Fun Homemade Advent Calendar From Kraft Paper

Kraft Paper Gingerbread Man Homemade Advent Calendar

Every year I love to make my family a homemade advent calendar. Homemade advent calendars are fun as you get to choose what you put in them. Whether it’s a treat, a Christmas picture, a cheesy Christmas joke or all three.
 
 
My husband is very good at a lot of things, but not when it comes to judging how much wrapping paper is needed to package items. A few years ago he was selling a some stuff on eBay and bought Kraft paper for the packaging. Well, we still have rolls and rolls of the brown paper. He totally overestimated how much he needed.
 
 
You might be thinking what does this have to do with a homemade advent calendar. It is relevant, as I decided to try and make a dent in the Kraft paper mountain by making this year’s homemade advent calendar with it!
 
 
Also making this kraft paper advent calendar was a great excuse to stitch paper again. I love using a sewing machine to stitch on paper more than I do fabric. If you have never tried to stitch paper on the sewing machine, give it ago! It is so much fun. (Note if you don’t have a sewing machine it is possible to make this homemade advent calender with glue instead)
 
 
I’ve made personalised treat map hearts for Valentines, paper bunny treat bags and paper Halloween treat bags on the sewing machine. So I thought it was about time I made Christmas ones.
 
 
As I was using Kraft paper I thought Gingerbread men would be a perfect choice.
 
 

 
 
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What you need to Make a Gingerbread Man homemade advent calendar

• Kraft paper (brown paper) – I only managed to use about 3/4 of a roll of the stash of craft paper in the cupboard. About 3 meters of paper.

 

• Large gingerbread cookie cutter – If you don’t have one you can always draw a template on to cardboard and use that.

 
 

 
 
 

• Number stencil ruler

 

• Red sharpie and white chalk pen

 

• Bakers twine and small wooden craft pegs

 
 

 
 
 

• Scissors

 

• Sewing machine (or glue)

 

• Treats to go inside the Christmas advent calendar

How to make a kraft paper handmade advent calendar

1. Place the gingerbread man cookie cutter onto the kraft paper and draw around it. Then cut out the gingerbread man shape. You will need 48 of these gingerbread man shapes in total. To spead up the process I suggest stacking the kraft paper into at least 4 layers before cutting. This way you can cut 4 gingerbread men in one go.

 
 

 
 

2. Next pin 2 of the gingerbread shapes together in the centre. Then starting under one of the arms stitch around the edge of the 2 gingerbread men on a sewing machine leaving a small gap in the side of his body.

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

3. Using the stencil and the red sharpie, number the gingerbred men from 1 to 24. This can be done before or after the sewing. But must be done before filling the gingerbread men with their treats. Use the white marker to give the gingerbread men a face.

 
 

 
 
 

4. Through the gap in the side of the gingerbread man, stuff whatever treat you want inside his belly. Then sew up the belly hole.

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

5. Finally, all that is left to do is to display the homemade advent calendar. To do this string up the bakers’ twine across a door, wall or mantle. Then use the craft pegs to hold up the gingerbread men.

 
 

 
 

 
 
 
If you noticed I have hung my gingerbread men in random order. To me, half the fun of an advent calendar is hunting for the right day. However, if you prefer a bit more order in your life then feel free to hang your gingerbread men in sequence!
 
 
 
Don’t forget to check out my other homemade advent calenders.

Handmade paper envelope advent calendar
Jeans pocket handmade advent calendar
15 Unique Christmas advent calendars
 
 
If you are looking for more Christmas crafts check out the editors pick on allfreechristmascraft.com