Advent Calendar Making Party!

November 30, 2012-

Hi!  Several weeks ago I thought it'd be nice to invite several of my friends to come make their own Advent calendars.  It's such a nice way to get into the Holiday Spirit!!  

Let me just state that this is the SECOND Advent calendar making party I've hosted.  The first one was a few years back. (Anybody out there remember that one???) While it was a rocking success it also took hours longer than I'd originally planned because we MADE our own envelopes.  Since most of us have about a bazillion things to get done before the Christmas holiday break I needed to come up with a quick way to create some fun calendars.

HOORAY for Pinterest!  You can check out the pins on my Advent Calendar board. I found lots of great ideas that would save us time.  I decided to have two options available to my guests- fabric sacks and miniature envelopes that can be personalized using fabric, stamps, markers, paper, twine and ribbon.  

The only catch – where would I find the materials????  

That's when I discovered how awesome Tao Bao (Chinese version of eBay) is with the help our friend, Lynn.  {Thank you Lynn!!!!}  Without her this party wouldn't have been possible!  She helped me order lots of miniature white envelopes, small muslin fabric sacks, miniature clothespins and the rubber ink number stamps.  It truly is AMAZING what you can find on TaoBao if you know how to search for your desired item. 

About a week before the party I pre-cut many sets of numbers using my a-w-e-s-o-m-e Cricut.  I put sets of either 25 envelopes or 25 sacks into cute little gifts bags from IKEA (actually, I think those were part of an Advent calendar as well!!! LOL!!!).  I bought and gathered as many scrapbooking materials as I could find- a basketful of twine from IKEA, markers from the art supply shop, stickers from several different markets, glue and double-sided tape and lots of other odds and ends.  

In an email I explained to each of my guests what the advent calendar would entail and to please bring any craft supplies they had on hand to help them create their masterpieces.  I also asked everyone to kindly bring a treat to share.  :-)  MMmmMmmMMMm…..TREATS!!!!

I cleared off the kitchen counters and placed all the craft supplies on there- in easy reach for all the guests.  Janni kindly let us borrow one of her folding tables.  All the food and drinks (including some yummy Kinder Punsch I'd made the day before) were located in the secondary kitchen- out of harm's way.  

After the guests arrived, they got to decide on either paper envelopes or fabric sacks and away they got crafty creating their own calendars!!!

The paper envelope calendar I created in less than an hour is hanging on the wall. Ooops! I never got around to putting notes in it!!!

Jill, Holly and Debbie hard at work. I also got the colorful trays from IKEA knowing that I might not have enough work space. They really did come in handy!

Debbie brought lots of her scrapbooking supplies. 🙂

I did manage to decorate for Christmas before the party….the Christmas tree is decked out, my wooden Advent wreath is hanging (it still needs more embellishments) and I decorated my arctic entryway (whoops! I forgot to photograph that!). Most of the crafting supplies were lined up on that stretch of countertop (tricky to see because of the terrible lighting).

Thanks to Mama we had lots of Christmas rubber stamps- which ended up being hugely popular with my guests:

Janni and Chrissi hard at work stamping their fabric sacks. The kitchen island turned into the Stamping Station.

Lexy, Chrissi, Janni and Frances all stamping away! It was fun seeing how everyone could take the same materials and yet turn out something completely unique. Plus, I was reminded that the Europeans only needed 24 envelopes or sacks- they celebrate Christmas on December 24. Americans typically celebrate on December 25th.

I did have homemade chicken noodle soup and fresh baked rolls available for lunch – whenever we felt like stopping to eat.  Yummy!!!

Thanks to all my wonderful friends for coming to my party!!!  I hope you had as much fun as I did!!!!  Have fun filling your calendars!

Notes to remember for next year: fabric sacks- VERY POPULAR!!!  I thought the paper envelopes would be more popular as – I thought – would be easier to decorate.  Nope.  I'm so glad I had enough of both so that everyone could have their own set.  I also thought the pre-cut numbers would be used but I'm not sure if a single set got used.  I'll save them for next year's party.  I certainly don't need to cut more!  The rubber stamps were also very popular (including the number stamps we bought on TaoBao)- I should try finding more back home for next year's party. I foresee several shopping trips to Michael's and Hobby Lobby in my distant future. 😉 Also, it was a great idea asking my friends to bring a treat to share.  

The most important note for myself: JUST DO IT.  I doubted myself too many times and nearly canceled this party thinking I couldn't pull it off.  I need to remember to relax, have fun and enjoy the event!   Next time, don't worry so much!!!

FYI:  For those of you who don't celebrate Christmas you can create count-down calendars to your important holidays or dates.  Like Chinese New Year!  

Ummm….I guess I'd better get to work creating my fabric sack calendar!!!!