Christmas Ribbon Advent Calendar Using Dollar Store Items

Hello friends! Today I am excited to share the Christmas ribbon advent calenders that I made for the kids this year. It’s something that my Grandma used to make for my cousins and I when we were kids, and since she passed this year I thought it would be a great way to remember her.

At first I thought that 24 presents times 2 kids (3 next year!) sounded awfully expensive. But after shopping the dollar store and the Dollar Spot at Target I realized that these are actually more affordable than I originally had thought.

I began by lining up all of the goodies making sure to alternate the candy with the toys and other little items. This was also a good way to ensure that matching gifts lined up for each kid on the same day.

For Tristan my two year old, I got things like crayons, paint, bath toys and cars.  For Alana my 7 year old step daughter, I had a few more options like lip gloss, hair accessories, a coin purse, a bracelet, lotion.

I got some practical items too for both of them like hats, gloves and socks.  The candy items also helped cut the cost a lot because I bought a couple of packages of candy and split them up between the two of them. Not one thing was purchased outside of the dollar store and Dollar Spot so my total cost for both was about $44.

If you can enlist help for wrapping, it makes the process go much quicker! Even though the hubby hates wrapping he was a champ and pitched in. I numbered the front of each to make it easy for the kiddos to see what day we are on and also to make it easy for me to glue them on the ribbon in the right order.

Once I had them all wrapped I began gluing them onto some thick ribbon that I found for 50% off at Hobby Lobby in the Christmas section.

I used a generous amount of hot glue on each, but for items without a lot of packaging (like hats, gloves and socks) try to stay on a piece of tape so that it doesn’t bleed through.   I’m not sure how well I did with this part since it was an afterthought so we’ll have to see…

I started with nubmer 1 at the bottom and worked my way up.

To dress them up a little I decided to put their initials at the top. I painted a piece of scrap plywood brown then I DIY’ed my own stencil by using masking tape. Luckily they both have non-curvy initials so it was pretty easy!

Next, I gave each a coat of white paint.

Once dry, I took the tape off.  They weren’t perfect but that didn’t matter because distressing always hides imperfections!

See? 🙂

I hung them up in our entryway and they make the space so cheery and festive!

The initials turned out better than I thought they would. I also added a burlap bow to the top which was made by taking a square of burlap and tying some twine in the center.

So far Tristan hasn’t tried ripping into them yet, but I have a feeling that might change once he actually realizes that there are toys and candy in there. I remember the temptation of wanting to open all of the packages and driving my Mom nuts.  Payback time I suppose!

I can’t wait for tomorrow for them to open up the first one. This will be a new tradition that adds to the excitment of Christmas. Next year I’ll try to start shopping throughout the year so it’s not quite as overwhelming though 😉

Linking up to these awesome parties!

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