How to Create Your Own Christmas Calendar

Another year is over and Christmas is just around the corner. The streets and stores are filled with lights and glittering decorations. It's the time of the year you drink hot wine with spices and eat home made cookies. In Switzerland another Christmas tradition will be starting soon, the tradition of Christmas calendars.

Advent is the season of waiting and preparation

before the actual Christmas on December 25th.

As in many parts of Europe, people in Switzerland enjoy the tradition of counting the days until Christmas eve. This is usually done with an Advent Calendar, also called a Christmas Calendar, which counts the 24 days from December 1st o 24th or an Advent Wreath that counts the last four Sundays before Christmas.

What are Swiss Christmas Calendars?

In Switzerland, Christmas calendars are used during the Christmas season starting from December 1st until December 24th. It's the children who enjoy them most although some grown ups can be just as excited about them.

Traditionally, the calendars are Christmas themed pictures where you can open a window every day and there is a picture hidden underneath. Nowadays, there are also calendars featuring characters from animated movies or pop stars. These calendars are usually made from paper or cardboard and also called Paper Calendars. Some of them also have little chocolates or sweets instead of pictures hidden underneath the windows.

Those are the calendars you can buy at a store

but the best Christmas calendars are home made!

Growing up, we had a Christmas calendar made from little bags hung on a string and every day we could open one of them and eat the sweets inside. What great fun! Another year I received a calendar from my godmother. She wrapped 24 Lindor chocolates and arranged them in a glass bowl with a candle inside. It sure looks just as pretty as it tastes!

Store-bought Christmas Calendars

Every department store and supermarket in Switzerland has a selection of ready-to-use Christmas Calendars on sale - most of them made of cardboard in form of a wintery picture with one little door or window to open every day. You can also buy empty calendars - usually an arrangement of little bags or little boxes in different shapes and colours - and then fill them yourself. Some companies also sell Christmas calendars filled with their products: 24 pralines, 24 bottles of liquor, 24 different scents and more. You can easily find some online!

Personally, I prefer homemade calendars but then you might not be lucky enough to receive one every year so a store bought one can be a solution. Plus, designing and filling your own Christmas calendar usually stinks! If you buy one, at least you'll get to enjoy the suspense and surprise as to whats hidden behind a window or in a box!

Milka Christmas Calendar - Steffis Shopping Blog

Homemade Christmas Calendars

Homemade calendars (and ready-made calendars where you have to supply the filling yourself) work the same way: starting on December 1st you open a bag or box of some sort and find a little present in it. It can be chocolate, a ticket to the movies, a toy or anything really. Obviously, the contents need to be adapted according to who you are making the calendar for - no point in putting a scrunchy in your boyfriends calendar or a tiny bottle of whiskey in your daughters. The basics are the same for all calendars though you just need a bit of creativity, time, handicraft plus some items for the fillings of course.

Uniquely tailor the calendar to the recipient -

chocolate and sweets are good for everybody but

no scrunchy for your husband and no alcohol for your children!

Now, you might not receive a Christmas Calendar this year but you can certainly make one for someone else - for your children, your husband or a good friend. It's not only a fun way to enjoy Christmas time but will also make a beautiful Christmas adornment for your home.

How to Make Your Own Christmas Calendar

1) Decide on the form of your calendar (if you're going with a store bought version you can skip this point). You'll need 24 containers of some sort and a way to arrange them nicely. Some type of containers can be reused many years!

Some ideas for containers to use and how to arrange them are:

small cardboard boxes wrapped in gift wrapping paper, arranged in a small pile on a shelf
individually wrapped gifts, hanging from a string or put in a decorated basket or bowl
up-side-down decorated plastic cups or paper cones on a Christmas themed sheet of paper
envelopes that you'll drop in the mailbox every day (works great for vouchers, letters, love notes)
beer or soda bottles in a case of 24 (great for boyfriends and husbands)
small felt or cloth bags hung on a string or attached to a Christmas tree shaped cardboard
colourful socks hung on a string
jam glasses wrapped in gift wrapping paper and put on a shelf or table
use the cardboard part of toilet rolls and turn them into Santa Clauses and Christmas trees, arrange on a shelf or table
match boxes stapled on top of each other and glued into a pyramid or cube, make sure you can still open all of them

2) Decide what to put in your calendar. This depends greatly on who'll receive the calendar. Some ideas and suggestions:

In general: chocolates, sweets, candy, Christmas cookies, snacks, cookie cutters, chewing gum, lollipops, pictures or photos, etc.
Children: small toys, stickers, voucher for favourite meal or an outing, tiny books, glitter pens, etc.
Husbands/boyfriends/male friends: tiny bottle of liquor, ticket to a movie, voucher for favourite meal, different selection of beer bottles, socks, cigarette lighter, toy cars, etc.
Girlfriend/wife/female friends: small versions of beauty products (tester size) or perfumes, candles, nail polish, decorative items, ticket to a movie, invitation for dinner, jewellery, hair accessories etc.

3) Put together your calendar. Randomly fill the 24 containers with the little gifts you prepared. Label them with the numbers 1-24 and arrange them as you planned. If you're bringing the calendar along as a gift it might be easiest to just put it in a box and assemble it once it has reached its destination. If you can't do it yourself instruct the recipient.

Examples of Homemade Christmas Calendars

I collected a few pictures of different types of Christmas Calendars to inspire you! Happy Christmas Calendar making!

Individually wrapped gifts on a string (my design a few years ago)

Paper cones on cotton wool - Uwe Wagschal / pixelio.de

Individually wrapped chocolates in a glass bowl

Gifts on stripes of cloth - Maria Bosin / pixelio.de

Stuffed stockings - Martin Schemm / pixelio.de

My neighbours version of a Christmas Calendar

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