The tradition of creating Advent calendars, or waiting calendars, has appeared in our life relatively recently. In another way they are also called Christmas. Such things will surely bring joy to both you and your baby. And it doesn’t matter at all that this tradition came from Catholic countries. After all, you can always adapt the custom for yourself. In addition, such a calendar does not have to be done just before Christmas or New Year. You can please a child, for example, before his birthday or another holiday. Thus, you will create exclusively your family tradition.
Advent calendar - what is it?
The word "advent" itself is borrowed from the Latin language and translated as "coming". So in the Christian world the period preceding Christmas is designated. This is a time of celebration and fun, during which everyone prepares for the Nativity of Christ. Namely, four weeks before Christmas, each of which has its own theme.
The most famous tradition of this time is Advent wreath. From spruce branches create a wreath that contains four candles. Candles are lit every week. And this reflects the fact that every week it gets brighter. Another custom is Advent Calendar. What is this, we will try to find out in this article.
Advent Calendar History
A couple of centuries ago, people tried to brighten up the expectation of Christmas and give this period a touch of magic and unusualness. The most primitive was the way in which dashes were drawn on the blackboard with chalk according to the number of days remaining before the holiday, and then wiped one by one. And in some families a new candle was lit every day.
The first advent calendar appeared as printed pictures in Germany. The author took this idea from his childhood. His mother, to brighten up the expectation of the holiday, every day attached a candy to a new card and handed it to her son. This idea gained success after it was modified and small doors added, behind which a surprise was hidden.
Advent calendar in our opinion
In the post-Soviet space, they learned about calendars more recently. But we celebrate the New Year on a larger scale. Therefore, the number of branches in the calendar should be equal to 31. You can buy or make an Advent calendar with your own hands. It may contain sweets or small gifts. On sale you can find an advent calendar chocolate. It looks like a thin cardboard box in which windows are cut. In each window is a figure of chocolate.
Let's make a New Year calendar on our own
What could be more fun than creating your own New Year Advent calendar? First you need to take care of the selection of material. It can be anything. You can use not only cardboard and paper, but also fabric, ribbons and accessories. As well as ready-made containers (drawers, buckets) or even garments. For example, mittens or socks. Such a calendar can be created more than a month or built in one day and even in a few hours. Here everything will depend on your imagination and capabilities. It can be created from cardboard in the form of a small chest of drawers. But this will be perhaps the most time-consuming option. But the task can be simplified by placing some containers on a shelf or hanging in the form of a garland.
What might an advent calendar look like from paper and cardboard?
Let's look at a few interesting options you can use for your waiting calendar. To implement these ideas, you can take the most inexpensive type of material - paper and cardboard.
The first option is a cardboard dresser. This is the most difficult type of calendar, but you can use it from year to year until you get bored. Just clean it after the holidays and get it again next year. To create it, you need to perform many calculations and prepare cardboard blanks for the entire chest of drawers and for each drawer. And after assembly, also paste over it with paper or decorate it in another way. After all, it should contain not only gifts, but also a Christmas spirit. Such a chest of drawers can take the form of a house or a Christmas tree, or just be square in shape. Do not forget to attach handles to the drawers to easily remove all contents.
Another paper option is envelopes. Make them of different shapes and colors and decorate with New Year's little things. Remember to mark each envelope with the number of the corresponding day. Glue them on a cardboard base or hook them with clothespins on a rope. And you can collect a garland from them and decorate the window, wall and even the headboard.
And one more paper way. Just fold the paper into cubes, cylinders or cones and arrange them in the same way as previously stated. Although, if the space allows the room, you can randomly scatter it all on the table. The main thing is to successfully pick up additional decor.
Fabric calendar
If you can sew, then your ideas for an Advent calendar can be very different. Let's start with the simplest option - a rug with pockets. Although it may be the most difficult.
It all depends on how you perform it. You can simply cut pockets from different fabrics and sew them onto the base, or you can create every detail using the patchwork (patchwork) technique, decorate with applique or embroidery. Garlands of stitched boots or mittens decorated to your taste also look great. And don't forget the numbers.
And the calendar in the form of a toy with many pockets will look the most original. For example, in the form of a large soft snowman or an elegant Christmas tree.
Advent calendar hand in hand
If you do not have a large margin of time, then you will need ready-made containers or wardrobe items in order to create an Advent calendar. What could it be? As mentioned above, you can arrange, for example, small metal buckets or drawers. You only need to lightly decorate them and paste the number. Although now on sale you can easily find originally decorated or decorated containers that will simplify your work even more. The main thing is to keep track of the size, because your surprises should fit easily there.
Instead of drawers and pails, you can hang bright socks or mittens. Or even Christmas balls, which are sorted into two halves. They can be found in needlework stores.
How to fill the waiting calendar
So, the creative process of creation is completed, and now we need to choose the filler that we put in our Advent calendar. What could it be? Yes, anything. By tradition, these are cookies or small candies. But in our time they are often replaced with all sorts of other little things, which does not exclude, but rather complements their use. It can be small toys, hair clips, stickers, figures, and even mini-designers.
It all depends on your child’s preferences. You can create a whole month-long fairy tale. For example, hide somewhere a
big gift and draw a map with the tasks that the baby must complete. Cut it into 31 pieces or even tear it. Put in a pocket every day a piece of the card so that at the end of the month you and the child can collect it whole and find the main prize. If you do not have children yet, this does not mean that you are losing fun. Create such a calendar for yourself and your soul mate and share days for surprises. And also fill all the pockets with interesting tasks or options for general leisure. And then you will not be bored in any of the New Year’s days.
In general, what to put in the Advent calendar, you decide. Connect all your imagination and arrange a fairy tale for yourself and your loved ones for at least one month.