40 DIY Advent Calendars to Help You Count Down to Christmas

Countdown to Christmas

Part of the joys of the holiday season isn’t just the big day, but the preparation and anticipation leading up to it. Make an Advent calendar to help you count along to December 25. While you of course could buy one, making your very own calendar could be the start of a new tradition.

Seasonal Snaps

Treasure fond memories while counting the days till Christmas by re-creating Sarah Hearts’ photo Advent calendar. The hand-painted tree on a plywood board is filled with 25 printable cards (yes, there’s one for Christmas Day too!) that you can customize with your own photos of family, vacations, or pets.

Santa’s Special Delivery

Thanks to an array of paper “mailboxes,” this refillable wood-framed foam board from Houseful of Handmade delivers tiny toys from Santa to your kith and kin. Its sturdy construction means you’ll be able to use it for many Christmas seasons to come.

Fun with Felt

Following this tutorial from A Beautiful Mess, hang hand-stitched felt stockings from a frame made of wooden rods, yarn, and beads so little ones can reveal a daily surprise from Father Christmas.

Acts of Kindness

This Advent calendar from Alice & Lois encourages you to give back as you count down. Write 25 good deeds on slips of paper, then place each one into an envelope and hang the envelopes from twine or ribbon. Open up a new envelope every day, then get out there and do some good.

Up to Scratch

Friends or family members will feel like they’ve won the lottery when they get their hands on this scratch-off calendar from A Beautiful Mess. Paper snowflakes are topped with soap-covered circular card stock cutouts that have numbers written on them. To claim your daily prize, scratch off a circle to reveal the number, then look under the “tree” to find the corresponding gift.

Go Out on a Limb

For an evergreen Advent calendar idea, follow this tutorial from The Merrythought that uses matchboxes reinforced with birch plywood and jazzed up with white paint. Suspend the little boxes from an evergreen branch hung on the wall. Inside each matchbox, place the name of a person to call or write to, or a holiday activity for everyone to enjoy, so you can make the most of this joyful season.

Positively Magnetic

As the blogger behind Something Simple demonstrates, you can make a surprisingly glammed-up gift-giving station with little more than dollar-store party favor tins outfitted with magnets and mounted on a fridge (or stand-alone magnetic board) in the shape of a tree.

Merry Mountains

No matter the weather outside, you’re guaranteed a winter wonderland indoors when you make this showstopper from You Are My Fave. Three-dimensional card stock mountains are topped with painted-on snowcaps and accented with mini evergreen trees and numbered flags to set a festive scene.

Christmas Village

Enlist the youngest members of your family to help construct this Christmas neighborhood from A Beautiful Mess with brown kraft paper or card stock. Number each little house and fill it with a tiny trinket before you tape it shut.

Hole-in-One Holiday

Inspired by the “Punch a Bunch” game on “The Price Is Right,” this nonstop-fun calendar from Studio DIY, made of paper or plastic bowls, tissue paper, and fringed garlands, craftily conceals 24 gifts behind 24 holes. Bonus: There’s an extra goody for Christmas Day stashed beneath the giant red bow topper!

Takeout Tower

Foodies can get Christmas to go this year by making this too-clever Advent calendar from Studio DIY. Treat-filled takeout boxes in all the colors of the rainbow are stacked in rows to make the season brighter.

Up the Wall

Those fond of organizing will revel at the prospect of counting down to Christmas with this rustic timber-and-fabric Advent wall chart from The Painted Hive. Five rows of chalkboard paper pockets are filled with merry memos printed on shipping tags—perfect for hanging on the Christmas tree.

Flying Colors

This Christmas, leave Santa some eye candy rather than cookies by building this Advent village from Lia Griffith. The dainty dwellings that dangle from the mantel are made of colored paper and red-and-white baker’s twine. They’re so irresistible that you’ll want to live in one yourself.

Pocketfuls of Simple Pleasures

Would you rather give your family members memorable experiences, or the latest toys or trinkets? In Rachel Denbow’s felt-paneled Advent calendar, each pocket holds a fun bonding activity like “Bake Brownies Together” or “Get a Movie from Redbox.”

Advent in a Jar

If an Advent calendar isn’t your jam, mark the time until Santa’s arrival like the blogger behind Poppytalk did. Scrawl sweet holiday messages or fun holiday activities on pieces of brightly colored paper, and glue a pom-pom to the end of each for easy retrieval. Fill a glass jar with the pom-poms, then take out one each day. After you remove a message, transfer the pom-pom to a piece of string. By Christmas Day, you’ll have a colorful garland of pom-poms for your tree.

In the Air

More than a pop of color, this Advent calendar created by Look What I Made promises a poppin’ good time. The wall-mounted driftwood “Christmas tree” brims with colorful numbered balloons, each bearing a loving note or holiday activity that is revealed when the balloon is popped.

Bright Baubles

Take a cue from Sincerely, Sara D to spread joy throughout Advent without doling out presents every day of December. Simply string up 25 miniature ornaments on a chalkboard-painted artist’s canvas labeled with handwritten numerals. Take down one ornament each day and transfer it to the Christmas tree for added sparkle.

Treats in a Tube

With the help of an old picture frame and dollar-store scrapbook paper, toilet paper tubes were artfully adapted into pillow boxes stuffed with miniature must-haves in this calendar from Smashed Peas and Carrots.

Decoupage Decor

This crafty counter from Mod Podge Rocks is a scene stealer in any room it occupies. Decoupaged papier-mâché boxes decorated with die-cut numerals are mounted to a merry, moss-colored canvas and filled with treats.

Boards and Not Much More

You can count on the folks at Home Depot to think up an Advent calendar design that requires joining a few lengths of pine boards together. Hammer 24 nails into the board so they’re still sticking out, and hang a numbered ornament from each one. Beautiful!

Celestial Cheer

In this Advent calendar from A Beautiful Mess, gold-leafed papier-mâché boxes are emblazoned with numerals, strung together into a garland, and filled with irresistible edibles and seasonal trinkets. Talk about star power!

The Tiniest of Jars

Novelty size jam jars are transformed by Duni Studio into tiny capsules that contain something seasonal to help you count down the days until Christmas. What you put in the jars is entirely up to you—sweets, a small trinket, or a special note.

Great Heights

A decorative ladder gets a reboot as a sleek and slender Advent calendar. The blogger at Her Tool Belt merely installed cup hooks along the rungs from which to hang reminders of the swiftly approaching holiday.

Zig and Zag

A bit of twine takes a criss-cross route across an old shutter in this Advent calendar from DIY Beautify. Cards containing special treats can be clipped onto the string to help you measure your excitement until the big day.

Message in a Bottle

A maritime tradition gets a very merry update in this Advent calendar idea from The Merrythought. Roll slips of paper containing special messages, quotes, or do-good assignments, into slender bottles (available at craft stores), then uncork one each day until Christmas.

Light and Bright

This lightweight banner from Lovely Indeed can be suspended from a nail in the wall to preside over a holiday vignette. The felt is bonded to the banner with iron-on adhesive to keep it secured—without the unsightly wrinkling that can be caused by poorly applied craft glue, or the time-intensive labor or stitching with embroidery floss.

Sweet Surprise

When sugar-craving guests lift the lid of this candy-dish counter from Just a Girl, they’ll find something even sweeter than chocolate: 24 thoughtful gifts wrapped in mini matchboxes covered with decorative scrapbook paper.

Printable Advent templates from Hey Look make light work of assembling this collection of mod, black-and-white patterned gift boxes. It’s a perfect project for time-starved holiday hosts.

Joy Unwrapped

The elegant arrangement of glittering ornaments atop a cork-filled picture frame from A Pretty Life In The Suburbs makes for a festive decoration. Then, on each day of Advent one ornament is transferred to the Christmas tree.

Shop Till You Drop

A collection of what look like 24 tiny shopping bags from a high-end boutique, this calendar from Mama Miss can be made on a low-end budget. Simply string up tiers of miniature patterned gift boxes, each with an elegant printable numbered sticker.

Seeing Red

Christmas seems to roll around sooner when you mark Advent with this calendar from Carolyn’s Homework. It’s nothing more than a bold roll of red ribbon that unfurls to reveal one more paper numeral with each new day, along with snowflakes, stars, and rhinestones.

Cones of Plenty

String a little whimsy from your walls when you re-create this fabric Advent calendar from Cirkus. Bits of colorful fabric are sewn into cones and fitted with eyelets through which a ribbon or string is threaded. Drop a tiny gift inside each cone to give little ones something special to unwrap every day.

Copycat Christmas

Restoration Redoux’s knockoff of a Pottery Barn Advent calendar will knock your socks off every day until Christmas. Make it by outfitting an old mirror frame with tempered hardboard. Attach pewter-painted miniature buckets with glued-on labels made from scrapbook paper.

Related: 8 All-Too-Common Christmas Gifts No One Actually Wants

Oh Rats, It’s Still Not Christmas

Your resident rodents may not have touched the bait on your mousetraps, but kids won’t be able to keep their mitts off this treasure from Fynes Designs. Deactivated mousetraps serve as clipboards to secure tiny trinket-filled sachets or Christmas cards.

Precious Cargo

Foster patience in little ones—and pile on the Yuletide fun—by building this car lovers’ calendar from Studio DIY. The festive fabric counter consists of colorful, treasure-filled felt pockets and a felt truck hot glued to an off-white felt sheet that hangs from a dowel on a wall. Each day of December, tiny hands can collect the velcro-backed gift in the corresponding pocket and stick it on the bed of the truck, then unwrap a literal truckload of gifts on Christmas Day.

Edible Excess

Is your holiday decorating aesthetic more glitz and glam than ritualistic red and green? Follow Swoonworthy’s tutorial to build this blinged-out Christmas counter upcycled from a plain cabinet with 25 drawers. Paint the cabinet in an eye-catching hue, cover the drawers with contact paper or colored washi tape, then bedazzle them with adhesive diamantes, sequins, or ribbon, and of course, numerals with the day of the month. Fill the drawers with chocolates or other goodies wrapped in gold tissue paper so that recipients get a delicious surprise every day of December. The drawers open, shut, and empty with ease, so you can reuse the calendar next year!

Evergreen Fun

If it doesn’t feel like Christmas unless you’re opening gifts from beneath evergreen boughs, make this naturalistic calendar from Taryn Whiteaker the main attraction of Advent. Like ornaments hanging from Christmas tree branches, gift-filled miniature galvanized buckets wrapped in decoupaged drop cloth hang from faux greenery mounted to a large painted wooden board. A vinyl sign adorning the top of the calendar with a festive greeting makes the season even brighter.

Off-the-Rack Revelry

Who said Advent calendars are just for kids? Made by topping a basic mug rack with metallic baubles, faux greenery, and cotton muslin favor bags with ironed-on numerals, this farmhouse-style Christmas counter from Taryn Whiteaker is the height of sophistication. Just be sure to mount it high on the wall to keep pets and children at bay.

Related: 35 Postcard-Perfect Towns to Visit This Holiday Season

Better than a Tree

A space-saving, time-saving alternative to setting up a traditional tree, Homey Oh My’s tree-shaped wall-mounted Advent calendar comes together with just a wooden dowel, some string and clothespins, mini tote boxes, and tiny tree stickers. But while the calendar keeps a low profile on the wall, the boxes are big enough to stash gifts, treats, or sentimental notes. Best of all, with 25 totes on the calendar, that special someone will get an extra gift on Christmas!

Hanging Loose

Create this cheery counter from A Subtle Revelry by assembling 24 printable pouches with double-sided tape. Fill the pouches with tiny treasures, and then hang them from a wall-mounted wooden dowel using strings of different lengths for an artful asymmetrical arrangement.