5 homemade advent calendars: how to make DIY advent calendars

Looking for ways to make the countdown to Christmas extra special this year?

Get creative with DIY advent calendars that are easy to make and fun to decorate. Whether you're a seasoned crafter or just starting out, we have ideas for all skill levels, so the whole family can get stuck in. What's more, they won’t cost the Earth. You can make these advent calendars using affordable craft materials that you might already have at home, including felt, card and old clothes. 

Read on to find out how to create your own unique advent calendar. 

Small gifts for nature lovers 

Why not fill your advent calendar with small gifts? Our set of six seed boxes is the perfect present for green-fingered growers, while fresh air fans will love spotting different species in the woods with our nature ID swatch books. 

Goodie bag advent calendar   

Transform old clothes from rags to riches! Snip and sew your unused items of clothing into colourful goodie bags filled with festive surprises.  

You will need: 

• string or ribbon   
• old clothes – natural materials such as cotton, linen or wool are easiest to decorate 
• scissors  
• needle and thread  
• 24 wooden pegs   
• marker pens, or craft paint and a thin brush.
• festive foliage, such as sprigs of rosemary, small branches of pine and fir, or twigs laden with berries – hawthorn and spindle work well. Use fallen foliage or cuttings from your own garden. 

How to make a goodie bag advent calendar 

1. Cut your old clothing into 24 evenly sized rectangles. 
2. Fold each rectangle in half. If your fabric has a pattern, make sure the patterned sides of the fabric are facing each other.  
3. Using your needle and thread, stitch together two sides, leaving the top open. Turn the bag the right side out. Repeat for the remaining 23 bags.  
4. Using a pen, or paint and a brush, decorate your bags with numbers one through 24. Let the paint dry fully. 
5. Pop a small gift inside each bag – our seed boxes or nature ID swatch books are perfect for the eco conscious. 
6. Use a string or ribbon to tie each bag shut, optionally adding some festive foliage. 
7. Hang the bags up in order on a string or ribbon using wooden pegs.

Snowman advent-ure calendar  

Fill your December with exciting new experiences! Inside each of your advent-ure snowmen is a wintry activity that will encourage you and your loved ones to explore outdoors. From hunting for pawprints left in the frost to making a decorative wreath, there’s plenty of fun to be had while enjoying the benefits of time spent in nature. What does your snowman have in store for you today? 

You will need:

• wooden clothes pegs 
• white card 
• black card 
• 24 small envelopes 
• colouring pens  
• glue 
• scissors 
• two circular objects to draw around – e.g. a glass or a cookie cutter 
• ribbon  
• a needle. 

How to make a snowman advent-ure calendar

1. Draw around two circular objects (such as a glass or cookie cutter) onto white card, creating one larger and one smaller circle. Glue the smaller circle on top of the larger one so they slightly overlap – this is your snowman’s body. 
2. Cut out a hat shape from the black card. Glue this in place at the top of the snowman’s head (the smaller of your two white circles). 
3. Use colouring pens to decorate your snowman. Get creative with a funny face, a scarf, a bow tie or buttons – anything goes! 
4. Glue your snowman to a wooden peg, making sure the decorated side is facing up! Now repeat all the above steps until you have a set of 24 snowmen on pegs.  
5. Attach the snowmen to a long ribbon by either clipping them on, or by threading the ribbon through the spring of each peg using a needle. 
6. Clip a small envelope to each snowman with a handwritten adventure activity inside. Choose experiences that focus on festivities and nature. 

Ideas for experiences

• Wrap up warm and admire a winter sunset. 
• Enjoy a winter picnic with a flask of hot chocolate. 
• Put on your cosiest woolies and go for a sunrise walk. 
• Make a winter wreath using natural objects such as ivy, holly and pine cones found on the floor or in your garden.
• Place a saucer of fresh water outside for thirsty wildlife.
• Head outside and climb a tree.
• Hunt for an evergreen tree near your home.
• Look for pawprints left in the mud, frost or snow. 

Felt stocking advent calendar

You will need:

• colourful felt
• scissors 
• needle and thread or fabric glue 
• fabric paint or marker 
• ribbon or string 
• small gifts 
• optional: extra decorations such as foraged festive foliage or wooden beads. 

How to make a felt stocking advent calendar

1. Cut your felt into 24 stocking shapes. You’ll need two identical pieces for each stocking. 
2. Sew the edges of your stockings together. Alternatively, you could stick the edges together using fabric glue. Be sure to leave the top open! 
3. Now draw numbers one through 24 onto each stocking using fabric paint or a marker pen.  
4. Add some festive flair to your stockings. You could cut out and glue on holly leaves from your remaining felt, add buttons or beads, snip little snowmen or reindeer out of scraps of fabric, or paint a flurry of snowflakes. A little foliage poking out of each stocking adds a nice touch.  
5. Attach a small loop of ribbon to the top of each stocking, either using a needle and thread or fabric glue. Use this to hang your stocking in order from a long string or ribbon.  
6. Pop a little gift inside each stocking!  

Paper bag advent calendar 

This super simple and cost-effective idea is the perfect way to create a dramatic advent calendar that can fit gifts of many sizes inside. Add some extra festive glamour by incorporating seasonal decorations! 

You will need:  

• 24 paper bags 
• string or ribbon  
• a large branch (find a fallen one on the floor!)
• decorations for your bags – these could include card, festive tape, stickers, beads, buttons or paints, as well as fairy lights, baubles and tinsel for the branch.  

How to make a paper bag advent calendar

1. Begin by decorating your paper bags however you like. You could cut out shapes of reindeer and stick them to the bag, add stickers or festive tape, and draw or paint on your numbers along with illustrations of festive scenes. Let your imagination run wild! 
2. Use string or ribbon to attach your bags, in order, to your large branch. Then hang your branch from your ceiling, beam or doorway using string or ribbon. 
3. Why not try threading fairy lights or tinsel through your branch? You could also adorn it with colourful baubles. 

Paper house advent calendar 

These small houses make a charming addition to any room and require minimal materials. Why not display them on a bed of cotton wool to create a snowy village?

You will need: 

• white and red paper or card 
• markers 
• scissors 
• glue (a glue stick works well for paper, but thicker card might require PVA glue). 

How to make a paper house advent calendar

1. Begin by cutting out a template for a house. You can use the image in the gallery above to help you, or this description: the strip of white card is 22cm long. It has been folded into four 5cm panels with a small fifth panel of 2cm at the end for glueing the house together. The first and third panels are 7.5cm in height as they are in the shape of a house front – a square with a triangle roof on top. The second, fourth and fifth panels are 5cm in height. 
2. Decorate your house. Add doors to the front house panels by drawing with a marker or cutting them out with scissors. You could also draw little illustrations of windows, people, plants, pets or snowmen... be as creative as possible! 
3. Add glue to the fifth panel of the card and stick it to the first panel, creating your house. 
4. Cut out a rectangle of red card, fold it down the middle and use this for the rooftop. Before you secure it in place with glue, draw a number on top. 
5. Repeat these steps until you have 24 tiny houses lined up in a row. Pop a small present underneath each one.   

Extra tips and tricks   

• Add a handwritten message, song, poem or joke for each day.  
• When decorating, choose a theme – is your calendar a winter wonderland? Or are you creating it for a nature lover who might enjoy animal characters? 
• Rather than buying new art materials, try to be creative and reuse items from around your house. Could you decorate your calendar with scraps of old fabric, small toys, beads or cut up magazines?