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Monthly Advent Calendar DIY: Advent Calendar DIY Ideas

This monthly advent calendar DIY can be given as a holiday, birthday or random surprise gift. Fill each box with something your recipient will love. They’ll look forward for the entire year to come.
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Equipment

  • 12 small cardboard boxes with lids—same or varying sizes.
  • 1 large canvas
  • Hot glue gun
  • White glue
  • Paint
  • Paintbrushes
  • Tissue paper
  • Small gifts to fill (suggestions below)

Instructions

  • Gather your supplies. Make sure all 12 boxes fit on your canvas.
  • Paint canvas.
  • Paint box sides and box lid sides. Let dry.
  • Use hot glue to attach boxes to large canvas.
  • Measure your box lids with a ruler. These dimensions will be used tocreate your calendar top design.
  • Use a program to create 12 monthly calendars to print and paste on your box lid tops. See post for Canva template inspiration. You can also create a new document on Canva.com using your box dimensions. In the document, create a new page for each month. Search “calendar” in the “templates” section. Find a template you like and copy each monthly calendar and design to your own colors/size. Add your own custom dates/holidays. If your boxes are different sizes, which size boxes belong to each month? Resize the calendars boxes according to your measurements.
  • Print out the 12 calendars and cut out. Use white glue to paste on the box lids. Let dry.
  • Fill the boxes with monthly gifts. If there’s room, wrap in colored tissue paper that matches your design.
  • Place lids on the boxes.
  • For lighter lights, make advent calendar into a wall hanging. Use hanging pieces and wire. For heavier advent calendars, lean against a mantlepiece or other furniture.