Modern DIY Advent Calendar

Make your own modern DIY advent calendar from Dollar Store supplies. This easy DIY project will last for years to come!

Dollar Store DIY projects and Christmas are two of my favorite things. I love making expensive looking decor for just a little bit of money and Christmas decor is no exeception. Advent calendars are a fun and thoughtful way to countdown the days until Christmas. I knew I could make my own and when I found these little travel jars at the Dollar Tree, I knew immediately how I would use them. They came in a set of three and I got 24 of these guys (8 packs of 3), so I could make my own modern DIY advent calendar.

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How to Make a DIY Advent Calendar

Supplies Needed

Scrap MDF
Travel jars from the Dollar Tree (exactly like THIS!)
Black number stickers
Black spray paint

Let’s make an advent calendar!

Step-by-step Tutorial

I started with a scrap piece of MDF. It took a little while to figure out what height and width I needed. I ended up making it 10.5 inches wide and 15 inches tall. I wanted to make this DIY advent calendar into a house shape, so I found the middle, drew a line straight up, and then used my square to draw the roof line of the house.

Next I added a little chimnbey, using a scrap piece of wood as a template. You don’t have to do this step – it is harder to cut that one piece out, so you can skip that one if it doesn’t work for your house. Once I had all of the measurements drawn out, I did put my little containers back on to make sure that they would fit nicely once I had everything cut.

Then I used the table saw to cut the house shape out of the MDF. If you’re cutting out the chimney, I recommend using a jig saw instead, which is a much better tool for the job as it allows you to do more intricate cuts.

I couldn’t find our jig saw so I used the table saw, but it left some gaps on the back side that I had to fill with putty before I painted the whole house.

The next thing I did was draw out a grid to know exactly where to place all of my little containers. I left about an inch at the bottom and then put each plastic container an inch and a half apart. If you aren’t as precise as I am, you could eyeball this. I wanted to be really exact and have everythng look perfectly in line.

Once I had the grid drawn, I used each of the spots where the lines intersect to pre-drill holes for the containers. Then, I used a small drill bit to drill holes in the bottom of the plastic containers, so that they would be ready to attach to the board.

You could also use a strong craft glue to attach the containers, but I wasn’t sure how long would last. Since I put all the effort in, I really wanted this DIY advent calendar to last for years.

I spray painted the whole thing with a couple of coats of black spray paint so that the white containers would really pop against it. Once it was dry, I reassembled it all, Making sure to drill the plastic pieces tightly onto the board so that we’d be able to screw and unscrew the lids.

Finally I used Dollar Store stickers to add the dates onto all of the individual circles. To be honest, these stickers did not stay on very well. I actually had to glue some of them down and I’ll probably replace all of them next year. They didn’t stick on perfectly, but they worked for the time being! I would probably use these number stickers instead next time.

And finally, I topped off the house with a wreath from the Dollar Store DIY I did last year. I am in LOVE with this DIY advent calendar!

Advent Calendar Activity Ideas

We wrote a whole bunch of activities on papers and put them into the slots with a single chocolate for my kids to take turns opening. We’ve done activity advent calendars for a few years now, so if you need help coming up with activity ideas, here’s 50 of our favourites: