Holiday Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt
Holidays are better when they’re homemade.
I asked my children what their favorite holiday activity was and my oldest daughter raved about the year we did an advent calendar scavenger hunt in 2021. Her eyes lit up and I felt like I could feel the Christmas magic she felt. This year I made the decision to bring the advent calendar countdown back and create a printable template I can share with my fellow moms, like yourself.
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DIY Holiday Advent Tree
click here for the supplies used for this diy
Step 1
I decided to use materials in my home for this year’s advent calendar, knowing it would be a true budget-friendly DIY. The first step requires fairy lights, a laser level, a pencil, a hand level, thumbtacks, and measuring tape. I measured the width of the wall, finding the center where the first thumbtack would be placed at a height of 69 1/2 inches from the floor.
The DIY tree has a total of six rows that are 12 inches apart between each row. I used a laser level from the first thumbtack to create a straight line down the wall. I marked every 12 inches with a pencil, giving me five more rows from the top. Then, I turned the laser level to each corner of the wall below my first thumbtack. I took a hand level, placed it against the wall, and lined it up with the 12-inch marks I made for the center of the rows. I made corresponding marks with the lines created by laser level to create the ends of each row. Once the ends of each row were marked, I put thumbtacks on the ends of each row.
To create the tree, I strung the fairy lights around my first thumbtack and then connected the lights to the thumbtack below and to the left of my fist thumbtack, wrapping the string around the thumbtack once for extra support. Then, I went across to the next thumbtack, following the same pattern until the last thumbtack. Once I finished stringing my lights, I hid the battery pack behind a small tree on the floor.
Step 2
Now that I have my tree outlined, I can hang the advent envelopes. The materials I used in this step are mini envelopes, fishing line, mini clothespins, my printable Holiday Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt, disco balls, and a black ribbon.
For the envelopes, the top row has one, the second row has three, the third row has four, the fourth row has four, the fifth row has five, and the bottom row has seven. I put these on the tree first to know how much blank space I had to work with.
Once the envelopes were placed, I strung my disco balls on fishing line and hung those on the thumbtacks and clothespins. For any remaining blank spaces, I tied the ribbon to create bows.
Step 3
As for the adventures of the scavenger hunt, my children will be surprised with gifts like a new notebook, legos, books, etc. Other than gifts they can open, I will have days that don’t include gifts but special activities like baking cookies, watercolor painting as a family, family movie night, etc. This is a great opportunity to bring a month of fun and bonding into your household.
As a working mom of three, I know how busy the holidays are. That’s why I created this special printable advent calendar to share with moms like myself.
