I just love things that are unique and personalized, so when I saw the idea for this homemade advent calendar from The Girls at Eighteen25, I knew I had to try it! My kids are teenagers now, so they don’t get very excited about advent calendars anymore…until NOW! 

This 24 pocket shoe organizer advent calendar is big enough that I can tuck special goodies for all four of my kids into each pocket, and it’s stuff that they’ll actually like!  Soooo much better than the cheesy calendars with a piece of fake chocolate behind each door!

My favorite part about this?  It can be used year after year!

To make your own, simply spray paint some clothespins (I used pistachio green) and hang numbered tags on the outside of each pocket.

UPDATE!  FREE printable labels for this project are now available here.

Print out the numbers on white cardstock, then cut them out with a 2 1/2-inch scalloped punch.  Use a glue stick to adhere some festive wrapping paper to 4×6 index cards, then stick the numbers in the middle like this:

Now just tuck personalized goodies inside each pocket and you’re good to go!

Each day, after the kiddos retrieve their goodies, move the number to the inside of the pocket so they’ll be able to see how many more days until Christmas.

Find supplies for this project at Target.com. Tweet