Our Advent Calendar

Today is December 1st so it is time to get the Advent Calendar ready.  My children always enjoyed our Advent Calendar tradition.  And I have to say that I enjoy it too.  Now that our youngest is 13 I am dreading the day that she says she is "too old" for that kid stuff.  At that point I guess I will have to torture my husband with the Advent Calendar tradition.  :)

 I made this advent calendar a few years ago.  The base of the calendar is a metal cookie sheet (the bottom of the cookie sheet is decorated) and the tins are Martha Stewart party favor tins which I got on clearance.  The original idea was to put magnets on the back of each tin to attach it to the calendar.  But I had too many decorative layers of paper so the magnets weren't strong enough.  The inside of each tin lid is decorated with a circle of cardstock and a number cut from my Cricut.  The decorations and the title are also cut from the Cricut. Each tin is hot glued to the patterned paper square behind it.  I also used patterned paper to decorate the top and bottom inside area of the handles. 

 The inside of each tin is decorated with patterned paper that matches the paper used on the square under the tin.  The numbers in the lid represent the numbers left until Christmas.  And the numbers inside of the tin represent the actual date on the calendar.  This just makes it easier for the kids to see if they have opened the correct number of tins.

I put candy in some of the tins and little slips of paper describing where other special treats are hidden.  The kids always love opening the lid to find a special note.  The slip of paper that I am showing here tells Taylor to go to the large freezer to find her frozen treat.  (shhh....it is peppermint ice cream)  The kids take a lid off each day and then store the lids in a bowl until Christmas.  

The tins only hold one piece of candy, but you can have the candy for other children in a different location to give everyone when the tins are opened.  

I hope you enjoyed reading about our Advent Calendar and maybe even got some ideas for your family.