Reusable Advent Calendars. What have you got and what are you going to put in it this year?

[CheekyFucker]

Hi,

I have 3 hanging felt Advent Calendars with little pockets. I am hoping to upgrade this year as they are looking rather tired.

I have DD(12) DS(8) and DS(6) - also looking for inspiration.

In the past we have had fancy chocolate, Playmobil Nativity broken down into sections, various activities (utterly exhausting) make up and perfume for DD (shockingly expensive), and decorations for the tree (do not need any more ever).

Thank you 😊

This mine. 2 adult DDs and a pre teen. There would be riots if it wasn't filled with chocolate. So far I've got mini Belgian chocolates and I'll get malteaser reindeer and Lindt santas.

I have done the bits and bobs from Claire's when the DDs were younger and it was just more stuff to find a home for.

We have a white 'wooden' one from Aldi. It was about a tenner last year. It has a small light in it too. Very pretty. Kind of stereotypical German rustic. We just buy mini chocolates from Aldi for it. Mini Santa's etc.

Ours is a felt Christmas tree I got several years ago from M&S. It is always stocked just with chocolate and a tiny gift on the Advent Sundays like hair accessories, magic towel or a mini toy when DD was younger.

During the years when DD had another one like Lego we still used it but rotated who got the sweet of the day between DH, DD and myself.

Ooh watching with interest! I feel like the re-usable advent is like a rod for my own back when mine get sad at just getting chocolate

I have done little Pokemon (or any kind of plastic tat) figures, little fimo food and gaming charms, mini rubbers and pin badges. Was also thinking of skate stickers or patches. AliExpress has def been my trusty friend!

@chillimice me too about the rod for my own back.

And I love AliExpress!

@TheWoollybacksWife where did you get yours from? I have been looking for one of these for a couple of months now - must be using the wrong words when googling!

I like the idea of a special extra on Advent Sundays. I will pinch that.

One tip for if you are doing activities - put them in the night before according to weather, energy levels etc.

In the past I have put in various collectable plastic tat such as Moshi monsters, trash paks etc and mini Lego figures, together with a small sweet. DC is now 10 and still wants an advent tree, but I have absolutely no idea what to put in it this year!

Mine is like this.

Chocolate coins. Or else there would be outrage. But also include money for a day out (so DC can buy each other a Christmas present) and tickets to an event.

I’m not sure I can get away with another year of moshi monsters - I used to buy a job lot second hand on eBay each year, but I suspect there’d be too many duplicates now, and ds1 is now 11 so a bit past it!

@Penninepain I made it myself from a preprinted panel that I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show about 8 or 9 years ago. If you type 'Advent Calendar Fabric Panel' into eBay there are a fair few or you can try retailers like Sew and Sew. I hand sewed mine and stiffened the top and bottom with a dowel and put lead curtain weights in the bottom. It rolls up and goes in a drawer for 11 months.

I probably could have spent less if I'd bought one ready made but I enjoyed making it.

@TheWoollybacksWife oh bums! You are clever - anything I have tried to sew in the past would make a blind man cry!
Off to look at some sites and to try and convice myself that 3 year old dgs REALLY does not care how wonky pockets are 🤣

@Penninepain i can do the sewing part of it no problem if you want to buy a panel and send it to me. You'll need to stiffen and weight it though when you get it back as that will make it heavier and awkward to post when it's complete.

I'd like to clarify that I'm a total amateur sewer - I'm definitely more of a knitter/crocheter but I do like a good festive project

Do you have a local shop specialising in fabrics/crafts? My mum made one for DS1, and they shared it for years, and loved it because it was from her. A while back, I bought one ready made from a local fabric/craft shop. It was a bit more expensive than the panels but was far better than I could have done. If you are in East Anglia- try Franklins.
They are in their 20s but insist on chocolate coins..... Plain chocolate if I can find them.

I got mine in Lidl. Am very very bad at craft.

I just put chocolate pennies and the like in ours. Even though ds1 and dd are not really here anymore, they complained when I said I wasn't going to bother. They scoff the goodies when they drop in.

And one has dog biscuits in for the dog.
The cats are not bothered.

My lovely mum collects things for ours and sends me everything in a shoebox at the end of November each year. Hair bobbles, rubbers, craft bits, sweets, little toys, mini soaps, bits for their bedrooms. All of it gets used.

When I was little my sister filled with sweets, novelty make up, loads of hair accessories and more sweets! Kept me happy. She wrapped things so tightly it was a proper event trying to see what I had got for the day.

For your boys I would def be putting in slime and Pokemon or football cards in. Looking in the party favour sections of the supermarkets for those sticky men that go down the wall, bouncy balls, mini dice and Christmas novelty sweets

Girls like slime too?

Poundland might be your friend here for cheap tat

For girls you can get little Christmas charms and a plain bracelet cheaply on eBay. DD has 2 Christmas charm bracelets now though and also a large collection of moshis and Pokemon. Not sure what to do this year! I also put a chocolate coin and a daily activity in, varies from putting up the tree to the annual trip to Olympia.

We have a gorgeous wooden one, but the drawers are just SO DAMN TINY it's ridiculous. I can only fit chocolate pennies in (not chocolate twopennies!).
So I'm looking for either:
A) a new one with bigger drawers (or drawers of several sizes), or
B) ideas for teeny tiny things for little girls that aren't chocolate pennies!

In the past I have used JibJab to make a Christmas photo using family photos and had that printed onto a 24 peice puzzle. A peice a day!

Another year I again used JibJab and made funny/Xnassy pictures with Xmas jokes.

Last year I found 24 Christmassy videos, including our fave Xmas songs and home videos, then created QR codes which I printed out and put in the calendar. Each day we had a festive 5 min film to watch. We really enjoyed this one.

I'm really struggling this year so watching this thread with interest.

We have the wooden Fortnum and Mason shop front. It is beautiful.

I think it's going to be fake lego men and chocolate this year (DH's turn to be in charge).

We've previously done a lego model broken down- fun but a lot of work to split up the instructions and pieces into 24- hotwheels, lego starwars and playmobil calendars 'decanted' into ours.

We have a felt penguin with lots of little pockets, I've bought a load of playmobil from eBay and am planning to put that in mixed up with some Xmas stickers maybe.
It's my first year of doing it so hoping it will be fun. I'm not really into Christmas but want to make an effort for my DC.