DIY Photo Advent Calendar

As you know, we are a big fan of DIYs here on Red Ted Art.. and when it comes to the Christmas season, there is nothing better than personalised and homemade Christmas. When it comes to the kids’ advent calendars, I know that they are always sent a simple chocolate advent calendar by a relative of ours… so I like to come up with something a little different for them myself. As the kids get older and busier with school, I find we have less time for “activity” calendars, which we loved doing when they were little (a craft one day, baking the next, story the 3rd etc perfect for DIY Advent Calendars). So when Photobox challenged me to come up with a photo DIY, I knew what I wanted to do.. especially once I saw their fabulous retro prints – a Photo Advent calendar.

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I love this idea for so many reasons  –

Firstly – I don’t know about you, but I take 100s if not 1000s of photos every year. When the kids were small, I was great at making annual photo books. I think I managed 3 of those. The kids are now 7 and almost 9 yrs old. Which means, I haven’t done one in 4 years! I am terrible at taking all those photos, but not actually printing any off. The challenge: print a set of photos that reflect out year.

Secondly – I love making Christmas about much more than just chocolates, treats and toys. I want Christmas to be about family. Spending time with each other and remembering the good times we have. Which is why we have a number of family traditions around Christmas – from 1st Advent, through to cookie baking and 3 Kings Day in January. Christmas is not about “one day and lots of presents”. Christmas is a good 5-6 weeks worth of celebration and togetherness.

Thirdly – I love the look and retro feel of the retroprints. Perfect for the Instagram Geek in me!

FINALLY – this is a really super duper simple advent calendar to put together (helped by the cute additional clothes peg kit you can order).

Photo Advent Calendar – Materials:

  • 24 Photos (I ordered the 36 pack, because I want to put all the photos in a little album eventually.. and because I found it hard to pick just 24! And as someone who grew up with polaroids, I chose the Premium Finish Retroprints.. because they simply AMAZING!)
  • String and pegs (you can get 2x the Photobox kit, as it comes with 20 pegs)
  • Red paper (optional)
  • Pens (optional)
  • Glue stick (optional)

Photo Advent Calendar – What you need to:

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Ok.. this really is simple…but in some ways the hardest part – you need to pick just 24 photos that reflect you and your family’s year!!!!!! Yep, it sure is a challenge in a half. But I have to confess, I LOVED EVERY MINUTE of it. It isn’t often, that I take the time to stop and browse a whole year’s worth of photos. And even in that short year, it is amazing how many little details I had forgotten about. What a lovely little trip down recent memory lane.

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I tried to get a rough balance of photos of each child.. and also tried to make sure that we (the parents) featured in the photos, as well as other key family members and pets!

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Pop all your photos into your retro photo upload card (it really is quick and easy). Then on check out, make sure you add your pegs and bakers twine too.

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Whilst you wait for your order to arrive…. cut out 24 red hearts and number them 1 – 24.

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When you cards have arrived, stick these numbers on the back of your photos – you can do this either chronological or randomly (I went for random).

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Hang your photos up.. and each day take turns turning your photo around…. then relieve the family moment and share your memories from that day.. say aaaaaaaah.

It really is a super simple, yet LOVELY LOVELY way to count down to Christmas – it doesn’t involve any chocolates, toys and also doesn’t take an outrageous amount of time during hectic schedules and family life. I can highly recommend it (and I think I want one of these photo calendars every year now!!!!).

A big thank you to Photobox for challenging me to use their products and services. It really has added some holiday magic to my advent! For more photo gift inspiration visit their Christmas page!

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