DIY Advent Calendar

Advent calendars come in many different forms. We’ve always favored Catholic Advent calendars and have developed a template for a homemade one!  For this calendar, we used two pieces of card stock and a piece of foam board (you could substitute a stiff piece of cardboard).

A small window for each day opens to reveal an Advent-themed Bible verse with a picture.

Click on the image below to print the front of the Advent calendar. The back of this image will contain the Bible verses for each day, so you will need to print this file double- sided.

After you print the front, you will need to cut out each “window” using an exacto knife.  You will cut only the three sides of the window that show the dotted line.  The solid line is the folding line.

The page below shows the pictures that will be revealed as you open each window.  The Bible verse will appear on the back of each flap when opened.

Click on the image below to print the back of the Advent calendar and the stand. They are two separate pages. We printed the pages with the Advent images on card stock. You can print the pattern for the stand on regular paper and trace the design on cardboard or foam board.

Next, you will need to glue the front on top of the page containing the small pictures.  You will only be able to glue around the edges of the paper and in between the images, so glue carefully.

Then, cut an 8.5 x 11″ piece of foam board to fit on the back of the calendar and glue the foam board to the back.  Use the template to create stands to attach to the foam board so that you can display your Advent calendar on a table.

The completed project!