Easy DIY Advent Calendar to Make with Your Kids!

Thank you to Oriental Trading Company for sending us everything we needed to create this fun and easy-to-make hanging DIY advent calendar for the holidays.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

I am a huge fan of having reusable advent calendars.  There are some really nicely crafted hand painted wooden ones out there, but most of them are out of my budget.  I've made several different kinds of DIY advent calendars over the years, and I adjust each one to suit my family's changing needs.  With 3 children who are now almost 10, 10, and 13, what we fill the advent calendar with has changed.  I've included a list of fun and creative ideas for filling your advent calendar at the bottom.  Be sure to check it out!

Since we now have two dogs, we try to have hanging advent calendars, so our dogs can't get to the treats (often chocolate) inside.  This advent calendar craft was super-easy to make, and I was able to enlist my daughter to help with the artwork.  She happily obliged, of course.  This turned out to be a very fun holiday craft to make together. I love how this advent calendar turned out to have sort of a rustic, Americana style to it. Check out the short list of supplies needed below, all of which I found in Oriental Trading Company's Christmas crafts, stocking stuffers, and Christmas decorations sections.


DIY Hanging Advent Calendar Craft . . . 

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

(2) Dozen Mini Stitched Christmas Stockings

(4) 6pc Burlap & Jute Gift Tags

Fabric Markers (Red, green, black)

(2) Poinsettia Garlands (optional)

Large Colored Candy Canes (optional)

Step 1.  With a black fabric marker, write one number (from 1 to 24) on each burlap tag.

TIP #1:  It might be a good idea to order one additional set of 6 burlap tags in case you make any errors.

Step 2.  Using your fabric markers, decorate each tag with a festive and colorful design.  We stuck with red, green, and black (and occasionally yellow).  Invite your children (school-age and older) to help you!

TIP #2:  Although fabric markers usually require to be set by heat, we skipped this step since our advent calendar would not likely be getting wet, nor will it be handled extensively.

Here is a sample of what my daughter and I came up with.  We are quite proud of ourselves for coming up with 24 different designs.

Step 3.  Tie each burlap tag onto one stocking, creating a neat bow with the twine ties.

TIP #3:  If you are using stockings in different colors or designs like I did, then it will be worth it to take a couple of minutes to plan ahead by stacking the stockings in the order in which you would like them to appear.  This is a great way to avoid having two of the same color or design next to each other.

Step 4.  It's time to hang your advent calendar up!  We chose to hang each stock on a separate nail, which are hidden under the poinsettia garland, but you could tie each stocking (evenly spaced apart) to one long length of sturdy twine.  Then you could hang the twine up like you would a garland.  I personally think it's more fun to be able to take one stocking down at a time to hand to the children to discover the contents.

Step 5.  Fill your advent calendar!  As far as candy goes, I like to vary what I put in there from day to day.  Some days will have something chocolaty, and other days will have a surprise, like these flavored candy canes.  But, what about the non-candy treats?  Check out some of the fun and creative ideas I've listed below for filling your advent calendar . . .

5 fun ideas for filling your advent calendar . . .

1. Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces - Choose a jigsaw puzzle that fits your child's skill level.  Then assemble the puzzle, so that you can disassemble it in an orderly fashion.  Place a handful of puzzle pieces in each day's advent calendar so that your child will have completed the puzzle by Christmas Eve.
2. Lego Mini Figures - Instead of putting whole Mini Figures in each day of the advent calendar, only put one or two parts (hat/hair, head, body, legs, or accessory).  Then, as each day goes by, your child will be able to mix and match the pieces to build some cool figures.
3. Fun Coupons - Print or hand write a fun perk on a coupon for each day, such as a trip to the mall or the ice cream shop, having mom do your nails, getting to choose the restaurant next to the family eats out, etc . . . 
4. Collectibles - For a young collector of anything, it would be fun and exciting to receive a new item to add to his or her collection each day.  Some examples might be die cast cars, marbles, buttons, seashells, or stamps.
5. Beads - Include a handful of beads in the advent calendar each day.  By the 24th day, your child will have enough beads to make a necklace or a couple of bracelets.  If needed, be sure to include nylon thread to string the beads on, on the last day of the advent calendar.

What fun ideas do you have for filling an advent calendar? 

Share them with us in a comment here.

Creating With Colors Review: Mia MY Signature Jacket

This is a project that would be perfect for grade school children. When I saw the Mia MY Signature Jacket, I just knew I had to feature it in my Creating With Colors series. This is not your usual fabric marker/t-shirt project. The markers that come in the kit are washable, therefore this project can be repeated again and again until the jacket is outgrown.

Today's Project: Design a Signature Jacket

Ask your child to draw a design on their jacket that reflects their personality. (If your child is making this for a gift, make sure they think about what things the recipient would like to see on their jacket.)


Supplies Needed:

1) A Mia MY Jacket kit

2) (Optional) Stencils to help children who have not mastered drawing or lettering freehand yet.

What I thought about the Mia MY Signature Jacket kit:

1) Right off, I was very impressed at the presentation of the kit both inside and out. This product is clearly targeted towards tween girls and the packaging is very fun, colorful, and appealing.



2) The kit comes with four washable fabric markers (red, orange, pink, and blue) and a white jacket in your choice of size from a girl's size 4 to 14. Additional markers are available for order. I would loved to have seen more color choices in the extra sets of markets.

3) This is not a jacket you can pick up at your local crafts store. Here are some of the features that caught my attention about this boutique-quality jacket . . .

• This jacket is made of extremely soft Cotton/Spandex.
• It is very well-tailored, including darts, pleats, shirred pockets, shoulders, and cuffs.
• The interior jacket bares the Mia MY logo in embroidery along with a row of pretty flowers. The logo is also embroidered on the back exterior of the jacket.
• All the raw edges are finished with satin ribbon inside the jacket.
  

4) I did a test design to see how well the jacket would wash. It washed very well, but tended to wrinkle a little bit. There were no signs of shrinking, pilling, or misshaping. I was very pleased that the marker washed out completely with no traces of the old design left behind.

5) For a child, I think these markers would work fine. For me personally, I would have liked to have markers that had a little more precision, which would have allowed me to use more detail. The markers did not bleed much but the lines did come out a little fuzzy.

6) At first when I saw this kit was priced at $49.99, I was a little taken aback. Now having experienced the product, I do think it is a good value because the quality of the jacket itself is superb, this product can be used an infinite number of times, and it is a wonderful opportunity for a child to be creative and to show off the results of their creativity. To make your investment last longer, you can buy one size up on the jacket. My daughter currently wears a size 3 and the jacket we received is a size 4. It is not gigantic on her, but she definitely has room to grow. I think we could get two years out of this jacket.

(Click on each image to enlarge)

Overall, I am very pleased with this product. The Mia MY Signature Jacket would make a very unique gift for a birthday or for the holidays. You could present the jacket as a kit or you could draw an original design on the jacket prior to gifting it. I thoroughly enjoyed doodling on this jacket and think it would be a great creative outlet for children. To learn more about this product or to view additional examples, visit MiaMy.com .

Thank you to Mia MY for providing us with a crafts project free of charge.