Advent Garland
December 2, 2009 4:48 pm Gillian Holidays & Seasons, Home Decor, Projects
By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.
When I was a kid, December was my favorite month of the year for one reason alone. Sure there was the tree and the gifts and the snow and the days off of school. Those were all great. Bonuses, in fact. But the real reason I loved december was that every morning I was allowed, even ENCOURAGED, to eat a piece of chocolate, a piece of chocolate from my advent calendar.
The thrill of opening another little door never wore off, even though I knew what was behind each and every one. And my brother and I would check all the opened doors each morning, just in case we had somehow missed one.
When my son was younger I made a felt Christmas tree with little ornament pockets. An old, vintage, crystal button traveled form pocket to pocket as the days got closer and closer to Christmas. Pretty, glittery, calorie free. He didn’t know what he was missing. And then one year my mother bought him the “real” kind of advent calendar, and it was curtains for the poor old felt tree.
This year I’m sure we’ll have the chocolate behind the door variety, in fact, I believe there are two arriving in the mail tomorrow. But, because I remember the thrill of getting a special treat every December morning (and because you can never have enough chocolate around the house) my kids will also get to open a box on our advent garland this year.
Besides the chocolate (or what ever you choose for a treat inside) this garland comes together with only three items (or groups of) total.
You will need:
1 piece of ribbon (not wired) – determine how long you want the garland and then add a third more and cut the ribbon to length
24 mini take-out boxes (alternating colors are fun but one solid color works great too!)
Holiday stickers (letters that spell out a greeting are nice, numbers to count down the days would be great to)
Find the center of your ribbon and tie a box about one inch on either side of that point. Continue to tie the boxes, knotting at each handle, an even distance apart, until you have all 24 (or 25 if you want one for Christmas morning, but really, who opens a teeny little advent box when you have presents to open?) tied on. Decorate the front of the boxes with stickers, fill each box with a treat and string it up. It makes a great decoration over the fireplace or along the banister and could be wrapped around a fir garland for an extra festive look. Either way, your kids will love you for giving them one more little treat this December.
Related posts:
Heidi Luna :
Date: December 3, 2009 @ 2:23 PM
These look very cute!! I think it would make a great secret sister present thanks for sharing
nichan :
Date: December 3, 2009 @ 6:51 PM
I’m inspired to make my own Advent Calendar…perhaps, I’ll think about making it…it’s fun, eh and increase the Christmas spirit
(^.^) THANK’S!
Scrapbook Gal :
Date: December 30, 2009 @ 10:06 PM
A nice touch and on the list for next Christmas – thanks for the idea.
Holly :
Date: July 30, 2010 @ 1:05 AM
What a wonderful idea! I really like that it offers a bit more space than many other calendars.