The countdown to Christmas is almost as magical as the big day itself, and what better way to savour every moment than with an advent calendar? Each little door or drawer is like a daily sprinkle of joy, filled with treats and surprises that keep the festive spirit alive all season long.
But why settle for the same old shop-bought calendar when you can create something truly special? Our adorable DIY wooden advent calendar is not only a delightful family project, but it’s also reusable year after year, becoming a cherished tradition that grows with you.
So, if you’re ready to add a dash of creativity and a whole lot of holiday cheer to your celebrations, let’s dive into 7 simple steps to craft your very own advent calendar.
How To Make Your Own Advent Calendar
Supplies
To make your own advent calendar, you will need:
- - Wooden advent tree
- - Christmas Pad
- - Sprout card toppers
- - Dippy card toppers
- - Advent numbers
- - Sausage dog card toppers
- - Dex the dinosaur wooden toppers
- - Sticky dots
- - PVA glue
- - Scissors
- - A pencil
Instructions
Step One
Before you can get crafting, you need to first choose a couple of designs from your Christmas paper pad that you’d like to include on your advent calendar. For our example, we went for two different sheets.
Step Two
The next step is to create the outline of the drawer fronts. As a guide, draw around one of the drawers from your wooden advent onto your patterned paper. Repeat this process until you have 12 neatly drawn squares.
Step Three
Then, carefully cut out all your squares and stick them down to 12 of your drawer fronts using PVA glue.
Step Four
While the glue is drying, it’s the perfect time to decorate the rest of the drawers! This time around, instead of using patterned paper, we’re going to use 12 card topper characters and stick them down using the sticky glue dots. For our calendar, we picked 3 of each character.
Step Five
As you know, any good advent calendar needs the days of December on it. So, for this step, take your wooden numbers and place 1-24 on each drawer front, either next to your card topper character, or on top of the paper-covered drawer.
Step Six
Once the glue has dried, place all your drawers into the advent calendar, making sure to mix up the dates so they’re not too easy to find!
Step Seven
Lastly, fill your beautifully decorated advent calendar with little trinkets, sweets, and toys to make every day in the run-up to Christmas extra special.
How to Paint Your Own Advent Calendar
Instructions
Step One
Draw Dex's features onto the wooden advent calendar using a pencil. You can follow the outline in the video above.
Step Two
Following the pencil outlines, paint in the details of Dex. Stay true to Dex's colours or go wild and paint him whatever colour(s) you like!
Don't forget to get creative and add in some winter and Christmas elements, such as a scarf, hat, and snowflakes.
Step Three
Once dry, stick your numbers onto each door. You can stick them in order or mix it up to make it fun for your kids to hunt for each morning.
Wrapping it Up
If you love the build-up to Christmas, then you know a good advent calendar is a must. This year, instead of throwing a shop-bought advent calendar into your trolley at the supermarket, why not have a go at creating your own?
With our 7 simple steps, you can design and decorate your very own DIY advent calendars that can be re-used each year, while giving you the freedom to choose which sweet treats and gifts your loved ones receive.
The fun doesn’t have to stop there! We have plenty of other Christmas DIY guides to help you make:
