This DIY Christmas Countdown Calendar Craft Project has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GiftDeliciously #CollectiveBias
Every year my children and I create a countdown calendar for Christmas. In years past we have made Christmas chains, purchased ready made advent calendars and used various other methods for generating daily excitement for the big day while sharing stories that help our children understand why we celebrate.
In the past, we’ve used a box that holds just enough candy for all four children. We allow the kids to grab one treat a day, it makes it easier for me to remember that I need to share the daily Advent devotional with them. They are not allowed to go into the boxes before school because we don’t have enough time in the morning to go over the devotional together and answer questions, so I make them wait until everyone gets home. This year I decided to incorporate giving into our Christmas countdown by purchasing snack size cookies and crackers and using them to create our countdown calendar.
Each day when the kids get home, we will open a new box, pull out the treat inside and go over our devotional for the day while we snack. This year we are taking it one step further. After we read our devotional, we take the extra cookies from the box and give them to our friends. I love teaching my kids to share, and it gives them a chance to share the story they heard that day with a friend. I think this will be a great new tradition, and I love listening to them explain Christmas and Christ’s birth with their friends.
This year we are WAY behind because I flew to Hawaii to visit my brother, so I just started working on the calendar this week. Thankfully our devotions are short, and I was able to catch up easily, and we will just donate the boxes we didn’t open to the food shelter!
If you are looking for daily Advent readings for your family you can check out these resources:
FREE Daily Advent Devotions:
Prepare For Christmas: Campus Crusade For Christ
Good News Of Great Joy: Desiring God
Advent Study Keeping Our Hearts Focused On God For Kids
Bible Reading Plan
If you’re behind like I am, but would still like to create your own DIY Christmas Countdown Calendar Craft Project, I’ve included instructions below.
DIY Christmas Countdown Calendar Craft Project:
Materials Needed:
– 2 packs of Avery Scallop Round Labels (or you can make your own)
– Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks
– Tape Runner
– Wrapping Paper & Tape
– Ribbons (optional)
25 boxes of Cookies & Crackers
To make my design you’ll need (some boxes are bigger than others):
– 5 Boxes of RITZ Crackers
– 5 Boxes of OREO Cookies
-5 Boxes of Double Stuf OREO Cookies
– 6 Boxes of Chips Ahoy! Cookies
– 4 Boxes of Nutter Butter Cookies
How To Make It:
Step 1: Decide on a design. I started by trying a few different combinations for my boxes. Make sure your design keeps all openings facing out so you can retrieve your cookies each day.
Step 2: Wrap each box with wrapping paper.
Step 3: Stack your boxes together and secure each box with hot glue.
Step 4: Print labels for each box and apply them in the order you would like. Most advent calendars are numbered 1-25. If you would like to count down, number them 25-1.
Step 5: Apply your bows or other decorations.
Each day you can open a box and share a snack with friends, and hopefully the story behind Christmas!
I used these snack size boxes because they were affordable and my kids love these cookies and crackers. When you’re buying 25 boxes of cookies and crackers, you need a good value, and thankfully these are affordably priced at Walmart. The boxes are easy to find and are located right next to the checkout.
Looking for more creative ideas for crafting or giving away these snack size boxes as gifts? Check out these awesome ideas from other bloggers.