DIY 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar

The Twelve Days of Christmas are always a very festive time of year for our family. We count down to the big day by doing a fun Christmas activity for each of the 12 days leading up to the big day, ending on Christmas Eve. Several years ago I began listing out the things I wanted to do with our kids every year and putting them in paper bags – creating a Twelve Days of Christmas DIY Advent Calendar. These things change over the years, but some things always remain the same – the main idea is to bring the family together with activities each day. Regardless, our DIY paper bag advent calendar tradition is by far a family favorite, and looked forward to all year by our children. Here is how I made my family’s advent calendar, and some easy ideas for what to use in your own DIY advent calendar. 

To start, you just need 12 paper bags. I am using lunch size paper bags, but any would work! For the labels, I used a 12″ sheet of Christmas scrapbook paper that had the 12 days of Christmas on it. I cut out each number and adhered it to each bag. You could attach any sort of cute embellishment or simply write 1-12 in sharpie as well.

Not everything fits in a lunch size paper bag, on those days I will have a piece of paper inside the bag with the days activity written on it. I will share some of our favorite activities that we do for the 12 days of Christmas to inspire your own DIY advent calendar!

Christmas movies are always a favorite tradition in our family, so I take some of our favorites and divide them up so on certain days we will enjoy a family movie together as a part of our 12 days of Christmas advent calendar. Sometimes I will place hot cocoa in the bag with the movie, so its a movie and cocoa night!

Our favorite movies include:

• Home Alone & Home Alone 2
• A Christmas Story
• The Grinch
• Elf
• Christmas with the Kranks

Gingerbread houses are a favorite family Christmas tradition, and so I always incorporate them into our 12 days of Christmas advent calendar. I put it in the bag that corresponds with a day I am planning to do it with the kids, and when they open the bag they are super happy to find out its gingerbread house day!

Sugar cookies are another favorite Christmas tradition for my family. We roll, bake, and decorate sugar cookies as a part of our 12 days of Christmas advent calendar.

Christmas crafts are super fun and my kids always look forward to making ornaments for the Christmas tree. Part of our 12 days of Christmas advent calendar always includes crafts! I will put one or two items in a bag so when they open it they know its craft time! Then I will pull out the rest of the supplies and we enjoy making Christmas ornaments together!

Other items not pictured but we like to include in our 12 days of Christmas advent calendar include:

• Visiting Santa
• Reading a holiday book
• Send a toy to Seattle Children’s Hospital (each of our kids pick a toy from the hospital’s wish list and we send it via Amazon)
• Festivities in the city (participating in a local scheduled holiday event)
• Mini lego kits and surprise bags
• Write gratitude cards

We are not big on using candy in stockings, gifts or for our advent calendar – but I am not the Grinch so I usually drop one Hershey kiss per child in each bag so they get a tiny sweet treat each day as they count down to Christmas.

Making a DIY Twelve Days of Christmas Advent Calendar is simple and fun and a great way to bring your family together for the holidays as you count down to the big day. I hope this inspires your own paper bag advent calendar! You can shop for some great advent calendar items below, tour my holiday home, or check out these posts for DIY Christmas ornaments and Rustic Christmas Wrapping Paper Ideas!

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Want to see more of my Christmas home inspiration? Check out these posts!

A Vintage & White Christmas Cottage Family Room

A Farmhouse Cottage Christmas Home Tour

Styling a Farmhouse Hutch with Vintage Christmas Decor

Decorating a Simple White Flocked Farmhouse Christmas Tree

A Rustic Farmhouse Holiday Tablescape

DIY Vintage Hymnal Song Sheet Christmas Tree Ornaments

Cottage Style Christmas Wrapping Paper Ideas

DIY 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar

Hosting a Gingerbread House Decorating Party for Kids

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