Christmas is one of my favorite time of year – I think some of my best memories as a child are related to activities I did together with my mom. I wanted to continue this tradition with my daughters, and came up with this activity to make together. I love Advent Calendars, but they can be very expensive and only last one year. This calendar can be used each year as a fun family tradition.

I found this awesome magnetic tins at the Dollar Tree – at $1/two, 25 tins in only $13. This is about half the cost of many advent calendars!

Print out the following FREE printable to glue on the top of these tins:

Before I began, I created a design with my 25 tins – I sorted them into a tree, but you could make a star, angel, or whatever shape you want! I then arranged different circles to form a pattern – I have four different circles you can use – blue snowflakes, yellow/gold stars, green tree and red stripes.

When you are happy with what it all looks like, glue each circle to the top of the containers.

I just used glue-stick, but you can use whatever glue secures them well.

Next I used black number stickers to put 1-25 on my tree. You could put them numbers in order, or random. I chose to go left to right on mine.

Tada – aren’t they cute??

Now the fun part – fill them with candy, small toys, Christmas ornaments, activities, whatever and open one a day until Christmas. 🙂

Happy Holidays!