Kick start your Christmas festivities this year by making this fun hanging advent calendar DIY.

All you need are a few supplies and a bit of crochet knowledge to make the decorations for the gift bags.

Christmas isn’t Christmas without an advent calendar and this one is the perfect festive addition to your home.

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Make Your Own Advent Calendar

Like most people, we love a good countdown to Christmas day, and making an advent calendar is such a great way to celebrate each day of the season.

I make one every year for my husband, looking for little gifts and treats to put in each gift bag.

This year the bags have been decorated with mini pom poms, mini crochet Christmas trees, crochet stars, and mini crochet Santa hats.

*Scroll down for the free DIY/Crochet patterns*

What You Need

The Christmas calendar was made with a few simple supplies that I had in the house and others that I collected from a local craft store, which included;

A wooden wreath
Brown paper bags
Mini wooden pegs
Twine
Red and white striped string
Wire
A hole punch
Little wooden decorations
Small pom maker / Clover 3/4 inch
Lights – with battery

I also used some greenery from outside to add to the wreath for a festive look.

How To Make The Hanging Advent Calendar

I started by making all of the little Christmas decorations for the bags, making 6 of each.

I then filled the bags with goodies and tied them closed, ready to be attached to the wreath.
The numbers I used for the bags were from Wonen Voor Jou – a free printable that was super easy to print out and use.
I made mini crochet Christmas trees to hang with small wooden cut-out Christmas decorations.
I bought the little wooden circles from a local craft shop.
They feature cutouts of trees, reindeer, and snowflakes.
I also added mini crochet stars to some of the bags.
Made from twine and red and white string, they have a rustic vibe.
I also made mini crochet Santa hats, that were attached to the bags by threading twine through the top.

advent calendar with paper bags for the gifts

advent calendar with a wooden wreath decoration

Adding Greenery To the Wreath

I also attached the greenery onto the wreath using wire – as you can see in the photo above.

Just a couple of pieces of wire – to keep the wreath in place will do, the wire is for jewelry making and I had it leftover from another wreath project.
The wreath looks good on its own or to be even more festive, you could add little lights.
I added some battery-operated lights and they look really festive!

I had so much fun making this advent calendar and I think you will too!

If you don’t want to make the crochet Christmas decorations that hang on the bags you could always replace them with store-bought decorations or if you have any leftover from your tree.

Take a look at the how-to below and see what you need to get started.

Yield: Advent Calendar

DIY Advent Calendar

Make an advent calendar this year with a handmade vibe, featuring crochet decorations and pom poms on every gift bag.

Active Time 4 hours

Total Time 4 hours

Difficulty Easy/beginner

Estimated Cost $20

Materials

A wooden wreath
Brown paper bags
Mini wooden pegs
Little wooden decorations
Twine
Red and white striped string
Any light (03) yarn in the following colours;
Red
White
Green
Brown

Tools

A hole punch
Small pom maker - Clover 3/4 inch
Lights - with battery
Greenery from the garden - for the wreath
Wire
Crochet hook size 4mm (US G/6)
Scissors
Darning needle
Tape measure

Instructions

Mini Crochet Christmas Tree (Make 6)

With green yarn and the 4mm (US G/6) hook
Ch 8, plus 1, turn,
8 sc
At the end of row 2 (turning) ch, turn and then sc in the second stitch of the hook
Rep until you get to the top of the tree.

Tree Trunk

In brown yarn
Skip 2 ch, then sc into the next 4 sts
Ch 1, turn,
Sc into the 4 sts,
Cut yarn and secure.

Crochet Stars (Make 6 in twine and 6 in red and white string)

With twine and the 4mm (US G/6) hook
Ch 3
Hdc 9 into the first ch. Join with a sl st.
Ch 3, sl st into 2nd ch from hook, hdc into next ch.
Sk next st in the circle, sl st into the next st, this forms a star peak.
Rep this step above, until you have 5 peaks.
The last sl st will be worked in the beginning st.
Rep these steps for 6 stars in red and white string.

Mini Crochet Santa Hat Pattern

In red yarn and the 4mm (US G/6) hook
Ch 2, 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook
2 sc in each st around
*sc in the next 5 sts, 2 sc in next st* rep from * to * twice
Sc in the next 2 sts, *2 sc in next st, sc in next 2 sts* rep from * to * until the end of the round.
Rnd 5-10 - sc in each st around
Change to white yarn - sc in each st for 2 rounds.
Cut yarn and secure. Weave in any loose ends.
Add a white pom pom to the top of the Santa hat.

Mini Pom Poms

With red, white and green yarn - make 6 sets of 3 mini poms in each colour.
Trim each one and tie three colours together with the red and white string, ready to be threaded onto a gift bag.

Making The Advent Calendar

Start by making the crochet decorations/pom poms if you are using them.
Put the treats into the gift bags and punch a hole in one corner, then thread a decoration through the hole and tie. This should keep the bag closed. If not, you may need to add a little tape.
Repeat the step above until you have all 24 gift bags filled and ready
Add the decorations, by threading twine if needed through and then knotting into place. (You should have 6 sets of each decoration).
Print out the numbers and cut them out, attach to each bag using a mini wooden peg.
Attach a length of twine to the wooden wreath and hang it - then you can start attaching the bags.
Punch a hole in the top of the bag and cut a length of string - feed it through the hold and tie to the wreath.
Repeat the step above until you have about 6 bags hanging from the wreath.
Then start to hang more bags from each of the bags already tied to the wreath.
The bags are tied together, hanging down from each other, overlapping.
Repeat this until you have all of the bags attached and displayed how you want them to be.
Add greenery to the top of the wreath, by cutting some wire and wrapping it around the greenery twice (or as many times as needed).
If you want to add lights - wrap the lights into the greenery and hide the battery pack at the back of the wreath.
Hang on the wall and enjoy opening each bag with your loved ones every day throughout December!