Craft a Meaningful Advent Calendar They’ll Love

Try making this DIY Advent Calendar for a festive and frugal new tradition.

I’ve always loved the holidays, especially the excitement of counting down to Christmas, so in recent years I’ve started my own tradition of making DIY advent calendars with gifts for men and women and one shared gift on Christmas day. These calendars now bring me the same joy I felt opening my own daily treats as a kid.

Spoiler alert… the DIY advent calendars are always HUGE hit!

My best tip when crafting more than one basket? Work in multiples. Buying gift sets or multi-pack products is a great way to keep the per-piece price low. The Beauty Brands Discover Box, Birchbox, Walmart Beauty Box are helpful resources to get sample-sized toiletries for around a buck apiece. Also, stores like Dollar Tree and Target’s Bullseye’s Playground (formerly Dollar Spot) have tons of $1.25 gifts with some products containing multiples, which can even take the price point below a dollar per item!

Here are some of my goodies I’ve included in my DIY advent calendars this Christmas:

💄 Women’s beauty products:

• Single use masks or sheet masks
• Hair treatments
• beauty minis
• lip balm
• makeup remover cloths

💝 Women’s gifts:

• Satin hair scrunchies
• jewelry
• candles
• Christmas socks

🪥 Men’s toiletries:

• Bulldog mini face wash
• Method mini body wash
• chapstick
• hand cream
• Goodwipes shower wipes

🎁 Men’s gifts:

• Microfiber cloths
• Multi-use tools
• Switchblade comb
• Screen cleaning wipes
• Hand Warmers

🍬 Snacks & treats:

• Sunflower seeds
• Packs of gum
• Ghirardelli chocolate squares
• Teabags or tea crystals
• Beef jerky

And then for the big day (a.k.a. Christmas!), you can get a little more adventurous or generous with the gift. In the past, I’ve gifted mini bottles of Bailey’s to stiffen up that Christmas morning coffee, along with funny family pictures and inside jokes.

Some other ideas for the 25th gift could be small gift cards to Starbucks, Amazon, or other popular retailers, a National Parks Pass, or something from our full lineup of awesome product reviews!

Once the gifts are compiled, next comes wrapping. 🎁

I’ve used felt baskets from Target in the past for DIY advent calendars, and last year I took it a step cheaper by scooping up some Dollar Tree baskets and spray painting them with metallic gold paint. I label each gift with numbered tags, use pillow boxes for smaller items, then load the baskets in reverse order, starting with 25. I usually deliver them on Thanksgiving, partly so I can remind them not to open everything at once! 😉

If you’re too short on time, you can always minimize this idea to just 12 days of Christmas, which starts the countdown to Christmas on December 13th! 🎄

As fun as it is making the calendars, the real fun begins when I start receiving texts from my family almost daily with excitement and gratitude as they open the gifts. Then on Christmas Day, we catch up on their favorite goodies. I’m already imagining the boys bringing their switchblade combs to slick back their hair on Christmas morning. 😂

This is my fourth year of the tradition (and my gifting skills are getting better), but I have a good feeling this tradition will continue for many years to come! 👏🏻

Find more gift ideas here!