How to make your own Advent calendar

Updated 30 October 2026 · By Rob and Chris, two Sheffield dads, and our families

To make your own Advent calendar, choose 24 things to do together, print them as slips or write them by hand, and hide one for each day in a hat, a paper chain, envelopes or toilet-roll tubes. Making it is an activity in itself, and most days take 10 to 20 minutes.

• Making it: one evening or a weekend afternoon
• Each day: most take 10 to 20 minutes, and 5 of the suggested 24 need nothing at all
• Ages: 3 and up
• Printer: optional. Everything on the list can be copied by hand

What do you need?

• Paper or card, and pens or crayons
• Scissors, with a grown-up helping
• For the calendar, one of: a hat or jar; more paper and sticky tape for a chain; 24 envelopes, string and pegs; or 24 cardboard tubes

Step 1: How do you choose your 24 activities?

We have ticked 24 to start you off, with the longer ones on the December weekends. Untick any that do not suit your family, choose others, or add your own at the end of the list. “Pick for me” chooses a fresh 24 from the activities your filters show. Slips are numbered in the order of the list. Nothing you choose or type is saved or sent anywhere.

Step 2: How do you print the slips?

Press the button to print the activities you have chosen, six slips to a sheet of A4, with dashed lines to cut along. To keep a copy, choose “Save as PDF” in the print window.

No printer? That is fine. The list above works for copying: write each activity and its number on a scrap of paper, or straight onto a paper chain link or an envelope.

Step 3: How do you make the calendar?

Choose one of these four ways. Each uses things most homes already have.

The hat or jar dip

Best for little ones who love a lucky dip.

1. Fold each slip in half twice, with the number on the outside.
2. Put them all in a hat, a jar or a bowl.
3. Each morning, a child finds that day’s number and pulls it out. For a surprise, skip the numbers and dip at random.

The paper chain countdown

A countdown you can see: the chain gets shorter as Christmas gets closer.

1. Cut 24 strips of paper, each a bit longer than your hand.
2. Write one activity on each strip, copying from your list, with its day number.
3. Loop day 24 into a ring first, then add 23, 22 and so on, so day 1 ends up at the bottom.
4. Hang it up. Each day, tear off the bottom link and read out the activity.

Envelope bunting

Good for reusing old envelopes, and pretty on a wall.

1. Write the numbers 1 to 24 on 24 envelopes. Any size will do.
2. Put a slip in each one and tuck the flap in.
3. Peg or tape the envelopes in order along a piece of string.
4. Hang the string where children can see it and a grown-up can reach it.

Toilet-roll doors

A good make for a rainy weekend. Start saving tubes in November.

1. Collect 24 cardboard tubes, or cut kitchen-roll tubes in half.
2. Pinch one end of each tube flat and fold it over.
3. Drop a folded slip inside, then pinch and fold the other end.
4. Decorate each tube, write its number on the front, and stand them all in a box or tray.

Step 4: What do you do each day?

1. Open that day’s slip, ideally in the morning, so everyone knows what is coming after school.
2. Do the activity together. Most take 10 to 20 minutes.
3. Tick it off. A tick sheet on the fridge is optional, but children like filling it in.

A slip does not have to be done on its date. Swap a long one for a short one on a busy night, or keep a “later” pile for the weekend. Want a quiet one? Add a Christmas colouring sheet.

Want it on your phone with Santa?

Famoo’s free online Advent calendar has 24 windows on a Christmas picture, a message from Santa and an activity behind each window. No account needed.

Open the free online Advent calendar

Or let Famoo open a door for you each day

In Famoo, your family’s Advent calendar opens one door a day with that day’s activity, picture steps, an elf who reads each step aloud, and a part for each age. You choose the 24 from 46 activities. Join the beta to set it up.

Join the Famoo beta

Famoo is a family app for UK homes, in beta, so things may change.