I am super excited to be sharing with you my angel themed DIY Advent Calendar which I made with my daughter Sylvia. This is a fun advent calendar and was super easy to paint.
If you're looking for an advent calendar to make then read on or check out this Advent Calendar Christmas Tree from Toilet Paper Rolls. They are both great ideas!
We were sent the supplies from Hobby Craft which enabled us to get creative painting and designing our new Christmas Advent.
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💖 Why You'll Love This Craft
- Personalized Holiday Countdown: Create a custom calendar that fits your family’s traditions, with personalized treats or activities behind each door.
- Creative Surprise Ideas: Beyond candy, you can include little notes, toys, or fun challenges—making each day’s surprise something special and unique.
- Festive Décor: The finished advent calendar doubles as a beautiful holiday decoration, adding charm and excitement to your home during the countdown to Christmas.
Supplies for This DIY Advent Calendar
The supplies we used were one Wooden Advent Calendar, White and Silver acrylic paint, Paint Brushes, Posca Paint pens, wooden numbers and a glue gun.
🖌️ How to Make This Advent Calendar
- Step 1: We began by taking out the doors from the Advent Calendar as these were the first thing to paint. It is a great idea to number the bottom of the doors so you can slide them back into the correct slots when the task is complete.
- Step 2: My daughter painted the doors in acrylic Silver. The paint is pretty fast to dry and she had to paint two coats to get the doors looking good.
- Step 3: We set the doors aside to dry and then worked together on the Advent Calendar Frame. We opted to paint this white as we thought it would go well with the Angel theme we wanted.
- Step 4: Painting the Calendar was pretty easy. We had fun doing this task and again had to give the Calendar two coats.
- Step 5: The Acrylic paint was really good quality and easy to use and we used two thirds of the tube to paint the Calendar twice.
- Step 6: Sylvia really enjoyed the painting and we discussed what we would place inside our calendar as we painted. I thought it would be great to put chocolate inside but Sylvia would prefer little toys such as Shopkins. I guess that is the healthier option.
- Step 7: Once the paint had dried we were able to place the boxes back into the correct slots of the Advent Calendar. Next I used the Posca paint pens to paint little Angels onto some of the advent boxes. Posca Pens are my favourite painting tool and I had fun creating different designs.
- Step 8: I painted the angels while I watched X factor. It was really fun. I love painting with posca pens and find it really enjoyable. The Angels turned out quite nice.
- Step 9: Once the Advent Calendar was ready, Sylvia then helped me to glue the numbers onto our Advent Calendar using a glue gun we had purchased from Hobby craft a few weeks ago.
- Step 10: The Advent Calendar looks really great to me. I am really pleased with the end result and although it's not perfect, I think the unique and imperfect design makes it pretty cool.
- Step 11: I was going to put a Star at the top or an angel but in the end I decided to go with a coloured tinsel. We placed a red tinsel on our Advent Calendar but did not glue it so we can change the colour next year.
The calendar turned out fabulous and I really enjoyed this collaboration.
It was fun and the supplies from Hobby Craft were fantastic. We will be putting little toys into the Advent and Sylvia is really looking forward to using this next week.
Angela x
💡 Pro Tip: Add a detachable checklist alongside the calendar so children can manually track which days they’ve opened for a built-in habit-building feature.
🧑🎨 Expert Tips
- Number Placement: Start by evenly spacing out the numbers in logical rows or arcs so kids can easily follow the countdown sequence each day.
- Daily Labels: Use small, legible labels or printed tags for each day to help children visually recognize progress and anticipate what comes next.
- Compartment Size: Ensure each pocket or space is sized consistently to avoid confusion and keep the daily openings easy to identify and use.
- Tracking System: Encourage marking off completed days with small stickers or clips, teaching kids simple tracking and time-awareness skills.
- Sequence Clarity: Lay out the numbers in a left-to-right or top-to-bottom pattern, making it intuitive for younger kids to follow in order.
- Surprise Variation: Occasionally change up what's behind each number—mixing small notes, questions, or prompts—to add variety without disrupting the calendar flow.
💭 FAQs
Creating and using an advent calendar helps children understand the concept of time by marking daily progress. This visual countdown reinforces planning and the passage of days leading up to an event.
Yes, opening a new section each day encourages patience and delayed gratification. Children learn to look forward to daily surprises, enhancing their ability to wait and appreciate future rewards.
Engaging with the calendar daily establishes a consistent routine. This regular activity can provide structure and predictability during the holiday season.
By counting down to a specific day, children set a clear goal and track their progress. This practice introduces them to setting objectives and working steadily towards achieving them.
🖌️ Related Crafts
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*We were sent the supplies from Hobby Craft for the purpose of this blog post. To read how we made the milk bottle Christmas decorations click here.
Oh my my that is such a cool callendar you have inspired me to try making one of those at home x
thanks Olivia 🙂 Good luck it is fun to make.
This is absolutely delightful! And so nice that it's hand painted! I painted by other half a advent house last year and really enjoyed the process!
awesome. It was a fun process.
What a cute idea and how easy!! Better than something you could buy,
oh thanks. for the lovely compliment.
Oh wow!!! What an incredible idea. I wish I had thought of this before buying our train. Maybe I'll be able to do it next year! 😀
thanks. I would like to paint a train next year.... that would be cool.
Aww this is lovely. Such a great advent calendar idea. Very creative. I made my Daughter a make up advent last year and she loved it. Trouble is she is expecting a home made one this year. Love this idea 🙂
thanks. it was super cool to make.
Aww, that's turned out really lovely. You've done a great job!
thanks Jenni. I do love it!
Awww, this is an amazing craft. Looks like You had fun doing it xx
Thanks. So glad you like it.
This has come out really well and I love the silver and white colouring x
It did. I think I picked good colours.
Angela, stop it, this is brilliant! I never knew you could get the advent boxes and then decorate yourself. At this rate, we’re going to be over run with advent calendars! ?
Kat x
Oh thanks. I do love this! It made me super proud and I didn't know it would turn out this cool.
Oh my goodness this is so cute and much more fun than the sewing one my daughter and I are reluctantly assembling, lol! I need one of these!
Thanks Elizabeth. I would love to see yours when it is finished.
This is lovely! It must be fun thinking of things to fill each little drawer, and you can get it out year after year.
Katie xoxo
Yes that is going to be super fun.
Love all this! Especially those little milk bottle decorations - SO cute!
Thanks. I am loving art at the moment as it is really helping me cope with my illness.