Make Your Own Hanging Advent Calendar

So every year I buy those cardboard Advent Calendars for my kids.  You know the ones that have the gross pieces of chocolate in them. Well this year I decided that I wasn't going to do that any longer.  So We made our own and I am going to tell you how to make one too!

 

 

 

What you need:

Light Blue Felt (22"x35")

Green Felt (17"x17")

Red Felt (5 strips 2"x15")

Various other colors of felt for creating the ornaments

Hot Glue Gun

Hot Glue

Scissors

Hook and Loop

wooden dowel painted green (or any other color you like)

Black Marker

Fabric Paint (optional)

How to:

Fold down about 1.5 inches of the blue felt to the back and hot glue it down to create a pocket for the wooden dowel to slide in.

Fold your green felt in half and using a black marker draw half of a Christmas Tree along the fold.  Cut out your tree being sure to cut both sides of the tree at the same time.  Line up your tree in the center of the top half of the light blue felt and hot glue it down.  I found that it worked best if you glued it in sections so that the glue does not dry before you press it on.

 

Center the red strips on the bottom half of the blue felt.  But a line of glue on the bottom half of the red strips and attach them to the blue felt. Starting at the far left side but a strip of glue down the left side, then another strip of glue every 3 inches until you reach the other side.  This should create 5 pockets on each strip.  

Using white felt and cut out the numbers for your calendar.  This can be quite time consuming and you could chose to use white fabric paint as well.  If you cut out your numbers glue each one to a pocket on the calendar.  *Being careful no to attach any of the numbers backwards*  (did you see my 9?)

 

Using the remaining pieces of felt cut out 25 Christmas themed items to use as ornaments for your tree.  Don't forget the star!  Attach a small piece of the loop side of your hook and loop onto the back of each of the ornaments.  Slide each ornament into a pocket.  

 

Slide the dowel through the pocket we created at the top of the calendar.  Tie a Ribbon to each side of the dowel rod and hang it in your house.

Each day starting on December 1st have your child pull out an ornament and hang it on the tree.  I also stuck little pieces of candy in my pockets for an extra surprise!