Anyone Made An Advent Calendar?

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CanadianJingles

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Oct 13, 2007
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Has anyone here made their own Advent calendar? It's something I think about every year, but I've never done.

Have you made one? Or are you eying up instructions for one but haven't started it for whatever reason? :)
 

MinnieCo

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I have a ton of idea pages w/ instructions, but never actually sit down to make one.
 

Kim Loves Snow

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Aug 3, 2008
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I'm making one right now out of the metal containers with the clear top and the magnetic back. I'm covering a metal board with Christmas paper and then I'm making a circular insert for each of the metal containers with the dates on them. Inside each one will be a piece of candy, a "fortune" or a trinket. This will be for my almost 6 year old niece.
 

luludou

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Dec 28, 2007
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Every year I say I will make one. I have a pattern from a book, it's a Christmas tree but I just never had the fabric to do it... I found the PERFECT fabric at Walmart's last week! I don't know if I'll have time to do it this year before Christmas but it WILL get done.
 

aggy

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Oct 11, 2007
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I made one for my youngest niece last year. I used mini Christmas stockings that I bought at $ Tree. I attached them to some red felt fabric and a dowel so that it can hang on the wall.
 

Basket

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Dec 25, 2007
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I´ve made an Advent Calendar for my children (19,22) every year.

First I`ve sew 48 felt sacks in green and red. 24 for both.
I filled them more then 15 times and they aren`t broken down.

First I filled them with soap bubbles, little toys, little books (pixies).

Than I take a fairy story and divide it into 24 parts (every day a part of a story and some sweets) and

later I bought a big lego-box and divide it into 24 parts.

Last year I bought different things in the dollar store, gave them a $ and fast food coupons (2$ each) some days. (Therefore they didn´t get anything for St. Nicholas)
 

Colleen in PA

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Than I take a fairy story and divide it into 24 parts (every day a part of a story and some sweets) and later I bought a big lego-box and divide it into 24 parts.

I love the idea of breaking up a story to last through the 24 days! And the legos would be hugely popular in our house!

I have a wooden advent calendar that looks like a Christmas cottage. My SIL gave it to me as a gift a few years ago (after listening to me say I wanted to make one for years!) The compartments are small, so it can be challenging to find small things that fit.
 

Ahorsesoul

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Pam Spaur

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When my youngest DS was 7, I cross stitched him one. Got the pattern from a friend who's mom got it from a German magazine. I sewed little plastic rings on each day. Then I cut squares of Christmas fabric, and in each square I put a treat of some kind....candy, a note to say we would play a game, another might say, we will go to the store and pick out your favorite treat.

Then the next year, I made them for my twins who were 15. Each calendar was a different pattern. They had similar treats. I gave them their own calendars when they left home. I wonder if any of them have them still. None of them realize the time, effort and love that went into them.

I doubt that any of my DGC will get one. Is that mean? I love the 24 days of a story. That is priceless! Wish I had thought of that. DD has done something for DGS with a long box that had dividers in it. She just went to the dollar store and got 24 individual treats and he got to open one in the morning! It was quite an adventure for him.
 

Basket

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Dec 25, 2007
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If a gift is larger than my sacks I take a basket nearby and
put the things with number in the basket or wrote on a piece of paper that say,
they can pick a gift from the basket or can get it by their mother on this special day :)

little things are rings, earrings, special paperclips, a coin, eraser, little figures for the crocodocs (? galosh),
sticker, sweets, licorice, a fortune lot, teabag with christmas tea, hair-band, little toys, cars.

@ Ahorsesoul - like the Advent calendar boxes - sth for my husband this year ^^
with socks, shaving foam, sample packages, sweets, marzipan, loveletters ...
 
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luludou

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Ahoursesoul - they are all so cute!

Here are a few different ones - Santa hat calendar, reindeers....etc...

http://santacla.us/christmas/calendar/index.php


I can't find a pic of the one I want to make but if I make it I'll post. It's a Christmas tree with a plaid pattern.
 

JeniferDwn

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I bought my dd 2 after Christmas 2008 and she got to open them Christmas 2009. One was Barbie and one was Littlest Pet shop. She loved opening them each day, so I found some little plastic ones with chocolate coins. then I found a wooden one at Kohls, but the openings are too small for almost anything to fit in there. My friends dad is making us both one for Christmas this year. It's going to be big enough for little treats and cars and stuff.
 

MinnieCo

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Those are some I haven't seen ahorsesoul. I love the matchbox one. I've seen them individually, but never stacked like that. I LOVE IT! But I usually leave things a little larger for my daughter. Maybe I'll make it a 100% svc type advent for her this year. But I'm thinking for the first time, I'll do an advent for my niece. She's in middle school, but her mom doesn't always get the tree up and Christmas can be kind of boring in her house, so I'd like to make it a little special. You know my daughter has 3 years till college and I'm already thinking about her 12 days of Christmas plan. Like I'll have them shipped and ready to go, even shen she's in college. I'd be a cool mom if I did that!
 

jinglemom

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I've made one using cardboard, papermache, air dry clay and mini nativity ornaments. You can see a picture of it here http://s47.photobucket.com/home/jinglemom3. The tree next to it is also used for an advent calendar. I bought 25 ornament balls that open and came with hersheys kisses inside. I can either put a candy inside, a note with an activity for that day, or a note to find a bigger present somewhere else. I put the ornaments in the bowl on the table and hang a new one on the tree each day. Now that I have a cricut, I may put numbers on the ornament balls.
 

CanadianJingles

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Wow, what a lot of wonderful replies! I have looked at some online and I think I'd have to do two -- one for each of my children -- and I guess durability is going to be an issue to consider since they are 6 and 3.
 

jackfrosty

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Basket

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...
They also have some neat Halloween and Thanksgiving ones that could be adapted for Christmas-
http://www.storytellersclub.com/NewsLetter/Tutorials/October09/


Lovely - never heard about the 13 days of Halloween. Great idea. (is there a special reason because of the 13?)
As my kids were younger I´ve made them a waiting-for-their-birthday-calendar.
I´ve only made 15 outlines from pets, cookie cutters or whatever and they colored it out every day. On their birthday all contours were colored. That would be a nice idea too. Tfs.
 

Basket

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Logical - didn´t think about that meaning about the 13.

Great posts on this site. Tfs.
 

christmasrocks

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I normally just buy my advent calendars; simple chocolate ones. But this year I'd really like to make my own.

I've been looking through ideas posted here and on different boards. There's just so many nice ones I'm not sure which I'd like to try and make.