Counting down…

Well it snowed here last night so I’m just gonna talk about it…only 43 days till Christmas!!!

We’re holiday freaks around here (including my husband, the one who insisted on a 12 foot tree!!) and we unabashedly love this season and planning for it. The boy and I have been talking about our plan of attack on the holiday decor for a good week now. I know we have Thanksgiving to go still and yes, I honor that day plenty (and I’m thankful all year round), but I love Christmas most of all. So for today…we’re talking about it!

(Cause it snowed. It’s allowed now.)

Every year about this time I share a few advent calendar ideas so if you’d like to DIY (or order!) one, you’ll have plenty of time. Only 18 more days till December! Am I freaking you out yet? :)

Let’s start out with the tried and true – Pottery Barn never disappoints this time of year. And sometimes you (or is it me?) just want to buy something and not DIY it:

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I’ll take the white planked wall behind it too.

I believe it was Ballard Designs that did the advent pillow idea a couple years back, but I love this PB version too:

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I’ve seen DIY versions of that that I’m sure are much cheaper, but man, that would take a lot of time, right? I don’t know, maybe not.

I found this cute version on Etsy:

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LOVE the fun graphics on that one! You could do this yourself with spice tins and some wrapping paper as well.

I thought this version was lovely as well:

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So detailed and pretty right? I think I love these as much as the kids. (Can I get an adult version big enough for a margarita? No?)

OK, let’s talk do-it-yourself now! This one is pretty basic but kind of BRILLIANT:

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Any guesses as to what that is? Yep, toilet paper rolls. ;) You could also save the paper towel rolls and get a few out of each one I bet. I LOVE the idea of the kids breaking through the front to get to the treat. How fun is that? And you could easily dress that up – use colored paper or again, wrapping paper. You don’t even need to number them really.

And…you could make it into the shape of a tree perhaps? So cute.

My friend Beckie knocked off one of my favorite PB advent years back:

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She used tiny buckets from the wedding section at the dollar store! I looked for tiny buckets all over a couple years back – this is so smart. (I think a few come in a package so this could be done for under ten bucks easy.)

This idea is pretty cute too – using a muffin tin:

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From what I can tell you just cut out the paper (in circles or squares) and then glue magnets to the back. Pretty easy!

This one isn’t quite as interactive for the kids, but Laura’s advent art was so pretty I just had to share it:

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Isn’t that just beautiful? Sigh. Her fireplace always looks amazing too.

And finally, I made our advent calendar five years ago and it’s still going strong:

I usually just put the little boxes out but this year I may corral them into a tray or one spot. I don’t know, still need to think on that some more. It was a lot of work when I made it (but fun!) but it’s held up great!

My son LOVES seeing these come out:

Do you have an advent calendar? Have you made one? Feel free to share a link to your DIY versions in the comments!