Homemade Advent Calendar

I decided earlier in the fall that I wanted to make my own advent calendar this year.  Since Thanksgiving was on the 22nd this year, I knew I'd have a bit of time after the holiday to create my calendar.

I didn't do anything too complicated.  Here's what I used:

Christmas themed scrapbook paper
Red/green scrapbook paper
25 envelopes
Mini-clothes pin clips (found in the scrapbooking section of your craft store)
Twine
Wood dowel rods
Christmas lights

Obviously there is a lot of room for variation here.  The only thing we bought to complete this project was the dowel rods.  Everything else I had at the house.

The hardest part was coming up with the list of activities for my kids to do.  I wanted to make them really specific for them - stuff they'd enjoy.  Here are the activities they'll be doing everyday, starting with December 1st (which was Saturday):

Dec. 1: Attend the our local Christmas Parade of Lights
Dec. 2: Go see Santa on the KC Southern Train
Dec. 3: Paint Christmas ornaments
Dec. 4: Make grandparents a special Christmas card
Dec. 5: Make the official Santa letter
Dec. 6: Celebrate St. Nicholas day - read the story of St. Nicholas
Dec. 7: Family Game Night
Dec. 8: Go for yogurt after MJ #1's dance recital
Dec. 9: FaceTime grandparents and sing Christmas carols to them
Dec. 10: Make snowflakes out of paper and decorate the dining room with them
Dec. 11: Take your list and go see Santa!
Dec. 12: Write a Christmas card to a friend we won't see
Dec. 13: Build Santa's workshop in the foyer
Dec. 14: Make your teacher a Christmas card
Dec. 15: Family Christmas Movie Night
Dec. 16: Wear your Santa hat - ALL DAY
Dec. 17: Bake and decorate Christmas cookies
Dec. 18: Turn on Christmas music and have a dance party!
Dec. 19: Transform our hallway into the North Pole
Dec. 20: Read the Christmas story in the book of Luke from the Bible
Dec. 21: Drive to find Christmas lights (after they've had a bath in their Pj's!)
Dec. 22: Decorate a gingerbread house
Dec. 23: Watch the Polar Express and have a Movie Night in our Pj's
Dec. 24: Bake cookies for Santa and read Twas the Night Before Christmas
Dec. 25: Christmas!

Here's a picture of what our calendar looks like :)

Here's an up close of the envelopes

Here's how I clipped them to the 'tree'

The final product.  The kids have been super excited about it so far this season!  Yea me! :)