DIY Advent Calendar
I wanted an advent calendar in our home this year to make the season extra special for our little guy. I decided to dupe this Gathre leather advent calendar using canvas instead. The Gathre calendar is $150 and I just couldn’t justify spending that much so, our DIY version was under $30. Let me say, I am very much an amateur sewer and this project was tedious. I usually eyeball with my sewing projects and this calendar requires a plan and precise measurements which made it a challenging undertaking for me. However, if you are a more veteran seamstress, the cost and end result is well worth it.
You’ll need:
Canvas Material (I purchased this $10 canvas drop cloth)
Two Wood Dowels (I purchased two of these dowel rods)
Thread
A Sewing Machine
An Iron & Ironing Board
How to:
The large Gathre mat is 30'“ x 48” with 6” x 6” pockets so those were our measurements. We started by cutting out the canvas to 54” x 32” to allow for 1” seams in the sides (1/2” folded over twice) and 3'“holes for the dowels on the top and bottom. We used the iron to really press the folds and make the areas we were sewing much more clear. After making the base, we measured for six rows of four 6” pockets. Now, this math was tricky but we ended up cutting out six 42” x 7” rows for the pockets. The 7” height was to allow for 1/2” seam on the top and bottom. 42” allowed for 6” pockets with 2” on either side to have pocket depth, as well as a 1/2 seam on both sides. We used these tutorial videos to help us figure out sewing the pockets - https://youtu.be/y2_J_IGApWg , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qri1VhPXTpw&t=643s
We ironed and sewed the seams for all the pocket material and then measured the distance between each row and pinned them to the base canvas, then sewed the middle down all rows. Then pinned and sewed both sides of the pocket material. The videos above shows this step very clearly. The trickiest part was folding, ironing, pinning, and sewing the pockets. Again, the video tutorials for this were very helpful, but we made a 6”x 6” and 1”x 6” template to help us fold more precisely and then ironed those measurements in place. We then sewed the last dividing vertical line to equally divide the two pockets on either side. The last step was to sew across the bottom of the row to secure the folds and bottom of the pockets.
And TA-DA! You have a 24 pocket advent calendar. Ours is, made with love ;) I’m happy we made it together and will laugh and remember how much work the project was, but how proud we are of it every year we use it. Doing the math and planning for the right measurements and getting the pockets folded and sewn precisely was the most challenging part. Not all of our pockets are exact and that drove the perfectionist in me a little crazy. Honestly, after completing the project, I understand why the Gathre calendar costs as much as it does, it’s a ton of work and theirs is so precise because they have the tools to make them uniform and make them quickly. The material is also very durable. So, if sewing is your jam, then make this DIY advent calendar and save the money, if not, maybe purchasing a calendar is the right choice.
Other DIY Advent Calendar tutorials - I almost made this calendar and think it is darling and would have been a much simpler sewing project https://youtu.be/XRb4nzJ7YKg , Also a cute and less complicated calendar https://youtu.be/zvPyUowu7Jg
Or
Calendar options to buy
Use Your Calendar For Optimizing Christmas Family Fun
As always, there should be a why behind anything I am adding to the home. The purpose of this advent calendar is to create fun and festive memories with our son, as well as plan for Christmas activities to do as a family. In his calendar I placed Christmas pajamas, Christmas books, toys, treats, and some activities to do as a family. We made a list of movies we wanted to be sure to watch this season and activities we wanted to do together and wrote them on slips of paper to be placed in the calendar pockets for some of the days. Some are general like making cookies or having a dance party to Christmas music, and others are specific to our location like a neighborhood with great lights that we visit annually or donating to a local giving machine. If you have a Gathre calendar, they actually already have advent cards available for purchase with activities to do on them that go inside the pockets. I just wrote ours on slips of paper and put them in some pockets.
Other Ideas:
Use a mason jar and 25 popsicle sticks. Write an activity to do as a family on each stick and pick one to complete each day. These activities will be simpler to achieve since you won’t know which you will pull out. Examples could be “watch Elf as a family”, “go see Christmas lights” or “make cookies to deliver to neighbors.”
Use a pocket or drawer countdown calendar to fill with slips of paper with Christmas activities to do. These activities can be a little more elaborate since you will have filled the pockets and can plan for an activity for a certain day. Examples could be “Get dressed up, we’re going to a Christmas play tonight at 8” or “ We’re making Christmas cards for the Grandparents today.”
Have fun planning for ways to add Christmas magic to your home for your family. Making traditions is vital to family closeness and connectivity. We hope that this DIY calendar that we made will grow with our family and will serve as a fun family tradition that brings us closer together each year.
Merry Christmas,
The Hygge House
