I didn’t grow up with advent calendars, so I naturally felt a little cheated when I found out about them later in my childhood. “Wait, you mean you get a surprise EVERY DAY for the whole month of December, THEN you get Christmas TOO!?” Wretched excess. Unbelievable. Ridiculous. By this point I was a little too old to ask for one, and I thought it would make me look greedy, so life goes on.
I grow up and have my own children, and it honestly hadn’t occurred to me to do the advent calendar thing with them, until my brother in law brought one with the little chocolates on a visit just before the holidays.
It’s not what’s inside, (although my kids maintain the Trader Joe’s one had crummy flavor) but the thrill and anticipation of the big countdown. So I decided to embrace it. That following year I got the thumbs down TJ’s version, then I got a Playmobil one the next year, then the Lego Star Wars version the next year, and HOLY COW those Lego ones are too expensive. It is time to get back to basics.
I love the DIY advent calendar Jordan Ferney did HERE, and I wanted to adapt it, so…much I like I approach every recipe, I had to mix it up. Here’s my version of the Oh Happy Day advent calendar.
I traced numbers onto paper circles then went over the pencil with a gold paint pen. I got the Helvetica stencils at Michael’s years ago, and do not see them on their website now.
Then I got the silver boxes from Michael’s HERE, and the bottle brush trees from Factory Direct Crafts HERE.
I unholstered the glue gun, attached the trees, and they are ready to fill! We do not put candy in every day, but like to mix it up with activities, clues to a mini scavenger hunt and tiny trinkets.
December 1st falls on the last day of a hectic Thanksgiving holiday weekend, so I needed to get this done now before I’m too deep in Thanksgiving prep.
UPDATE: It will reside in the dining room for the month.
