Last December I got bitten by the Advent Calendar bug. Oh, you haven’t heard of this particular strain of virus? Well, I posted 13 of the very coolest advent calendars ever last year and have been salivating over them ever since. This year, I’ve got ten more to share with you.
If you aren’t familiar with advent calendars you are missing out! It’s an old German tradition that started with families using chalk to mark the days on their doorpost until Christmas. It’s obviously magnified since then but the idea of counting down the days is the same.
Some advent calendars simply show pictures or a Christmas scripture underneath a flap (see this adorable woodland calendar!). Others are big containers or drawers with gifts inside. My favorite way is to have a clue inside that leads to an activity or craft (like Truth in the Tinsel, perhaps?). For me, it’s all about leveraging the excitement of Christmas, the anticipation of the day to lead my daughter to Jesus and impress her with His love for us.
So here we go, my TOP TEN MOST AMAZING ADVENT CALENDARS THIS YEAR…
1. The Pop Up Version. I’m a tad obsessed with pop-up books. So, when I saw this one, I knew it was a must-have! It’s based on Eric Carle’s book, Dream Snow.
Eric Carle’s Dream Snow Pop-Up Advent Calendar
2. BEST of the BEST. This is my favorite hands-down. Crafty. Vintage-y. Simple. I love it. (Plus, she’s got the labels to download for free!)
Wooden Spools by Just Something I Made
3. The Craftylicious One. This is just the cutest little thing ever. If I was Asa, I’d want to put it in my mouth!
Button Tree Tutorial at Crafty Stylish
4. The Gorgeous One. I can’t get over how beautiful this is. It’s a typical pocket advent calendar, but instead of a number, the corresponding number of buttons is shown. With the mother-of-pearl buttons, this calendar is down right swanky!
Frankincense by Miss Gioia
5. The Natural One. I don’t know how she got little gifts inside of walnuts. I don’t know how she displayed them so perfectly and made this whole thing look natural and magical at the same time. But I adore it.
Walnut by Latarnia
6. The Fun One. I wasn’t sure if anything could top the Dentyne Ice Advent Calendar. But this is pretty close.
Bubble Wrap Advent Calendar by INV/ALT
7. Downloadable One. I love me a good printable. And THIS is a good printable. You download the pattern and cut and assemble yourself. If you can do it even half as good as the picture, I think someone might ask you where you bought it!
CHRISTmas Tree Pattern by copycrafts
8.The Easy DIY One. This is cheap, fun, easy and super cute! This would be a great countdown for any event (birthday, vacation, etc.) because you could use any color box!
Chinese Take Out Boxes by Sermon on the Mount of Laundry
9. The Matchy Matchy One. There are several garland, matching-container calendars out there. But for some reason, this one stuck out to me. I love the jingle bells on the ric-rac garland. I love that you get to slide the matchboxes open. It’s whimsical and unique.
Matchbox Garland at Merry Matchboxes
10. The One I Just Like. I don’t know what it is about this one. If I had this in my living room, I’d never want to stop looking at it. It’s just huge and homey and yummy.
Cones & Birds by the Red Thread
(I got all pictures from their respective sites. Please click through and let them know how great they are.)
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