If you need a last minute Advent calendar idea, this might help. I'm not going to give a detailed step-by-step b/c the pics do a decent job of providing the general idea, which is: loop string through treat bags, hang treat bags from dowels, hang dowels on strings on nails, done.
Treat bags are gently tugged to remove each day. My son had already pulled off today's, bottom row on the right. The little circle tag is left behind, which can be reused to wrap gifts or for next year!
Except for the treats in the bags, I used only supplies I had on-hand or that I could create.
Supplies on-hand:
- 2 dowel rods (you could also use cardboard tubes)
- ribbon
- butcher's twine
- Scotch tape
- double-sided tape
- hole punch
- scissors
Supplies I created:
- 2-inch circle tags (doctored-up clip art from MS Word - downloadable below!)
- treat bags with my own festive design (use wrapping paper or tissue if you like)
Helpful - 2-inch tag punch (but you can cut the tags with scissors, too!)
half-moons design above is (c) Jan DiCintio.
Above:
The pieces of paper I used to make the treat bags were approximately 9"long and 4.25"wide. I folded them in half lengthwise, folded & taped the sides, and folded the top as shown. I cut all my treat bag strings about 17" long.
Below:
I added double-sided tape to the edges of the dowels and to about 8" lengths of ribbon. I wrapped the ribbon around the ends of the rods to give them a finished look as well as to keep the strings from sliding off the ends.
Click here to download the 2-inch circle tags below. These are clip-art motifs from MS Word that I altered, put into a 2-inch circle and re-colored. I do not claim any sort of copyright on these, but they should be used for your personal use only nonetheless.
