Advent Tree
**Alternate title: Screw the neighbors
I was browsing around a couple of weeks ago and came across this post about a home made advent tree. I was enchanted! What a fun tradition to start with the girls – and so cute! I had to make one for our home. I messaged my husband with the link. He also loved it and said we should make one. A trip to Hobby Lobby was quickly scheduled.
As you can see, our interpretation is very, um, loose. I couldn’t find manzanita branches at my local craft stores…and I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend the money on having them shipped. So we drove around looking for branches. We brought home many and finally settled on some from a tree on our walking path that had recently been cut down. We obviously ended up with a hodge podge of containers…I think in future years I might look for a little more consistency. But Steve and I had fun decorating it together. I haven’t finished filling the containers with things – there are some items from the dollar section at Target and some items from the party favor section at Hobby Lobby and some left over Halloween candy and a few days with slips stating the girls can stay up and watch a movie with Mommy and Daddy before bed and other little treats like that. (Thanks Malia for the last idea.) I got the disks with the numbers from an Etsy shop and tied them on with ribbon.
Here is another view:
The girls love looking at it and Sabrina is really excited to start discovering the surprises in the boxes. Tessa just wants to destroy touch it. All in all, I’m happy with how it turned out but I will probably do some tweaking each year until I am completely satisfied.
How fabulous ! I absolutely love it ! My kids are already on Day 4 and having a ball discovering all the treats on our Advent Tree.
So cute! Love it! And love the blog you linked to (thanks for the tip.)
What a great idea!! We had a felt one growing up that hung on a door. It was so simple, but it is one of my favorite memories of the holidays as a child. Your girls are going to have so much fun with this tradition!
VERY cute!!!! I need to start some kind of traditions like that.
BTW, to find manzanita branches, look in a local bird store if you have one. We used to buy them for our Umbrella Cockatoo. But, if I recall correctly, they aren’t cheap.
This looks so awesome! They are going to love it. I went crazy looking for the kind where you hang ornaments on a tree each day (this kid is spoiled enough without getting another treat every day before Christmas) and I finally found one on Lillian Vernon – now if it ever gets here before the 25th!
that looks like lots of fun!
We have one of the wooden box advent calendars and we fill it with candy and notes for the kids. I can’t get on the ball this year so there has been more candy than notes… I need to get with it!
Michelle – That is REALLY cute. I think it turned out great and I love the idea! Have fun with the daily opening!!
Yeah, that lovely creation would remain intact for exactly 1.8 seconds in my house…
Would be nice to have a tradition like that, but my children would whip each other with it.
Very cute! Where do you find the time? I guess I can’t find the time because I am a single mom of a two and four year old and work full time. Could that be the it?
Now I wish I would not have spent the money on a store bought version of the Advent tree (a plastic cookie cutter shaped tree with small little boxes that are filled with the exact same piece of candy in each box-BORING). Your version is much cuter.
You have great ideas. Mind if I copy you?
Kim….hilarious. Thanks for the good laugh.
DAMN YOU! Now I need to make one, but there aren’t any trees in our ‘hood. I will have to go tree hunting. Really.
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