DIY | Christmas Advent Calendar

Since this is mine and Matt's first Christmas together I decided to be a cutesy girlfriend and make him an advent calendar. Growing up, my sisters and I never had the store-bought chocolate advents, instead we got little presents to open every day leading up to Christmas morning. I decided to do the same type of thing for Matt. 

This project was really easy. I found an old piece of plywood laying around that happened to be the perfect size and I painted it white. I then painted 24 clothespins red and glued them onto the plywood. Once the glue dried, I labelled each peg with a number. Since I'm not very artistic, I bought a "Merry Christmas" sign and just glued it on the wood as decoration, but you could always paint your decorations on as well. Lastly, I wrapped my gifts and hung them on the clothespins with ribbon. 

And voila!! 

Need some advent present inspiration? Here are a few ideas for men or women:

• Lego
• Gift cards - Tim Horton's, Starbucks, Subway, Amazon, iTunes, etc. 
• Lip chap (I love Burt's Bees)
• A chocolate bar
• A key chain 
• Coffee or tea
• A travel mug
• A deck of cards
• Dominoes
• A Hacky Sack 
• Candy
• Socks
• A toque
• Rubik's Cube
• Toothbrush
• Batteries
• Chocolate / yogurt covered almonds / fruit
• Christmas tree ornaments
• Homemade DIY projects
• Lottery tickets / scratch cards 
• Handwarmers
• A book or magazine
• Sudoku puzzle book or other brain games (crossword, word search, riddles, etc.)
• Mini first aid kit for the car
• Pocket knife
• Compass
• BBQ sauce
• Mini flashlight
• Scented candles 
• Bath salts / oils
• Hand cream 
• Shower gel
• Nail polish
• USB stick
• Seeds for growing herbs / vegetables / flowers
• Winter gloves 
• Earbud headphones
• Jewelry 
• A notebook 

Just be creative and think of what the recipient could use and tailor your gifts to their interests. Matt's gifts included some practical things that he needed but was unlikely to go out and buy for himself, some joke gifts that only we would understand, some personal and thoughtful things, some homemade cooking / baking and some DIY projects that I thought he would really like. The possibilities are really endless!! 

Have you ever made an advent calendar for anyone? What type of gifts did you include?