DIY Simple Advent Calendar with Holiday Activities
My goal this year is to Keep Christmas Cozy.
I love the holidays and want to make memories with my family without getting wrapped up in the stress of making everything perfect, so this year I’ve created an advent calendar filled with simple, doable holiday activities.
I’m looking forward to having this countdown for the kids that will encourage us to connect and slow down.
And, BONUS, it’s really simple to make.
Make this Clothespins and Ribbon Advent Calendar
You will need:
- 24 Wooden Clothespins
- A ribbon approximately 48″ long
- Glue
- Scrap paper in holiday colors
- Paper Numbers – you can download the numbers I used here.
- Holiday Activities or Conversation Starters to hang from you advent calendar. Need Ideas? You can find activities and printable tags in the Creative Christmas Countdown.
Tips for making your own activity tags:
Choose simple holiday activities, no need to complicate your month with a craft every day. The kids will be excited simply to spend time with you. Activities like “Go get the Christmas tree.” or “Have Apple Cider with Cinnamon Sticks.” are fun, but not overly complex.
And of course, if you don’t use the printable tags here, you can just clip out rectangles of scrapbook paper and write on the back!
Making the Advent Calendar:
1. Glue your activities to the scrapbook paper to make a colorful backing. (Or as one astute reader mentioned – cut the scrap paper to letter size and simply print on the white side of the scrapbook paper.)
2. Cut your ribbon at an angle so you’ll be able to thread it through the middle of the clothespins. Hold it over a flame briefly to keep it from shredding.
Then you’ll thread 24 clothespins onto your ribbon, leaving about an inch between. This was the tedious part of the project, but it still didn’t take too long.
3. Cut out and glue the numbers onto the clothespins.
4. Finally, cut apart your activities and arrange them over the course of the advent calendar, folding them in half as you attach them.
I took some care to note when it will be a weekend so I could put whole family activities on those days. It’s helpful to make yourself a cheat sheet so you can remember what’s coming up.
That’s all! I hung mine using push pins.
Wishing you a joyful Christmas!
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Ah cool, thanks Hannah
Claire Louise Voss would some thing like this help break up the cabin fever ? X
Fab idea
I have done this! It’s going to be exiting opening every day. We started off with a simple activity of Reading The Christmas Story. Then the kids wanted to print stars on paper after reading the story. X
I know 1/2 the fun and the point is to bound while creating these but have you ever thought of making these and selling them? All assembled and ready to use? For me, I always say I want to do this stuff but never get around to it! Just a thought.. 🙂
I love this, Alissa … it’s so attractive and inviting! I featured your post and photo in my Christmas Countdown Activities post. 🙂
Looks great! Great ideas, too. Even easier, you could cut the scrap paper to size and print the activities right onto the back of it (if it’s white on the reverse)-then you don’t have to glue anything!
Amanda – that’s genius! LOL, I wish I had thought of it! 😀
This looks very nice, (if I have time) I’m thinking to do something similar for the count down of my boy’s 4th birthday as he keep on asking how many times he still needs to sleep till his birthday :-). And if I manage to do it, I’ll write on my blog about it 🙂
This is great! We have a lovely advent calendar but I’m going to borrow this idea for a birthday countdown calendar like Angela suggested. I don’t know what it is about turning 4, but my son asks on a weekly basis about turning 4!
I made a paper chain for the past 2 years for my son’s birthday. He just turned 5. He can help make it, then removes one chain each day and can see the chain getting smaller as it gets closer to his birthday.