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How to Make A Match Box Advent Calendar

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1st Decemeber! That's one of our favorite dates in the year. Why? It's 24 days to Christmas - and every morning, we can pop open the windows of our advent calendar, which only happens in the month of December. Every day, we eagerly look forward, to unveiling a little surprise - and of course, every day just gets that little bit closer to Christmas. Yay!!!

If like us, you like making something, and like gifting sweet little gifts, this tutorial on making your own advent calendar may be just up your alley.

customised match boxes.jpg

Tools, Materials and Ingredients

  • 24 match boxes ( recycling old match boxes will be the best )
  • scissors
  • double sided tape or glue ( our preference is to use a sticky tape roller such as the "Bostik Sticki Tape Roller" available from Ryman, as it keeps all sticking job dry and neat)
  • 24 little gifts to fill the match boxes
  • 3 pieces of A4 paper to print the numbered Match box wrappers that can be downloaded here
DIY Advent Calendar.jpg

Cut each individual dates out and use either double sided tape or glue to attach the designs to the boxes. The designs will work for small rectangular boxes too. The idea is to make sure the designs cover the top of the box, or wrap around the box in the case of a match box. 

DIY Fun Christmas Number Match Box Advent Calednar.jpg

After the boxes are numbered with the individual days, fill them with little gifts. Our favorites have included: 

  • tictacs 
  • gold / silver chocolate coins available from Waitrose
  • finger tattoos available from Paperchase
  • hair bobbles
  • key rings
  • glitter paper clips
  • stickers  
  • hand written messages  
  • vouchers
  • pin badges
  • lottery ticket  
  • nail clipper
  • cute buttons
  • matches (why not?) 
Match Box DIY Christmas Advent Calendar.jpg

After the boxes are filled. Mix them around to mix around the dates.

To display the match boxes, you can affix these boxes on to the wall with tape that does not strip off the paint from the wall e.g. 3M Command Poster Mounting Adhesive Strips, or simply line them up on a mantelpiece.

Have fun and happy counting down to Christmas!

Number Match Boxes Typography Advent Calendar.jpg