DIY Advent Calendars

[BlueKarou]

Last year I bought and painted one of the Hobbycraft house-shaped advent calendars, and chucked a chocolate coin in each window for my then almost 2 year old. This year, thanks to time and maths, I will have an almost 3 year old, and I'm trying to work out a selection of sweets and small toys to go in each of the windows, without spending stupid amounts on tiny bits of tat!

What's everyone else doing with their DIY advent calendars?

I loved ours when the dc were that age and absolutely thrilled to find a couloured feather or a sea shell in there 😂
Other years I bought bundles of LEGO mini figures and Moshi Monsters second hand

I had great intentions of doing an activity each day but December being the month of colds and flus, that never really worked out.

I fill my own calendar for my dc every year. Small plastic figures of animals and dinosaurs were popular at around 3 and were cheap to get a tub of from the supermarket or ebay. Also fingerpuppets are cheap if you order in advance, but my dc weren't so keen on these.

What I do now is save tiny tat items from party bags that I would otherwise have binned, and spares from the party bags of my own dc's parties. I sometimes cut stickers out of otherwise used magazines and save these too. I also save freebies and samples (e.g. perfume samples) but this is probably not good for your young dc. I top these up with a multipack of something (e.g. novelty rubbers or badges).

I fill my own calendar for my dc every year. Small plastic figures of animals and dinosaurs were popular at around 3 and were cheap to get a tub of from the supermarket or ebay. Also fingerpuppets are cheap if you order in advance, but my dc weren't so keen on these.

What I do now is save tiny tat items from party bags that I would otherwise have binned, and spares from the party bags of my own dc's parties. I sometimes cut stickers out of otherwise used magazines and save these too. I also save freebies and samples (e.g. perfume samples) but this is probably not good for your young dc. I top these up with a multipack of something (e.g. novelty rubbers or badges).

I d0 celebrations/heroes chocolate and every 5 days or so a Lego or Playmobil mini figure. Not super cheap but they've not been thrown out as they've gone into our Lego and Playmobil boxes.

One year DD was collecting the Lidl Stickies characters, so I bought her the box to collect them in and then got the full collection on eBay. She had a Stickies toy every day for Advent and the whole set by Christmas Eve.

Also, I've counted out Hama beads to make a Christmas tree decoration and popped them in little tubs with the instructions. That was good, every few days DD and I would make one. Bit too old for a 3yo maybe.

I did one for DD last year with Beauty items (I couldn't find any instore that would fit the bill for her)
I used clear Lakeland bags , adhesive 1-24 stickers and ribbon.

I've started collecting already (a couple of Hurraw lipbalms and a couple of muslin cloths to go with a balm cleanser) just need to keep stealthily looking and not spend too much !

I put hair clips, little bracelets, chocolate coins, stickers, little notepad things and bits like like in mine, but the drawers are really small so it is limiting.

tiny figures from the pound shop always work, little bags of sweets, bracelets, i love the hamma beads idea from above. i also always pop a clue in with each gift of where to find emma (our elf on the shelf) as she moves location every night.the kids love trying to find her.

I love the hama beads idea! I will be stealing that, it sounds lovely!

We only put chocolate into our calendar plus a small toy each Advent Sunday. Small enough not to cost the earth but decent enough to be properly played with, like Lego or Playmobil figures, little Disney ones or hairstuff like clips or scrunchies.

I got 24 little wooden Christmas tree decorations and made a cardboard tree with 2 pieces of cardboard that slot together, painted green. 6 "points" on each side so there was a hanging point for each decoration.
Each pocket of the advent calendar has 2 chocolate and a decoration and they take it in turns to hang the decoration.
The cardboard tree lasted a few years and now we have a couple of branches stuck in a plant pot of sand & cement all sprayed gold.
Ds's will be 16 and 12 this year and it's part of Christmas now (admittedly the last couple of years they usually just eat the chocolate and it's more often me who hangs the decoration).

I'm making and filling my own advent calendar for my 5yo this year and it will be a mix of activity/acts of kindness and small toys - Playmobil and Lego figures, small Schleich animals, and Marvel action figures. If you break up sets or pick up some pieces preloved it doesn't cost much at all. I think I've spent a dollar on each item and don't plan on having a toy every day of Advent.

We do gifts & activities. Need to find some new ideas that don't take ages as they're all 'oh, this again' now but would also be gutted if I stopped doing it!

chocolate is always a winner!

I put in Christmas hair clips, mini stationery bits from Wilko, those tiny kindergarten bars, mini chocolate santas, coins etc, rubbers...

One year I bought a lot of the -fake- Lego mini figures from ebay and popped those in, I've also put in second hand playmobil people from a bundle I'd bought.