I don’t usually post on weekends, but I was determined to have this year’s Advent calendar post up before December 1. And it’s a really simple one, so if you just happen to reading this on November 30 and you also happen to be looking for an Advent calendar to make, you could easily knock this one out before tomorrow morning.

I bought a box of vintage wrapping paper many years ago and spent a long time hauling it from house to house and never actually doing anything with it. But I’ve really turned things around the past few years. In 2012 I started small by framing a few squares of it and hanging it in the foyer. Then the next year is when I actually made most of the cone trees I used for this calendar. I won’t do a tutorial on it now since I did one back then. Basically you cut big circles out the wrapping paper, cut the circles into quarters, roll each quarter into a cone (the round part becomes the flat bottom! Can you believe it?! I couldn’t), then tape.

I didn’t use the trees for an Advent calendar last year because last year was Dino-advent. This year I have other plans for the dinosaurs and I also liked the idea of something that could hide candy and little presents on some days and activity ideas on others (our last two Advent calendars have been all activities).

I already had 14 trees, so I started off by making another 10, and then I set them all up on our dining room buffet. I put them on some white felt (leftover from Gus’ Halloween costume; I invariably buy too much of anything that’s sold by the yard) so it would look like an awesome vintage forest in the snow. Then I printed out the numbers on a sheet of white cardstock, cut them out, and leaned them against the trees. And then jingle bells and ornaments and all to make it more festive and magical. Also this bunny on a sled I found at the thrift store, because I love him.

Of course, if you don’t happen to have your own stash of vintage wrapping paper, you can make these out of any wrapping paper. I found this enchanting vintage-look wrapping paper from Cavallini, for example (affiliate links):

Truth be told, there’s absolutely nothing under those trees right now, as I’m writing this. But there will be soon. I’m working on it. Here’s a list of last year’s activities; this year’s should be pretty similar.

Lots of pictures!

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