Holiday Crafting Fun: Advent Calendar

Now, I'm not gonna lie...I actually did this one craft before Thanksgiving was over, but it needed to be done in time for the beginning of December. 

When I was growing up, my Dad made an Advent calendar for my brother and I that was cat food cans shaped into a Christmas tree.  Every year, he would stuff the cans with candy (and a toy for the last day) and seal the cans with red and green tissue paper and a hot glue gun.  This Advent calendar lasted until I was around 13 and it just could not be saved.  It was replaced by other Advent calendars through the years, but none have ever been as special as the Advent calendar my Dad fixed up every year.  I wish I had a picture, but all my old holiday pictures are packed away.

Last year, Logan was just eighteen  months old for Christmas, so we did a simple fun foam Advent calendar where he put a piece of foam nativity item on the manger every night. 

The finished product at the end of Advent.  I found this at Hobby Lobby last year.

We also did tiny Advent books that my Aunt Vicki had found for Logan.  We will be doing those again this year too.

These are the cutest little books.  You can find them on Amazon here

This year, I decided to make a real Advent calendar like my Dad had made for us when we were little.  With a little extra inspiration from Pinterest to use favor tins (instead of cat food tins...wasn't sure how I would collect that many cat food tins on such short notice!), our first holiday project was underway!

I did the beginning of the project on my own since I was a little worried about Logan being near a hot glue gun...

The supplies.  Diaper box, favor tins (they were boxed in sets of 24, so I hunted down one I was keeping my rings in to use as the 25th one), and hot glue gun.

Arranging the tins on the cardboard

After they were hot glued on

 I had originally planned to have Logan paint paper with red and green paint to cut the number circles out of.  This did not work as Logan smeared the paint together and the paper was a lovely shade of brown...

So I found some old scrapbook paper and cut the circles from red and green papers

A little bit of Elmer's glue to hold the circles in the tin lids

 While I was trying to take a picture of the Advent calendar, Logan thought it was time to model...

"Come on Mom! I'm cuter than that tree!"

"Cheese"

Baby blue eyes

Finally a shot of the Advent calendar

Since a brown background wasn't doing it.  Logan, Jeff, and I painted the top of the cardboard red.  Well, Logan and I painted and Jeff went around the favor tins with a wet Q-tip to clean the red paint off the tins.

Next, we used a little glue and cotton balls to create a snowy ground.  Logan wasn't sure what to think of the cotton balls!

The finished product!

It's all filled with candy now, just waiting for December 1st!  Logan loves to go up to it and point to the tins and "count".  (twoo, tree, twoo, tree, tree, twoo...)
Next year, along with candy, I plan to put little daily activities to do such as drink hot chocolate, go visit Santa, write a letter to Santa, donate a gift to a child in need, sing a Christmas song, etc.
Keep checking back for more holiday crafts!!  I've got a little crafty artist on my hands this year!