Paper Pyramid Advent Calendar

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. I have loved it for as long as I can remember. My birthday is two days before Christmas too, so the whole month of December is exciting for me. I turn into a little kid when the calendar turns to December 1 every year, so another thing that I absolutely love is an advent calendar. And when it’s a super easy DIY advent calendar, then all the better!

I remember that my Grandma would get advent calendars every year that had a little piece of chocolate for each day. I loved the excitement of opening that little cardboard door every day to see what shape I was going to get.

Now, we use a hanging advent calendar that my mom made for the boys that has a little pocket for each day. Snowflake, our Elf of the Shelf, brings them a little present every day and leaves it in each pocket.

So for me, the best advent calendars include a little treat every day. Which is why I am totally in love with this paper pyramid advent calendar.

It’s different than traditional advent calendars in that the little paper pyramids are kept in a bowl or other fun container. (I got this amazing bowl on clearance at HomeGoods for $9. Nine dollars, people!!!!!)

Note: This post originally appeared on Mom It Forward way back when I was a contributor for them and can still be found here. I wanted to share it in its entirety for you on this blog as well!

The little paper pyramid pouches are fun and easy to make out of scrapbook paper and washi tape. As soon as I saw them on this one, I knew I had to make them. You can fill them with whatever you want — candy, little toys, notes (like: “After dinner tonight, we’re going to get our pjs on, make some hot chocolate, and drive around and look at Christmas lights!”), or other little treats. Then every day, the kids get to pick one out of the bowl, open it up and enjoy their treat!

Alright, let’s just get to the instructions, shall we?

Supplies For DIY Advent Calendar
Scrapbook paper (Find some really cute Christmas paper here, here, and here)
Washi tape (Find some great sets of Christmas washi tape here, here, and here)
Paper cutter (optional, but highly recommended. I have an older version of this one that I bought to make my wedding programs — in 2004! — and I still use it at least twice a week.)
Fillers for the pouches

Start by cutting your paper. You can make them whatever size you want, but you want them to be twice as long as they are wide. I made mine 6″ x 3″.

Roll your paper into a tube and secure it with washi tape.

Next, flatten one end of the tube so that the first washi tape seam is centered. Secure the flattened end of the tube with another piece of washi tape.

Now is the time to fill your pouch. I used some cute Christmas Tootsie Rolls for this one.

Once your pouch is filled, flatten the other end of the tube perpendicular to the first end. So this time, instead of the first washi tape seam being centered, it will be at one end of the flattened part. Each side of the pouch will look like a triangle. (This part is a little tricky to explain, but if you look at the picture, you’ll see what I’m talking about.)

Now, you get to make 23 or 24 more of these bad boys! (You can decide whether you want to make a pouch for Christmas day. I only made 24 of them, because I figure our boys get enough presents on Christmas!) It sounds like a ton of work, but if you cut all your paper first, you can easily knock these out in way less than 1/2 hour once you get the hang of it.

If you’d like, you can add the numbers 1-24 (or 1-25, if you made one for Christmas day), but I left mine blank, so the boys can take turns choosing one pouch every day.

Put them in a bowl, and you’re all done – you just made yourself a super cute DIY advent calendar! What would you fill these with?

 

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