How To Make Your Own Christmas Advent Calendar

I thoroughly enjoyed making our own DIY Advent Calendar in the run up to Christmas last year, to watch Liv’s reaction as she revealed a new Itty Bitty character each day was magical. It was so easy to make and much more fun (albeit, less tasty) than opening a chocolate advent calendar. In this post, we will show you how to make your own Christmas Advent Calendar using stocking filler toys.

On a recent trip to IKEA, these cute, festive Advent Calendar bags (£7.50) inspired me. It hopped into my basket ready for me to make another personal toy advent Calendar this year. As you can see from the Sim’s Life Instagram feed, the smiles are definitely worth adding your own magic touch to a daily calendar.

Creating A Homemade Advent Calendar For Christmas

Christmas Advent Calendar bags from Ikea.

What are great Advent Calendar contents ideas?

The great thing about starting from scratch with a fillable Advent Calendar is the fact you can fill it with anything! Whether you want to make a toy advent calendar, advent calendar for adults, alcohol advent calendar.

Possibly even a simple home made chocolate advent calendar, the options are limitless and allows you get creative!

Itty Bitty plush dolls are the perfect stocking filler when looking how to make a Christmas Advent calendar.

What to include in a DIY Advent Calendar

The recently launched range of Disney Princess Itty Bittys, available from Hallmark will be included in the bags, I have a feeling someone will appreciate the super cute and soft Princess’s being added to her collection!

That is what I love about Itty Bittys, the range is ever expanding and there is so much scope with the characters that can be included in the collection. The cute soft plush toys are the perfect size for a daily Advent Calendar treat!

Itty Bitty Disney Princess plush toys in a box ready to make a Christmas advent calendar.

Filling an Advent Calendar

Clearly there are 24 Advent bags to fill and there needs to be a new surprise every day. The size of the actual bags dictates what I gifts I can actually use but fortunately I have a lovely selection of gifts that I was keeping for this activity.

The BlogOn Christmas conference goodie bags contained so many fantastic gifts that are perfect for adding to the advent calendar including Trolls Top Trump Cards, Hatchimals Colleggtibles and a Shopkins blind bag.

However I’ve found stores like Home Bargains have a fabulous selection of small fun items that can easily be included in a home made Advent calendar.

Girls stocking fillers how to make your own Christmas advent calendar.

I am as excited to make the calendar this year as I am to see Mini Me’s reaction. She is now at ‘that’ age so it’s great to retain some of the Christmas sparkle and keep the magic alive… especially for me! 😉

Star Wars Tsum Tsum toys stacked on top of each other.

How cute are these awesome Star Wars Tsum Tsum’s soft plush toys? I know these will be a hit as surprisingly Mini Me is quite the fan of Star Wars and will fit perfectly into the bags! I shall have to watch out though as I expect these to be smuggled into school… or attempted to anyway! You can pick up your own collection of Tsum Tsum’s.

Brainstorm also very kindly sent a Magno Z and Stickbot to include in the Advent bags from IKEA. They are super colourful and a wonderful inclusion into our Advent Calendar.

Final thoughts on making your own DIY advent calendar

The advent calendar has a long and varied history, with many different interpretations and purposes. It is a cherished tradition for many families, and continues to be popular today.

I hope you have enjoyed learning about this festive tradition, and that you will consider starting your own advent calendar countdown this year!

Will you be making your own Advent Calendar this year?

Other Christmas posts you may enjoy:

Christmas Food Inspiration

A Round Up Of Christmas Gift Ideas

History Of The Stocking Filler

How To Celebrate Christmas On A Budget

by Sim

Sim is the dynamic force behind Sim's Life, a testament to her decade-long journey in the blogging world. As a mother to a teenager, she brings a genuine and relatable perspective to the challenges and joys of parenting. Her entrepreneurial spirit shines through her role as a successful small business owner, further enriching her content with real-world experiences. Sim's authority is not just confined to one platform; she is the proud owner of several established blogs, each showcasing her expertise in lifestyle and parenting topics. Her dedication to providing valuable, insightful content is evident in every post, making her a trusted voice in the online community. Find out more About Sim's Life here.

27 thoughts on “How To Make Your Own Christmas Advent Calendar”

  1. Ahhh this is a fab idea… I remember you doing it last year too! 🙂 I really want those Princess Itty Bittys, they are just adorable. We have the Mickey and Minnie Christmas ones at the moment. They are really cute too.

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  2. I love all the creative calendar ideas floating around the internet this time of year. My boys both have a calendar which is a cross stitch sampler with 24 little hoops sewn on to it, so every year I just need to tie on 24 little gifts.

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    • There are so many different ways to do an advent but I do love the opening of a bag each day, we did it last year and Mini Me was so excited each day 🙂 I love the cross stitch sampler idea x

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  3. After looking at the choices out there for my nearly 4 year old girl i decided I will make her her own this year her brother is getting a Lego Star Wars one just like every year but hers will be filled with blind bags (from the BlogOn Goodie bags i knew they would come in handy) and other little presents! I love those IKEA bags might have to do a trip to our nearest soon! I do have a wooden advent calendar but the boxes are too small for the stuff i already collected for her! Thanks for joining into our #GiftGuideLinkUp

    Reply
    • The BlogOn bags were filled with lots of fantastic items to include in an advent calendar, I have been storing them away just for this moment! The IKEA bags were a fab find, I would never have thought to shop there for them!x

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    • I quite like the idea of an adult advent calendar 😉 I need to try that one! For now I am super excited to fill Mini Me’s advent and watch her reactions when she opens each daily gift 🙂 xx

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    • I never know either – IKEA have some amazing Christmas related goodies in at the moment, well worth a trip down there… don’t forget to stock up on candles 😉 xx

      Reply

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