Counting down to Christmas is a great way to build up the holiday magic in your home. I tend to go overboard with it, we have at least four countdowns going from December 1st until Christmas.
This year I wanted to add another and when BurlapFabric.com offered to sponsor this post I decided it was fate. They were nice enough to send me two sets of muslin bags to make up another DIY Christmas Countdown.
DIY 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar
I tried to keep this one pretty simple, the holidays are crazy enough without adding a Pinterest craft with a million steps.
Maybe I’m alone in this but I find keeping track of anything for 24 days is not going to happen so I cut it down to 12 days.
This means you’ll be starting your countdown on December 13th so you have a little more time to throw this together.
As much as I’m all about holiday magic and making the holidays extra special I’M SO DONE WILL ALL THE CRAP MY KIDS BRING INTO MY HOUSE.
I decided the best idea was to take something we already do add a twist and call it a night. Or 12 nights.
So I took our nightly ritual of hot chocolate and added a packet to each bag. And then to make it even better I threw in a dad joke.
24 dad jokes actually, because I have the same sense of humor as my 3 and 5-year-old kids.
I also really need them to pick up a few new jokes because they’ve been writing their own and none of them make any sense.
If you have kids you understand how putting anything in a tiny bag to open automatically makes it 1000x better, or maybe that’s just my kids?
Either way, I’m going to exploit that shortcut to joy as much as I can as long as I can.
Christmas Countdown Supplies:
- 12 Muslin Bags
- Sharpie
- Red & Green Paint
- Scrap Card Stock and hole Punch (optional)
- Printed Number Template
- Printed Jokes
- Crayons
- Scissors
Jokes 1 – Jokes 2 – Jokes 3 – Jokes 4
Advent Calendar Instructions:
- Fold up the number template so it fits inside the bag with one number visible
- Slide the folded paper inside the bag and trace the number with the sharpie, repeat with all the bags
- Cut a piece of card stock to fit inside the bags, cut a second piece slightly larger than the bag and use the hole punch to make random polka dots
- Place the first piece of paper in the bag, set the second on top and use the foam paintbrush to fill the dots in with the red and green paint avoiding the numbers
- Use crayons to color in the jokes and then cut them out and fold in half
- Add one packet of hot chocolate and one joke to each bag.
Check out my Christmas Page for more ideas or start here:
Roseann Hampton
Wednesday 20th of November 2019
So pretty with the green and red polka dots!
Marie
Wednesday 20th of November 2019
Hot chocolate and a joke - how fun is that! Who doesn't love a joke, even at my ripe old age? Your fun advent calendar gets the day started on a happy note and what's not to love about that!
Ellen
Wednesday 20th of November 2019
I love how festive these little bags are! My kids will love the jokes!
Cherryl Ehlenburg
Wednesday 20th of November 2019
What a cute idea! We don't have little ones anymore, but I can totally see how much they would love the jokes!
Jenny
Wednesday 20th of November 2019
Polka dots are my favorite and these are so cute! lol I know all about kid junk. These jokes are the cutest. My kids would love them.