What is the New Year's Advent calendar, the main types. What is needed to create an Advent? The best DIY advent calendar ideas, tips for beginners.
New Year's Advent calendar is a traditional Christmas calendar modified in accordance with our traditions. With the help of a simple invention, the expectation of the holiday turns into a fabulous action. Every day you start with a new pleasure and keep track of how many days are left before the holiday. But the New Year Advent calendar is created not only for children, adults no less want to feel the atmosphere of celebration and create a New Year's mood for themselves.
What is New Year's Advent Calendar?
Advent is called the waiting period for Christmas, since in the European tradition this particular holiday is especially revered and is considered the most magical. A special calendar marks how many days are left until the significant date. In our country, it is customary to celebrate the New Year louder and brighter, so calendars often count how many days are left until January 1, and not December 25.
The first ever New Year's Advent calendar was made by Heinrich Lang's mother in the middle of the 19th century. A little boy so often asked his mother the question: “When will the Holiday be?” That the woman decided to make a box with small cells. Each of them had cookies. Eating one sweets a day, little Henry could see how much was left before the holiday.
As an adult, Henry did not forget about his childish curiosity and began to sell Christmas advent calendars. The idea became popular not only among children but also adults. And the anticipation of the holiday has turned into an equally exciting event, because everyone likes to pamper themselves every day with sweets.
The principle of "countdown" can be applied to any holiday, but the most popular, besides Christmas, is the New Year. Advent calendar for the New Year is a whole month of magic in anticipation of a miracle. It helps to create a festive mood, prepare for the celebration and tune in to the new year, a new stage in your life.
The first ever Christmas Advent calendar counts down from the fourth Sunday before Christmas (December 25). Depending on the year, the starting date of such a counter was from November 27 to December 3.
Today, the time indicator is the most characteristic feature of the product. It is quite natural that the New Year's Advent calendar for adults and children ends on December 31, but the starting dates and the number will be different. If you do it yourself, then you can start not from December 1st, but from December 14th, for example. But no one bothers you to finish it on January 6 or January 14 (New Year old style).
When you decide to make a New Year's Advent calendar yourself, then you have a lot of options for creativity. Crafts are conventionally divided into a huge number of varieties.
The main types of Advent calendar:
- According to the contents in each cell - with sweets; with wishes, assignments, gifts or a combination of all of the above things;
- By materials - textile, paper, wood and even plastic, any materials can be used in the work;
- By age - the filling of the cells and the external design for children and adults may differ;
- By structure - ordered and unordered, in some calendars the days are arranged in order, and in others out of order; this insignificant detail will give the calendar a playfulness and riotous mood;
- Whenever possible, reusability - some ideas will have to be recreated annually from scratch, for others it will be enough to fill in empty cells.
For each family member, you can make your own calendar, choosing a model and filling for every taste. But it is also nice to open common Advent - it unites all family members, makes them more friendly and united.
Note! Creating an Advent calendar for children for the New Year can be a great tradition for your family and another element of your pre-holiday preparation, so don't rush to get a ready-made form for Advent.
Advent calendar materials
If you decide to create an Advent calendar with your own hands for the New Year, then it is extremely important to take a responsible approach to the choice of materials. The main condition is that they must be safe for all family members.
For the calendar shell, the following can be used:
- Textile … Perfect for annual filling with new filling. For beginners in sewing, it is best to take fabric that does not dissolve into separate threads, for example, felt, well, and experienced craftswomen can create a casing using the patchwork technique.
- Wood … It will require serious skills in work, but it allows you to get a reliable, durable and original shell.
- Paper, including wrapping paper … Depending on the density of the material, it can be used for several years in a row, or it can become unusable in the first year.
- Any boxes at hand … For example, from under the matches - they can be beautifully joined together and additionally decorated.
Naturally, for processing such materials, you will need the appropriate tools - scissors, glue, tape, and others.
You can decorate the New Year's Advent calendar for children and adults in different ways: sequins, beads, beads, stickers and drawings, whatever your heart desires.
As a filler for each cell can be used:
- sweets - sweets, cookies, fruits;
- small gifts - postcards, boutonnieres or even jewelry;
- Christmas decorations;
- notes with predictions, wishes or assignments;
- a combination of several fillers, most often tasks and sweets are combined - after completing any of the pre-New Year's preparation tasks, the child happily eats candy.
The advantage of DIY advent calendars for the New Year is the absence of restrictions: you can choose any shell material and filling you want.
Best ideas on how to make Advent calendar for New Year 2020
An important condition in the question of how to make an Advent calendar for the New Year is not so much the material and filler (here everyone chooses what they like best), but the design of the Advent. In its appearance, the craft should overlap with the festive theme in order to meet the spirit of the New Year. The easiest way is to arrange the cells in the form of a "Christmas tree" so that your calendar is associated with the holiday, but you can simply decorate each sector with a Christmas flower, artificial snow or a Christmas tree toy. There are so many ideas that it can be difficult to choose one, so we offer several simple options on how to make a New Year's Advent calendar out of fabric, paper and even plastic.
Advent calendar made of fabric
Fabric advents look warm and cozy. The easiest way to create a DIY New Year calendar with tasks or gifts is to attach bright “Christmas” boots to a wide satin ribbon. They are easiest to cut out of felt and sew together, leaving a pocket on top. Such a sock contains a note with a task and a sweet encouragement or small souvenir.
Another easy way is to sew fabric bags and also attach them to the ribbon. Each bag can be embroidered with a number (calendar day). Well, for an experienced seamstress it will not be difficult to sew such bags on a fabric base. The base can be taken rectangular or cut out in the form of a Christmas tree. The edges are processed with a satin inlay or glued additionally. Such a panel calendar is neatly hung on the wall, and can be easily folded after the holiday.
The fabric can be any, but it is best to pay attention to materials in red, green or gold. It is these colors in various shades that are most associated with the holidays of the New Year cycle.
Note! Absolutely any gifts can be used as fillers for adventures made of fabric. Textiles are able to withstand almost any material.
Advent calendar in gift box
The paper in which New Year's gifts are wrapped is a bright anticipation of the holiday. It will be very pleasant to reveal a small surprise every day in such a wrapper. You can use candies, small decorations, Christmas decorations and much more as a mini-gift. Such a New Year's Advent calendar is especially popular among adults, because inside you can hide any surprises.
To make an Advent with gift wrapping, each surprise is put into a box. It is not necessary to choose the same size, different boxes will add originality. We wrap each of the packages in wrapping paper and decorate with a satin ribbon with a bow.
Gifts can be presented in any order, or you can come up with your own system, for example, in the first pre-New Year's week, give sweets, and closer to the holiday - decorations.
We connect the gift wrapped boxes together with a ribbon and decorate with "lights". In addition to the garland, such surprise dates also look good in the form of panels or folded in a herringbone pattern. To make a panel, it is enough to tie long threads and rain to the wooden plank, at the ends of which to fix the advent dates.
Note! This type of Advent calendar for the New Year is not suitable for assignments, since by opening the box, anyone expects to receive a surprise, not a task to complete.
Advent calendar made of plastic
Conscious consumption is not a tribute to fashion, but a lifestyle, so the New Year's Advent calendar made of plastic is chosen by adults. In this case, the old things are given a second life.
Apart from plastic cups wrapped in nice packaging, cans, plastic containers, toilet paper roll holders and many other things can be used. It would seem that disposable items get a second life if they are properly decorated.
Gift wrapping, sequins, stickers, bows can be used as decor. It is very easy to wrap cardboard rolls with paper, like candy, and place them on a panel. New Year's advent calendar made of plastic is complemented with Christmas tree decorations or garlands.
Advent calendar of candy
Sweets are an easy and quick way to experience the holiday atmosphere. For New Year's Eve preparations, choose only your favorite brands. It is enough to put a candy in each separate cell of the Advent calendar to get a full-fledged craft. Thus, you will practically recreate the traditional Heinrich Lang calendar.
The sweet content will fit both in fabric casings and in reliable calendars made of wood or cardboard. Well, if you do not have a pre-created packaging, then simply place the candies with pasted dates in a beautiful open vase. For children for the New Year, such an Advent calendar can be additionally supplied with pleasant wishes attached to the candy wrapper.
Advent calendar made of paper
Wrapping and multi-colored paper is actively used to create various crafts. It is easy to make an envelope out of it, in which a New Year's wish, task or hint is hidden, where a large gift is hidden. You can fasten the envelopes with a garland or directly on the wall in the form of a herringbone. Do not forget to mark the date box on each envelope.
Well, even a schoolboy can make a New Year's paper applique. Envelopes or paper cut in the shape of a New Year's boot, ball or Santa's face are glued to a large sheet of colored paper with pockets. It is easy to put a note in such a pocket.
The disadvantage of New Year's paper advent calendars is their fragility. With careful storage, such a calendar will last 2-3 years, but more often it will still be deformed after the first use. But such calendars are very easy to recreate.
Tips for beginners
If you want to make the first Advent calendar in your life, start by implementing the simplest ideas. Of course, everyone wants to immediately get the best Advent in the world, but only after several attempts will it be possible to choose the type, materials, structure that suits you. Do not forget that the main task of such a product is to form the feeling of a miracle, to prepare for the holiday, so its creation should be pleasant for you personally.
New Year's Advent calendar is a great opportunity to attract children to the holiday. But if you decide to place both sweets and tasks in the cells, then follow a few rules:
- Choose tasks that are within the reach of your child, such as cutting snowflakes or making a snowman.
- The time for completing the assignment should not exceed 15-20 minutes, and for tasks joint with parents - 1 hour.
- Leave the most difficult tasks closer to the New Year, when the child will be delighted with the upcoming holiday, it will be easier for him to complete the complex tasks.
- Prepare the necessary materials in advance, for example, set aside paper and scissors for a snowflake task.
- Develop a few backup tasks, the so-called help-sticks, in case any of the tasks is impossible for the child.
- Instead of assignments, you can embed thematic riddles and poems.
When developing tasks, remember that Advent is about introducing a child to a wonderful holiday, so try to choose tasks that are interesting for him. Do not push if the baby was not able to complete an item until the end, it is better to try to do it together.
Possible tasks for nesting into cells:
- Write a letter with wishes for the New Year;
- Make a festive garland;
- Make an orange peel toy;
- Cut snowflakes and decorate the house with them;
- Decorate a Christmas tree;
- Make greeting cards;
- Sculpt a Snow Maiden from plasticine;
- Draw a snowman or Santa Claus;
- Learn New Year's verse;
- Read how the holiday is celebrated in other countries.
How to make an Advent calendar for the New Year - watch the video:
New Year's Advent calendar is a great opportunity to prepare for the holiday. A good mood is guaranteed if every morning you find a pleasant surprise inside a new calendar cell. Having once tried to make New Year's Advent, you will not give up such an expectation of a miracle.
