Christmas Candy Calendar 2012

 

 

Grab your glue guns and a bag of candy!!  It's that time of year again. 

Time to make a candy calendar!  Remember this one from last year?  I made an updated version for 2012.  I've pretty much done all of the hard work for you.  It's basically a four step process.

Step One:  Click here to print your calendar onto a piece of heavy card stock.

Step Two:  Use your glue gun to carefully glue a piece of candy (small wrapped candy works best) to each square of the calendar.

This is a great step for the kids to help with.  I put the glue on the back of the candy and let her press it onto the paper.

 Step Three:  Cut a strip of heavy cardboard (I used a piece of a box) to reinforce your calendar if your candy is particularly heavy.  I cut my strip eleven inches long and three inches wide.  Punch two holes on each side of the top of your calendar.  You will also need to punch matching holes in your cardboard.  The card board strip obviously goes on the back of the calendar where it won't be seen.

Step Four:  Thread some ribbon through the holes and tie it in a bow at the top.  Hang your calendar in a place of distinction, and enjoy!

We went with a red and white candy theme.  You can buy one bag of your favorite candy and use the same kind for each day.  Or buy a variety of candy to mix things up a bit. 

 "So simple...so easy...so perfectly perfect!" (Name that children's book!)

I had a lot of candy left-over.  It would be really fun to make a bunch of these and gift them to your friends.  Or hide your candy in the back of the pantry and save it for a really fun project that I will be posting soon.  Which is of course, what I did.  Can't wait to show you what I have up my sleeve!

A Christmas Bucket List

 Isn't it funny how one thing leads to another?  I had some leftover candy bars from this project.  So, I got to thinking...

I decided that it might be nice to have a way to make sure that we took time out this holiday season to relax and enjoy one another.  I brainstormed some ideas of simple things that we could do together as a family.  I printed out my list on the back of a cute piece of scrapbook paper that I had in my stash.  Then I used my handy dandy paper cutter to cut them into strips.  At this point, I grabbed my December calendar from off of the fridge.  I wanted to assign certain activities to certain dates.  If I had a really busy day scheduled, I chose something simple like "reading a story" for that day.  If I had a day when things were a little more free, I scheduled one of the bigger ticket items.  After I manipulated the activities to fit our schedule, I stamped the coordinating date on the wrapper and taped the wrapper to the candy bar.  Then I tossed them into a festive bowl.

Now we are all set to open a candy bar each day leading up to Christmas and enjoy the activity together as a family.  The kids get out of school really early this year.  I am stacking some of the bigger activities towards that last week before Christmas.  I think this will be a fun way to keep them busy and give them something to look forward to.

*****

Want to make some too?  All you need is a sheet of scrapbook paper, some candy bars (I used Hershey nuggets) and some way to date them (I used rubber stamps).  Oh, and you will probably want to use some scotch tape.

Need some ideas of what to write on your wrappers?

Here's my list:

Christmas Candy Calendar

Many many years ago (more than ten?), we received a darling candy advent calendar as a neighbor gift from my good friend Kelley.  She had taken a paper calendar and hot glued a wrapped Christmas candy on each day leading up to Christmas.  My kids loved it!  They loved it so much, that we have made them several times since.  I even made over a hundred of them for all of the kids at church one year. (I told you I have a thing for advent calendars!!)

I thought I would share a slightly different version with you here today.

Since we have been on a bit of a service kick lately, why not incorporate the service with the candy?  A hybrid if you will. Besides, everything is better with candy!

So, this is what you do.  Everyday you take a candy off of the calendar.  Quickly gobble up the delicious chocolate.  But, don't throw away your wrapper just yet.  Because written on the back of the wrapper is an act of service that you could perform some time during that day.  It's like a fortune cookie--but better! It's chocolate!!

Want to make one?

You will need to print out a calendar onto heavy cardstock.  I made one just for you!

(This calendar was designed using products from Weeds & Wildflowers Designs)

Then you need to print out this sheet of service strips.  Grab a piece of complimentary card stock and print these ideas on the back.  I used the "older children" ideas from yesterday's post.  I left some blank strips  in case you want to create some service suggestions of your own.

Cut out your strips.  You will need a bag of small individually wrapped candy bars.  I used Hershey Nuggets.  The above strips will be sized perfectly for them.  If you use a different kind of candy, the strip size may need to be adjusted.  You will also need some glue dots.  I used the glue dots to secure the new wrappers to the candy bars.  Then you will want to hot glue each candy bar into a square on the calendar.
Finally, back your paper calendar with a piece of poster board cut to size. (I actually cut down a file folder, because I didn't have any poster board on hand.)  Don't skip this step if you are planning on hanging your calendar.  The weight of the candy will cause your ribbon to rip through the paper if you don't!  Which brings us to the last step--punch a couple of holes in the top and thread some ribbon through them.  Hang in a place of prominence--and count down the days until Christmas!

Now that I have completed my candy calendar, I have a few suggestions:

1.  It occurred to me (a little too late) that I should have turned the candy bars sideways...to avoid the candy slipping right out of the wrappers.  Don't do what I did.

2.  I think it would be super cute with some black sticker numbers on the candy bars themselves.  I would have added this, but I didn't have enough sticker numbers.  I suppose you could stamp some numbers onto the wrappers before you wrap the candy bars.  Again--I thought of this a little too late.

3.  You could make a calendar for each of your kids to avoid fighting over the candy.  Or, you could just take turns each day.  We have three kids.  We just let them each take a turn, and luckily 24 is divisible by three.  Mom and Dad could jump in and take a turn to even things out if they need to.

Enjoy!  Serving others is sweet!

UPDATE:  I have posted a 2012 calendar here!

Christmas Countdown-UPDATED

There are two things that you need to know:

Number one:  I love love love advent calendars!
Number two:  I teach a co-op preschool.

I teach with another mother in my neighborhood.  We use this curriculum and I love everything about it.  I have done this with both of my daughters.  It's one of the best decisions that I have ever made.  It is so much fun to spend a couple of hours a week teaching these cute little people.  I highly recommend it.  (And no, that is not a paid advertisement--just my heartfelt endorsement of a really great program!)

Anyway.  Yesterday we started a new unit on sharing and service.  It coordinates beautifully with the holiday season.   To get things started, we made an advent calendar--a Christmas Service Countdown, if you will.  I wanted to do something a little different than what was suggested in the manual.  So, I came up with this:

Basically, there is a blank frame to showcase your child or their artwork.  At the bottom of the page, there are 24 little acts of service written on strips.  Each day (starting on December 1st) you rip a strip off the bottom and perform the service.  These are really simple acts that any preschooler could complete.  The idea is to help these little people focus on the true meaning of Christmas.  When the strips are gone--it's Christmas day!

Want to make one for the kids in your life?

Print out the page with the blank frame above, by clicking here.  Have your child draw a Christmas picture to insert in the frame.  I used an X-acto knife to cut around the points of the star that overlap the frame.  Then I had the kids color a picture of the nativity.  (They thought the night sky needed a few more stars.  Love it!)

You could also print out a 5x7 photo and glue it into the frame.

Then you just take a pair of scissors and cut between each service strip.  Be sure to leave the top of each strip intact!

I've got plans to make a version that could accommodate a little older child.  Watch for it soon!


UPDATE:

Here you go!  I replaced the preschool service acts with some that are more appropriate for older children.  To print this version, click here.

(This calendar was designed using products from weeds & wildflowers)