Friday Five: 5 Advent Calendars

It feels crazy to me that it is already almost the end of November, but that means that it is advent calendar time. I love advent calendars and Christmas countdowns, they are one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Whether it is building a little LEGO figure everyday, getting a piece of candy, an ornament, a scripture, a story, or whatever else is in that little pocket, door, package, etc., or even just counting down the days on a cute calendar or chalkboard, it is just such a fun way to celebrate Christmas a little bit every day in December leading up to Christmas. 

Advent Calendars to make this Christmas

I have made a few different advent calendars over the years and here are 5 of them. These projects include ways to "package" your daily gift, like little bags and stockings, as well as different ideas to include in an advent calendar, and even an advent of 24 days of crochet patterns that I did that could be used in different ways. 

1- Crocheted Stocking Advent

First up we have a cute little advent made of 24 mini stockings. The colorful little stockings are made in a few different designs, all following the same pattern but changing up colors, adding stripes and other patterns. Little tags show the day for each stocking and you can fill them up with whatever little treats or toys you want. 

2- Drawstring Bag Advent Calendar

The second pattern on this list is a recent one, I only shared this about a week or so ago but it is a really easy one that you can make in no time at all. You just need some little muslin drawstring bags and use iron on to add numbers to each bag. Then again, you can fill them up with any little treats, toys, or other small items that you want. 

3- Paper Mache Advent Calendar

Advent number 3 starts with a premade plain paper mache advent calendar, I got mine at Hobby Lobby and I think they have them every Christmas but I have seen them other places as well. I have also seen wooden versions very similar to this that would also work. Then you use some fun Christmas print papers to decorate each drawer and add a number to each one. Then just like the others, fill the little drawers with candies or whatever else you want. 

4- Kids Craft Advent Calendar (with advent stickers)

Next up is one that is a little bit different. This one includes a specific idea, but you could use the stickers in a lot of different ways, for a lot of different advent calendars. For this one I filled each bag with a little Christmas kid craft so my kids you have a simple project to make each day. I found simple and inexpensive craft kits and divided them in different bags. I used combination of little red and brown paper bags and plain brown lunch bags. Then I made printable stickers that I cut out with my Cricut and stuck to each bag. If you don't need a kids craft calendar you could use the stickers for anything. Fill little bags with whatever you want and seal them with the little number stickers. 

5- Mini Amigurumi Advent

The last project on this list is a little bit different, but I love it and wanted to include it. Instead of an advent calendar that you can fill up with something this one is a project that I designed as an advent with 24 patterns, one for each day counting down to Christmas. This was my very first mini amigurumi crochet along and since I have done several more but this was the only one designed as an advent with 24 patterns. Obviously you could just make these little amigurumi for Christmas, completely unrelated to an advent calendar but I have a couple of thoughts of how you can use them as an advent. One way would be to make all of them and then wrap them up to open one each day, you could even turn them into ornaments and hang one on the tree each day. The other way I think they would be fun to use is as a crochet pattern advent where you could make one each day leading up to Christmas and then by Christmas you would have the whole set. Or like I said before, you could not use them as any kind of advent and just make them for fun. 

I you enjoyed this weeks advent calendar ideas, be sure to check back next week for another Friday Five. The next few weeks will probably be Christmas themed because I have so many Christmas projects to share.