Noah's DIY Advent Calendar 2015

Last year I shared some of our holiday traditions, including how special advent calendars were to me growing up (here's a link to last year's post). I'm so glad I get to share this tradition with Noah now. 

This year I decided to use little muslin bags inspired by those we had as children. I still don't know if I'll be using these every year going forward. While I think it was special that we had the same ones every year growing up,  I like the idea of switching it up every year. This year's calendar didn't cost much and was easy to make so I won't feel bad if it only gets used this once. 

Noah was too young for candy or food last year, so it was mostly filled with presents. This year, I filled his advent calendar with granola bars, fruit snacks, socks, mittens, lollipops, and stickers. He's not terribly excited to open a present every morning so far, but it's been great to use it as an actual calendar. We've started to talk about Christmas and Santa, and since Noah still doesn't have a good concept of time (especially when it's weeks away), I can use his calendar to explain: Santa is coming when you have opened all of your presents, one every day. I think he gets the idea; Or at least he accepts it as an explanation for why Santa isn't coming "today". 

All you need for this DIY version is: 

- muslin bags (I used these: http://amzn.to/1NOva9n)

- stamps (I had bought a set at Target last year to use on Christmas presents, but these would work great: http://amzn.to/1m4rrbj. I had also thought about stamping numbers 1-24 on it, but didn't want to invest in more stamps when I already had some). 

- string (found mine at Cost Plus World Market, but anything you can find will work. I like that it adds some color)

- clothespins

- candy/toys/stickers or whatever you want to put in. Activities are a fun idea too but I'm not good at planning that far ahead ;)

I carefully stamped three different motives on eight bags each after placing a piece of cardboard in the bag to prevent the ink from going through. Then I filled each bag with a present, tied them shut, and hung them with clothespins on a string I hung from the mantle. 

It was really easy to do and I think it turned out cute. I had used the banner for Thanksgiving decoration and just used the other side for this little project. Now I know that "Happy Turkey Day" and "Merry Christmas" use the same number of letters :) 

I hope you're enjoying the holiday season so far. We were brave enough today to go out into the rain to cut a Christmas tree. Noah had been looking forward to it all week and it looks lovely in our living room. I loved rediscovering our special ornaments while listening to Christmas music. I can't wait for this year's ornaments to arrive (yes, I did order some of them on Amazon.com this year. Ha ha.). Happy holidays to you all!