Creative advent calendar ideas for the holiday season

If you’re staying close to home this holiday season, why not get in the festive spirit by giving creative advent calendars to everyone in your family. Countdown from December 1 to Christmas Eve with a homemade advent calendar filled with personalized surprises or pick up a thematic store-bought calendar designed to inspire holiday cheer.

Photo Credit: Natalia

If you want to take the DIY route, there are a variety of materials you can use to build a custom advent calendar, including cardboard boxes, cloth bags, mason jars, small metal pails, or paper envelopes. Use colourful markers, scrapbook paper, pom poms, stickers, and other festive craft materials to label each container with numbers that correspond to the calendar days leading up to Christmas Eve.

• Arts & Crafts Advent Calendar: Inspire some creativity by filling a kids’ advent calendar with art supplies for family DIY projects. Pack each day of your Christmas countdown with colourful stationery and craft materials like paint, jewellery beads, sidewalk chalk, knitting yarn and washi tape.
• Cocktail Advent Calendar: Delight your favourite at-home mixologist with an adults-only cocktail-themed advent calendar. Pick up 24 boozy miniatures at your local liquor store and tuck the tiny rum, vodka, whisky and tequila bottles into your handcrafted calendar containers. Be sure to include a holiday cocktail recipe with each daily surprise.
• Beauty Advent Calendar: Selfie queens will love a personalized advent calendar packed with small-scale skincare and beauty products from their favourite brands. Visit a drugstore or makeup counter to find travel-sized toiletries (nail polish, perfume samples, eyeshadow palettes, makeup brushes, hand lotion) that you can hide inside each day of your homemade advent calendar.
• Pet Advent Calendar: Include your pets in the Christmas countdown excitement this holiday season by creating a customized advent calendar for your favourite fur baby. Thrill your four-legged pals with pet-friendly toys, tasty treats and a festive outfit for the family photo.
• Random Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar: As much as we all love presents around the tree, Christmas is also time to give back to those in need. Teach your children about the spirit of the holiday season by creating a kids’ advent calendar with daily cards that inspire good deeds, such as donating canned goods to your local food bank, shovelling snow for a neighbour, helping siblings with household chores, or making holiday cards for teachers.

• Fabric Advent Calendars: If you don’t have time to craft your own homemade calendar but still want to create a personalized countdown in the lead up to Christmas Eve, purchase a reusable fabric advent calendar with empty pockets designed to be filled with small gifts, chocolates, and other treats each holiday season.
• Pop Culture Advent Calendars: Whether your little ones are obsessed with Frozen, Paw Patrol or Star Wars, they’re sure to love a thematic kids’ advent calendar based on their favourite TV show or movie. Inspire some holiday magic with a Harry Potter advent calendar or opt for a LEGO advent calendar bursting with characters, accessories, and, usually candy!