BORN IN A BALL JAR: DIY Advent Calendar

Growing up, one of the tried and true traditions in my family was the advent calendar. My mother would present both my sister and I with one on Dec. 1, and we always looked forward to the next day and what treat would come. I wanted to make a special one for my sister this year to continue this tradition.

Small gift bags, Gold or silver marker, Small treats, Foam core, Stapler, Paper tape

Get bags that can be bought in a decent amount, making sure that they are big enough for any prizes you have. I found mine in the Halloween discount section. I cut the handles off them to make them easier to deal with later.

2 Using my marker, I wrote the numbers 1-24 on the bags. I made the numbers as big as possible, but kept them uniform.

3 Bring in the treats: I hit up the dollar store for cards, candy, nail polish and hair care products. The best thing about an advent calendar is how personal you can make it. You really can build it for the person it’s for. Fill it with gift cards, jewelry, even little liquor bottles. Just as long as it will fit in the bags you have, it will work.

4 Fill your bags. I put a big prize in each one, and then a few pieces of candy with it.

5 I used a piece of foam core from the dollar store, then glued over it a piece of red matte board. I then wrote the song lyrics from a family favorite Christmas carol.

6 Let the glue dry, preferably overnight. Using your knife, cut any remaining corks in pieces to fit into the holes. Glue them into place the same way you did the others. Let them dry.

7 Staple the bags down onto the board. This is why I used the foam core, so that the staples would have something to attach to. I used two staples to hold each bag just to make sure they would stay in place.

8 I then covered the staples in green sparkly paper tape to give it a nice finished look.

There are countless ways to make an advent calendar, this just being one of them that suited my needs.

Some other ideas:

You can make fabric bags for something more re-usable, then attach them to a post-it sized picture of a tree. Or try collecting mint tins during the year, paint them Christmas colors, then fill with treats and glue them to a yardstick for a compact style.