Reuseable DIY Advent Calendar
Today I'm really excited to share this DIY Advent Calendar with you, available to buy from the Alice in Scandiland Shop.
There are two sizes, the large, with 24 pockets, or the smaller Hanging Organiser, both of which are perfect for creating your own Advent celebrations, but can also be used year round to help you organise your home.
Shop these Hanging Organiser/ Advent Calendars here.
You can enjoy decorating these blank canvases in what ever style you fancy each year, keep it simple and neutral, or get creative with stamps, applique and much more.
I've decided to keep this one very simple and easy this year, focusing on wrapping the contents beautifully, including some extra surprises, as opposed to decorating the organiser itself. This way, next year, when I get excited about some different ideas, I have a great neutral starting point.
This year I decided to include all of us in one way or another within the advent calendar. Whether that be a larger bar/ box of delicious chocolate we can all share, a festive make I will spend the day doing with the girls, or a simple craft activity the children can do solo, giving the adults some peace and quiet.
Work life is rather full on at this time of the year, Christmas retail is an all consuming activity, so I've consciously planned out the calendar to include days where I will be focusing in on home life, giving Nancy and Eula my full attention, so they don't feel left out of all the goings on.
There will also be prompts dropped into the relevant days, as further December plans are made. If we are visiting someone, or when I decide it's tree buying time, I will pop a little note into the Calendar a few days before, so they can anticipate and feel the excitement.
Our usual Advent treats are just a few sweets or chocolates, but this time I thought I'd include some of the special things we look forward to getting out in December, like the magical festive Änglaspel Rotary Candle Holders.
Our collection is rather growing, as I add new designs to the shop each year.
These Plywood Decorations make for lovely added extras. Available here.
Dotted throughout the calendar are simple crafty activities we might have been doing anyway, but by including them this way I think it makes it a little extra special.
Naturally the girls love to decorate their rooms, so I thought an easy but high impact make, such as Doily bunting was perfect.
We'll do this at the weekend, I'll either buy some Bias Binding, or use ribbon or string. I thought it would be a good opportunity to get the sewing machine out and let Nancy and Eula have a go using that.
Image source -
These little wooden people will entertain for a good while, I'll suggest the girls create Father Christmas and his Elves.
I have a few stamp sets, which have been been useful over the years, definitely worth investing a few pennnies I my opinion. I used the smaller sizes stamp set (blue box) to do all the name place cards for our wedding, 11 years ago!
These little knitted hats were knitted by someone for charity, they're actually supposed to be for Terry's Chocolate Oranges but they're just the right size for the girls teddies.
Card making bits + bobs from Hobbycraft.
Christmas card making would definitely be on the list of things to do, so by wrapping up the materials and adding them into the calendar it's become more of an event and something that can be done whilst I concentrate on other things at home.
A little creative thinking/ writing prompt with a festive twist. Sit down and listen to some Christmas music, what ever you like; Carols, Classical, Nostalgic Slade or a bit of Bublé... then write down what it made you think of specifically, how it made you feel, who came to mind.
Last week I melted lots of Besswax candle ends, odds and sods and got a huge jug of wax as a result. I'm going to make candles with the girls on a weekend day, a slow process which will include a cosy fire, a Christmas soundtrack and hot chocolate.
I'll share more about this on the blog closer to the time.
I sell these sweet little DIY Beeswax Candle kits in the Alice in Scandiland Shop, a lovely addition to your own Advent Calendar or perhaps as a stocking gift.
A set each of these larger "People", for a weekend crafting session.
These sweet little Land Chocolate bars make for wonderful Advent treats, or stockings fillers...
Shop delicious treats here.
Even more crafting!
Candles feature numerous times throughout the Advent calendar, but that only seems right, seeing as they a a huge part of our daily life.
I've added a lovely, Wintery natural wax scented candle for the days leading up to the big day, along with my best selling Beeswax Tree Candles, because you can never have enough of those.
Shop Candles Here.
I found this little retro, handmade mini stocking at a charity shop for just 50p, so I'm including it for the 24th, for the girls to hang up for our cat Hazel. It's very likely to be Hazel's last Christmas with us, so while I don't usually have her on my gift list, I thought it would make for a sweet little memory for them.
A saved chocolate box works great as a way to wrap up these balls of gold. Nancy + Eula consider Ferrero Rocher to be the height of luxury, so they'll be rather thrilled with these.
I had a lot of fun putting this together and am rather pleased with the end result...
24 days of excitement and treats, activities to keep little people entertained, things to look forward to and the knowledge that you can try out even more ideas the next year.
It's completely up to you how simple or complex you want to make it, let's be honest here, my children would be thrilled with a £1 LOL Calendar from Asda, I know, they've said so! But Christmas is a time when I allow myself to get a bit creative, I say it's "for work", but it feeds a part of my I so often don't prioritise these days.
Pop in a few treats and you're good to go, if you want to go wild, go for it, there is no right or wrong way to do things.
Here's the smaller, 7 pocket version...
With this size you can fill it with 24 bars of chocolate, sweets, little envelopes with prompts for fun activities. You could top it up each week, if you wanted to put bigger wrapped things in there.
Get your reuseable Advent Calendar here.
Pretty much all of the lovely wrapping papers, string etc used for these creations are from the Alice in Scandiland Shop.
These types of projects are also the perfect time go reuse bits and bobs that you already have, perhaps from gifts you've received in the year, brown paper from online orders, scrap fabric etc.
