How to make a super sweet Gingerbread Village Advent Calendar

No baking involved!

Brooke Ellen Louttit

2 min read

November 28, 2024 - 12:26PM

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Everyone will be excited about the countdown to Christmas with this adorable DIY Gingerbread Village Advent Calendar.

So let's get creative and into the Christmas spirit with this affordable and easy craft.

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Materials:

25 small brown paper bags (we got ours from Officeworks!)
Paint pens in your Christmas colour scheme (we went traditional with red, green, and white)
Tinsel pipe cleaners
Scissors
Hot glue gun or craft glue
Glitter paint (optional)

Image: Supplied

Method:

Prep the Bags: Take your brown paper bags and fold them so the lower half of each bag forms a perfect square. This square will be the “house,” while the top rectangle becomes the “roof.”
Decorate the Gingerbread Houses:Use your paint pens to draw your gingerbread designs on the bags. The more detail, the better! We added lots of unique doors and windows with a candy cane motif. You can be as creative as you like!
Make Mini Wreaths:
- Take a tinsel pipe cleaner and wrap it around your index finger one and a half times.
- Cut the length and twist the ends together, leaving the ends out.
- Wrap a tiny piece of a contrasting pipe cleaner around the tail to resemble a bow.
- Attach the wreaths to your gingerbread house doors using hot glue or craft glue.
Construct the Houses:
- Cut down the corners of each bag, stopping at the fold line. This will create four flaps at the top of the bag.
- To form a pitched roof, fold the corners of a flap inward to create a trapezoid shape. Repeat this step for all four flaps.
- You should now have eight folded tabs on the inside of the bag. Use hot glue or craft glue to stick the tabs together, but leave one side open for now.

Fill the Advent Calendar:
- Add small treats like chocolates, along with a Christmas activity, joke, or riddle for an extra touch of holiday fun! See some suggestions below.
- Once you have filled your gingerbread houses, use glue to fit the final corners, and you are all done!

Share Your Creations!I hope you loved making this craft as much as I did! Don’t forget to tag @kidspot and @stellarperformingarts so we can see your festive creations!