Each year I buy an advent calendar for my son to count down to Santa’s arrival. However, the one problem is that when he spends a few days at his Dad’s, he comes home and has multiple windows to open and it seems to make the whole concept of it less meaningful. That is why I came up with the super easy DIY advent calendar so that I only had to include the days that my son is with me.
Because each day is an individual little package, you can make as many or as few to fit your personal need. Most of the items you need to complete this project are probably things you already have in your crafting supplies. All you need to do is start collecting empty toilet paper rolls in advance to ensure you have enough.
Supplies that you will need:
- Toilet paper rolls – 1 for each day
- Paint – whatever color goes with your holiday decor
- Ornament hooks
- Festive Stickers
- Clear tape
- Treats for inside each tube – I chose chocolates, festive erasers and boxes of Tic Tacs.
To start, take your toilet paper rolls and flatten them lengthwise.
Be sure to poke a small hole in the side of each of the tubes. This is when the hook will eventually go.
I find flattening them first makes it easier to paint them. I paint one side first, continue on to the next one and then when they are all dry, flip them over and paint the other side.
Once the tubes are dry, at one end fold in the sides of the tube to close off the end and secure with clear tape. Add in whatever little treats you want and tape up the other end. You then just need to add the hook into the small whole on the side and decorate with stickers, glitter or however you wish.
You could add the numbers for each day if you like too. Because I am only having them for the days my son is with me, I didn’t add the numbers as it wouldn’t be sequential.
I then attached each of the little packets to the garland/lights on my mantle, distributing them evenly.
This is such a super easy and inexpensive advent calendar and can so easily be customized based on your personal preferences. It probably took me only about half an hour to make the whole thing. The hardest part was remembering to not throw out the toilet paper rolls leading up to doing this craft.
My son hasn’t seen it yet and I can’t wait to see his reaction.