Celebrate the month of December with this DIY Christmas advent calendar village made out of paper! The countdown to Christmas day has never been so fun.
The countdown to Christmas is on!
We’re getting into the Christmas spirit around these parts, and as December approaches, the countdown to Christmas begins. I always get the kids an advent calendar, normally store-bought. This year, an addicting, time-consuming entity, also known as Pinterest, swept me away from store-bought and inspired me to make my own!
A fun DIY Christmas advent calendar
I saw some manufactured advent calendars set up village style. That’s it, what a great idea – an Advent Calendar Village I can make myself! All we need is some construction paper and a few other decorative touches to make this cute holiday countdown to Christmas day.
How to make a DIY paper Christmas advent calendar village
This DIY Christmas advent calendar village was super easy to make. I already had the construction paper, wrapping paper, tape, glue, etc. Here’s how to get started.
Materials needed for your Christmas advent calendar village
- Construction paper
- Colorful holiday wrapping paper
- Small boxes or containers
- Scissors
- Tape
- Glue
- Black Sharpie
- Miniature candies or treats
Create your Christmas tree countdown calendar
With the paper, mini boxes, and other materials you gathered, determine what you will use to create each piece of your village. We went with Christmas trees in various sizes,
Our Christmas trees are made of green construction paper, rolled into cones, and taped on the inside. We folded a few paper origami boxes out of red and yellow paper (learned this in elementary school) and made a trip to the dollar store to get a 12 pack of favor boxes (or get them on Amazon) for some of the village pieces. You will need to make 25 total trees and homes for your holiday countdown, make sure they sit upright and are hollow to hold/cover your small treats!
Number and decorate your Christmas village
Now it’s time to put your village together and decorate it! Add some fun colored wrapping paper, some stickers to use as ornaments, and even some foam stars as Christmas tree toppers.
Once your 25 pieces are ready, print out or write individual numbers in different sizes and randomly glue them onto each piece of the village. Add a small treat, candy, or trinket underneath each piece of the village, one to be revealed each day.
What to put in your fillable advent calendar
Each day starting November 30th, the kids will have to locate the corresponding box of the day and find a treat inside (Note: if you make a 24-day advent calendar, start December 1)! We bought a bag of mini candy canes and Andes mints at the dollar store, and I will also use other random holiday trinkets. Here are some ideas for advent calendar fillers, be careful with these small trinkets around babies and little kids:
- Mini wrapped candies
- Bells
- Coins
- Small trinkets & toys
- Magnets
- Keychains
- Bouncy balls
- Jax
- Stickers
- Dice
- Holiday notes
- Mini erasers
Make your own paper advent calendars
The neat part about this DIY Christmas advent calendar village is that you can do whatever you want. No strict rules here. As long as you have 25 different containers, you’re golden! You can decorate your boxes as houses, add skyscrapers, schools, a church, etc.
I chose to make mine colorful, I absolutely love how it turned out! It took a little longer than expected, about an hour, but I think it’s because I decided to wrap and decorate the gift boxes. MJ was such a good helper, too. He decorated the Christmas trees and can’t wait for the first of the month to get here.
Have fun with your paper Christmas village!
Make your own DIY Christmas advent calendar village at home with your family! It was fun to make, and we love the tradition of the countdown to Christmas.
We currently have our homemade advent calendar village as the centerpiece on our dining table, surrounding a vase of poinsettias. I think it would also look cute on a fireplace mantle or a long bar area. If you love Christmas crafting, try making our holiday homemade Christmas cookie gift jar, perfect to gift to loved ones. Have fun and enjoy the holidays!
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Yours turned out wonderful. I would love to make one of these for my grandchildren next year. They will love it and I will have a lot of fun making it.
I like how this is a craft that all the children can take part in. There are enough for even the adults to do a bunch also. Its a great incidental learning tool as well. Whether it be shapes for little ones or subtraction for those a little older.a
That is so cute! My daughter is still too young for an advent calendar but I’m researching options for next year when I think she’ll really get into it.
I love this! I like how they are different sizes so you can pick all kinds of fun prizes to put in there 😉 I will have to make this next year!
This is so cute! I especially love the trees and could see them being done in an array of decorative papers. Maybe even silver and golds on a mantle!
I love the idea, we always had advent calendars as a kid but I love that you’ve also made it into a decorative element as well so it serves a double purpose. Thanks for the great idea, I’ll have to remember it for future years