Our Advent Calendar

Happy December!! Did you think I had abandoned my blog? Me too. I have a lot to catch up on, but today I wanted to show you our new advent calendar!

I have gotten tired of the ones filled with small chocolates, and the Lego one we did last year, while it was a huge hit, was really expensive. I came across a picture on pintrest of this simple design and decided that I wanted to force my friends invite my friends to make them with me! The four of us got together the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to put them together and finished them just in time for December 1st. The days are all different for each of us of course, our families are all different - but that is what is so great, it is easily customizable to one child or multiple, boys or girls, gifts or activities, etc.  I'll post my calendar below.

The largest part of making this advent is the clothespins, I wanted them to be red and not have the hassle of trying to decorate them with ribbon or paper. I came across another pintrest post about dying clothespins using Rit dye. Perfect!

I wanted to make sure the clips came out red and not pink, so I used the whole box. Might have been overkill, but why not.

I used the directions for heat setting - first submerged all the clips in water, they float, so just make sure you give yourself enough room to stir. Then added the dye to two cups of boiling water to dissolve completely before adding it to the pot.

I cooked them at a low simmer, stirring every 10 minutes for 30 minutes. Making sure the ones on top spent time on the bottom to get the full dose.

This is about half way through the process - I read that they would dry lighter than when wet so I kept going for the full 30 minutes.

I laid them out on top of a few layers of both plastic and paper grocery bags to dry. They look great, my spoon was sacrificed for the process. :0)

We got together and painted the wooden bases, the glue gun worked just fine attaching the clips and rubber stamped on the numbers. A little distressing made it all come together!

Each day has a kid's Christmas joke included ....
Day 1:  Go look in your closet for something warm and green (a new green Christmas hooded robe to wear)
Day 2: A small caramel filled chocolate santa
Day 3: Go look in the coffee cupboard for a special treat (new mug and special marshmallows for cocoa)
Day 4: Let's have some fun by candlelight (a new game and a small sugar cookie scented candle)
Day 5: Let's buy a gift! (Money and a star pulled off the giving tree at school)
Day 6: Stickers
Day 7: Let's make ornaments to say thanks to those that help us! (ornament materials)
Day 8: Let's go shop for Christmas present for Mom (Street Fair that day, $ and Dad will help)
Day 9: Fun treat
Day 10: Light up Reindeer nose - to be used for the church's Christmas program
Day 11: Let's Whisk someone a Merry Christmas (Whisks and decorations to place on neighbor's doors)
Day 12: Let's go shop for your Teacher! ($)
Day 13: Caramel filled chocolate Santa
Day 14: Today we'll build a house (treasure hunt to locate gingerbread house supplies)
Day 15: Let's take Dad to the Movies! (Candy and tickets to the Hobbit)
Day 16: It's time to fill Santa's Sack and write a letter! (Writing supplies, special treat)
Day 17: Lego toy
Day 18: How can we bless someone? (List of ideas, $, small gifts to give away, etc.)
Day 19: Let's bake cookies for your class (Christmas sprinkles)
Day 20: Get ready for the Reindeer! (Special tube of glitter for Reindeer food and lego toy)
Day 21: Let's go shop for Dad's Christmas present ($)
Day 22: It's the Grinch's Night! (Movie & will have special green treats :0)
Day 23: Your new ornament is ready for the tree (ornament for this year)
Day 24: Christmas activity of your choice before going to look at Christmas lights (new CD to listen to)
Day 25: It's Christmas! (treasure hunt to one of his gifts)