Christmas Advent Countdown Craft

This simple craft is a fun and festive way to count down the days until Christmas while remembering the real reason we celebrate!

 

It’s made by removing the glass from an old photo frame, inserting Christmas paper, and gluing on a small clothespin to hold a card that counts down the days until Christmas. So simple, even the Pinterest-impaired can do it (like me!).

To download the craft (and an invitation to a Christmas Open House for your neighbors!), simply enter your email below. You’ll get immediate access to all our free Christmas downloads, and about once a month you’ll receive an email with tips, tools and techniques to help you love God and your neighbor in a whole new way.

 

Download all my free Christmas gifts!

Enter your email address for immediate access to Open House invitations and a handy Planning Guide,
plus the Advent Countdown Craft! 

Cut

You’ll need three sheets of cardstock per craft if you can print them on both sides; otherwise, you’ll need six sheets of cardstock per craft. Trim the cards to size using scissors or a paper cutter. If you print on both sides of the paper, the cards will match up with the same number on both sides. One side of the card has a cute Christmassy decoration with the countdown number, while the other side tells the Christmas story with a new Scripture each day.

20141104_121630

Christmas paper

If you used the invitation that says, “Bring an old 4×6 photo frame to create a Christmas countdown,” then your neighbors should bring their own frame to your Open House. If you have any extra around the house, it wouldn’t hurt to have them handy.

Bring an old 4x6 photo frame to create a Christmas countdown

Remove the glass from the frame and insert Christmas scrapbook paper or gift wrap that you’ve cut down to size.

20141103_145423

Clothespin

Glue a mini clothespin onto the Christmas paper. You might find it helpful to clip a card to the clothespin then position it on the paper before you glue it down (or you could end up with clothespins in all the wrong places… like I did…). Or, use a small thumbtack (just make sure you have cardboard in the frame behind your decorative paper).

20141104_120732

Clip

Clip the appropriate card to the clothespin. There are 25 cards to count down each day in December. On December 1, insert card 25, etc. – you may have understood that, but it took me a while to figure it out! I added the date for each card to make it easier. Store the remaining cards in a bag tucked behind the frame, and change the card daily as you count down to Christmas!

20141104_115837

Complete Supply List

  • 4×6 photo frame, glass removed
  • Cardstock (heavy white paper) – 3 or 6 sheets per craft
  • Christmas scrapbook paper or gift wrap
  • Scissors or paper cutter
  • Glue
  • Mini clothespin or thumbtack
  • Small bag to store extra card

Chat

This craft is an instant ice-breaker with your neighbors. Bringing their own frame makes creates involvement and interaction. Having an activity to do together makes the time go faster and eases any awkwardness when meeting people for the first time.

Capture

Take a picture of your Open House and countdown craft, and share it in your Instagram story (tag @amylively!) or post to our Facebook page!

Your neighbors will take home a memorable gift celebrating the birth of Christ – and the birth of a new friendship!

More Christmas Ideas

5 Easy Ways to Love Your Neighbor this Christmas

Tis the season to be jolly! 🎶Fa la la la la, la la la la!🎶 Or is it the season to be busy? Overwhelmed? Overcommitted? Is it the season for celebrating “God with us,” or complaining about others with us in line at the grocery store and the post office? Planning...

The Ghost of Christmas Past

Twas the day after Christmas And all through the house Mama was yelling, "Hey, clean up this mess!"   On the day after Christmas, my girlfriend had a serious holiday hangover...Her sweet smile and that cute little emoji make light of a heavy complaint: Christmas...

5 Christmas Gift Ideas for Your Neighbors

As you’re makin’ a list and checkin’ it twice, don’t forget to add your neighbors!   Here are five simple, powerful, and affordable gifts to share the joy of Christmas with the people living around you. Gifts open doors for natural connections that can lead to...

How to Have Hope at Christmas

We’ve heard the Christmas story a million times, but if we read it with fresh eyes and soft hearts we just might find ourselves in this magical tale. It begins in Israel: When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the...

5 Ways to Love Your Neighbor at Christmas

Tis the season to be jolly! Fa la la la la, la la la la! Or is it the season to be busy? Overwhelmed? Overcommitted? Is it the season for celebrating “God with us,” or complaining about others with us in line at the grocery store and the post office? Planning...

How to Love Your Neighbor at Christmas for Introverts

Celebrate the season in your own special way!   Whether you're extroverted or introverted, a party animal or party pooper, God has intentionally placed you in your neighborhood to reach your neighbors in your unique way. As long as you are obedient and...

Merry Christmas… Maybe.

When "There's No Christmas Like a Home Christmas" hit the airwaves in 1950, less than 10% of homes contained only one person. Today, one in four of the homes on your street is occupied by a single person living alone. Twenty-five percent of people say they have no one...

Christmas in the Neighborhood

On that first Christmas morning, in that dingy stable, the King of Kings was born as a helpless baby. John 1:14 says, “…the Word (that is, Jesus) became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the...

Christmas Cookie Brigade!

Christmas it the BEST time of the year to love your neighbor!  Everyone loves to receive Christmas cookies, so why not make some plates for the homes on your street? I've seen God use this simple act in my own neighborhood to impact lives over the course of...

Church Outreach Tools for Christmas

Guest post from Valley Community Baptist Church, Avon, Connecticut   Our church in New England isn't in the heart of the Bible Belt. This area is full of stoic people behind stone walls. Folks in our neighborhoods can even be hostile towards the Gospel. But that...

How to Love Your Neighbor this Christmas

“Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only...

Advent Devotional

Did you know there was 400 years of silence between the end of the Old Testament and the nativity story? Yet Luke 1:10 tells us that “a great crowd stood outside, praying” as a priest named Zechariah did his duties at the temple. The people had been praying for 400...

Neighborhood Cafe Podcast Christmas Episode

All was not calm, all was not bright in the dingy stable where they slept that first Christmas night. It will be a "Silent Night" in many homes on your street this Christmas because of loneliness. Christmas is the perfect time of year to break the silence and fulfill...

Friends from Far and Near (and Christmas Gift Ideas)

Last weekend [12/2013], I had the joy of spending time with so many incredible people! We dodged snowstorms to come together from all corners of the country, and God's Spirit made us instant friends as only He can do. Today I bought milk that expires after Christmas,...

1 Comment

  1. Teresa

    What a wonderful idea! Many thanks!!!Off to buy frames today.

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Delicious recipes to fill your cup!

Enter your email address to receive five free summer drink recipes! You'll also receive an excerpt of Can I Borrow a Cup of Hope?

Thank you! Check your email for your free downloads.