In our family we love an advent calendar! I fill ours with little slips of paper saying something we are going to do that day. They can be simple like watch Charlie Brown’s Christmas, or more exciting things like Go See The Nutcracker. The only thing I tend not to love about our advent calendars is figuring out where to put them. With holiday decorations all over, and not really anywhere on the wall we can hang one, before December is over I usually find myself moving the advent calendar all over the place. Moving it off the counter when I am preparing a bunch of food, move it off the table so we can sit down and eat, move it from the top of the cabinet because its covering up the Christmas village…on and on. So this year I decided to create a small compact advent calendar that attaches to the front of the fridge with magnets. It’s up out of the way, but still festive, and large enough to hold small slips of paper. I created a pdf with the vintage Christmas images I used…but if you want something bigger you can make your own too.
Supplies:
plastic containers- I ordered this
30-Piece Plastic Storage Container
because they are tiny and that is exactly what I was looking for!
sticky back magnets- I ordered these
3/4″ Diameter Adhesive-Backed Magnet Dots; 100 per Pack; no. DO-735007
and they are the perfect size, and hold to the fridge but if you think your containers are going to get bumped a lot you’ll want to use an even stronger magnet like
these
scissors- or you can use a craft punch, which is what I did to cut my circles because I already own a 1 inch punch
glue gun- I used a glue gun over another type of glue because it dries quick and does not make the paper wet.
paper cut outs– I had mine printed on cardstock at Staples
pipe cleaners- I like the silver sparkly kind but these are just optional
1. Unscrew the caps and turn the bottoms over, peel and place your magnets.
2. Use the glue gun to glue all your punched out circles onto the tops. You could leave your calendars like this or add ribbon, tinsel pipe cleaners or other decorations around the edge.
3. Add your little notes inside, screw on the lids and hang on your fridge!