DIY Paper Bag Advent Calendar

If you follow me on Instagram you’ve seen me slowly working away on our DIY advent calendar the past month — and it’s finally done, the bags are stuffed and ready for Piper! This year I was just going to fill a candy calendar I got at Target a few years ago but decided with the new baby it would be nice for Piper to have something a little more special to look forward to every night. And watching her understand more and more about the holiday season every day has me so grateful I found the time to make this!

The concept is super easy — and there are tons of different ways to display the bags. All you really need are mini clothes pins and brown lunch bags! I purchased these stars on Amazon, numbered them with a sharpie and then hot glued them onto clothes pins (I actually painted the clothes pins white prior but it was totally unnecessary).

I had a big sheet of plywood on hand that was painted blush from a photo shoot and I used a staple gun to string ribbon across to hold the bags. You could easily just nail these into the wall or string them on a railing or stair banister! I’ve also seen people stack the bags in wooden crates in order and not hang them at all!

To decorate the board I used this felt garland from Minted and this cute little star garland!  Inside the bags I put a variety of little treats — from chapstick to ornaments, stickers, markers and random stuff from the Target dollar bin!

Images by Lauren Swann