DIY Advent Calendar

Hey there friends – Sorry it’s been a little quiet around these parts the last couple of weeks. We went on a whirlwind trip for Thanksgiving back to Georgia and Florida. It was filled with planes, trains, automobiles, very little cell service, no internet, lots of turkey gravy, best friends getting married, our wedding food tasting, and very little sleep. It was an eventful 5 days to say the least. I only took a handful of pictures of my beautiful friend in her wedding dress and other than that my phone stayed in a bag. And you know what, it felt damn good to disconnect for a couple of days. 

Now it’s full speed ahead into Christmas and I am feeling as tacky and festive as ever. Right now I am reporting to you from the couch wearing my red flannels, drinking hot chocolate out of my Christmas mug, and Kevin McAllister is blow torching Joe Pesci’s hair in the background. Pretty perfect night if ya ask me! 

One of my favorite parts of the evening right now is when Thomas opens up a gift from the advent calendar that I made for him! He always had advent calendar’s growing up and his mom would put chocolate or candy in each day – It was something he loved when he was young so this was so fun for me to recreate for him. This is so easy to make as a cute gift for your significant other or you kids! Paper Source is my go-to crafting shop and the first place I stop in when I’m needing holiday inspo. They have every paper/stationary product you could ever desire, holiday decorations galore, yarn galore, and so many other fun things that I could just go on and on. 

DIY Advent Calendar 

You’ll need: 
– 1 poster board (or any cool wooden frame, chalkboard, or sturdy item that you have) 
– Thick yarn
– Various bags, cards, gift tags, paper for gifts
– Holiday stickers, ribbon, and other festive things for decorating
– Little clips or clothes pins ( I got the cute gold ones below at Paper Source, but anything will do!
–  GIFTS! Whiskey stones, honey jars, and love notes are my jam, but scroll down for a list of ideas!

What to do

  1.  Pierce 3 small holes with scissors or an X-ACTO knife along both sides of your poster board – just big enough to fit your yarn through. 
  2. Put one end of the yarn through the hole and measure around the board to see how much you’ll need. Cut and tie off the yarn on the back of the board. Keep in mind that some of your gifts might be heavier than others, so make sure the yarn is tied tight and has room to stretch down. 
  3. Decorate your bags or cards with numbers and cute decorations! 
  4. Add gifts, write notes, fill with candy, or booze…whatever your little heart desires 🙂 

9 Comments

  1. Erin
    December 6, 2017 / 12:12 am

    What a fun idea – Love this personalized advent calendar so much!

    • Hillary Harper
      December 7, 2017 / 3:38 am

      Thanks Erin! It’s such a fun gift to give 🙂

  2. December 6, 2017 / 3:53 pm

    this is such a cool idea! love it, I’d love to do it for next Christmas!

  3. December 6, 2017 / 5:49 pm

    Love this! I may have to try it next year…

    • Hillary Harper
      December 7, 2017 / 3:37 am

      Thanks Marlynn!

  4. December 6, 2017 / 7:40 pm

    Every year I mean to do an advent calendar for my kids—and never get my act together. This one looks like it’d be doable, though. Maybe next year!

    • Hillary Harper
      December 7, 2017 / 3:39 am

      This one is very doable! It’s my favorite part of the evening when he opens it up 🙂 I can only imagine how fun it would be with kids!

  5. Sam jennings
    December 7, 2017 / 5:49 am

    Such a great idea. My husband would love this and next year I must do a kiddie version. It’s looks so good, next year you should insist he does one for you too.

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