two sons. I've taught myself how to make simple updates to help make my house a home, and I want to show you how to do it, too. Click here to learn more about us.

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