Easy Last Minute Advent Calendars

A great homemade advent calendar doesn’t have to be hard to make. Here are 10 advent calendars that are quick & easy. Some can even be made from recycled everyday items!

I don’t remember having advent calendars when I was little. They may have been around but I don’t think that they were as popular as they are now. 

Anyway the first memory that I have of an advent calendar is seeing the commercial ones in the supermarket. You know the ones where you open the tab up each day and get a chocolate! I think I was past getting excited about a small chocolate treat by then – so I never had one :(.

Now advent calendars are about so much more than just getting a simple treat each day in the lead up to Christmas. If you look around for advent calendar inspiration they can be almost like works of art nowadays!

I just love that the advent calendars can contain simple notes instead of material things. Don’t get me wrong getting a small gift each day is great, but there is enough pressure to buy cool gifts for Christmas without having to come up with a small one each day during the lead up!

I have seen quite a few advent calendar ideas lately on Pinterest and many of them can be used to house little reminders of the real meaning of Christmas. Little prompts to remind us to take time out to help others, look out for our neighbours, or just relax and be happy can be really useful during the Christmas rush. Let’s face it we get so worried about buying gifts and preparing for the big day that we can lose site of the real meaning.

So I have put together a collection of ten of my favourite advent calendars that I have come across over the last couple of weeks. The beauty of these is that most are easy to make and many of them just use items recycled everyday household items. 

If you want the full instructions I have included a direct link and I have included a Pinterest pin so you can re-pin it for later.

The first advent calendar that I want to share with you is cute take-out box idea from Kelly at Studio DIY. These boxes look so cool and being bigger you can add larger gifts if you want to!

Other great advent calendars can be made up using recycled materials such as toilet paper rolls.

This one from casaHAUS was very easy to make and could hold a small gift. The website is in Spanish but each calendar idea has a short English description also.

This simple advent calendar from the Woman’s Day website is also made from toilet paper rolls. One end is sealed, and then the rolls are decorated and hung from lace – very pretty!

This next advent calendar from Tastemade uses pillow boxes but I’m sure it could be done with toilet paper rolls!

If you have leftover baby food jars – don’t recycle them yet! Use them to hold treats for your advent calendar like Linda from Craftaholics Anonymous did. Such a great idea!

Here is another advent calendar idea that can be made using just scraps of paper. Jessica at Bespoke Bride used some gorgeous Christmas paper to make envelopes for her calendar.

Colourful scrapbook paper and clothes pegs were used to make this calendar over at Bounceback Parenting. This one looks super easy to make!

For another paper based idea what about this great paper star calendar from Ohoh Deco. You could make this in single colour or make it multi-coloured!

Leftover wooden dowel also makes a great structure to hang your advent calendar gifts on. The one below from Anu at Nalle’s House is very simple but effective using dowel and black felt star pouches.

Finally if you have some chalkboard paint lying around you can make this super cool advent calendar from Oh Happy Day. These lovely little boxes could be arranged however you like.

Well I hope that I have helped to point you in the right direction for advent calendar ideas! Feel free to share your own ideas in the comments section below!