Monday, November 19, 2012

Homemade Advent Calendar

I got this idea from Disney's Family Fun magazine, only they used mini-muffin tins. I couldn't find any in the store the other day and then I realized I wanted to use candies that were larger than the mini-tins. Anyway, this is such a cool advent calendar idea I just had to share. You take the muffin tin and fill each cup with enough candy pieces per child of the family that you are making it for.
I also added strips of paper with Bible verses for the season and fun family activities like "sing a Christmas carol together today" or "Jesus was born in the line of King David: draw a beautiful crown today on paper to remember that Jesus is the King of Kings"... stuff like that. Because I was making these for nieces and nephews and not my own children I typed the Bible verses out (I'd make my kids look them up and read them out loud) and I kept all activities free and easy and requiring no outings (for my own kids I might say to go somewhere or do something that requires adult pre-planning). I slipped one of these strips in each muffin cup along with the candies. Then I used scrapbook Christmas paper, which conveniently came with a sheet of circles with the days of the month on them, to cover each muffin cup. I taped them on individually so they can be removed one at a time.
Although if I had used the mini-muffin tin it all would've fit on one, I still like this project. I stacked up the four finished trays and tied a ribbon around them. I am going to give them to my niece and nephew on Thanksgiving. It is an early-Christmas gift that "gives" all month. It is my little way to remind them of what the season is really about and help them count down the days until Christmas Eve. What is your favorite way to count down to Christmas with your family?