Upcycled Advent Calendar

My son turned 2 years old a couple of months ago, so this will be his first Christmas season when he'll start to understand what all the fuss is about. What better way to learn numbers, counting, days of the month, and the anticipation of waiting for baby Jesus's birthday than with an Advent Calendar. I've seen a lot of cute DIY Advent Calendars on Pinterest, but some of them only go to 24, which to me is just missing the Reason for the Season.  Some were shaped like houses & others just rectangles. I wanted a Christmas tree shape. So here's what I did.

STEP 1:  GATHER MATERIALS.

* Green tissue paper (I had some lying around after my son's birthday party. Yay! Upcycling!)

* 13 toilet paper tubes

* String (I used the string from an old gift bag. Yay! More upcycling!)

* Scissors

* Elmer's Glue

* Hole puncher

* Sharpie marker

STEP 2:  CUT TOILET PAPER TUBES IN HALF.

This will make 26 pieces. One of them will be left over. I'll save him for a future project.

STEP 3:  ARRANGE TUBES INTO THE SHAPE OF A TREE.

1st row: 1 tube

2nd row: 2 tubes

3rd row: 3 tubes

4th row: 4 tubes

5th row: 5 tubes

6th row: 6 tubes

7th row: 2 tubes

8th row: 2 tubes

STEP 4:  GLUE THEM TOGETHER.

STEP 5:  COVER THE SIDES & BACK WITH TISSUE PAPER.

I applied glue to the rims of all the tubes & then laid the entire tree onto a sheet of tissue paper. When that dried, I trimmed the edges. Then I glued strips of tissue paper to cover the sides of the tree.

STEP 6:  ADD LOOP TO HANG THE CALENDAR.

Punch a hole into the top of the 1st row tube. String a loop into the hole & tie the ends into a knot so that it won't slip thru.

STEP 7:  FILL THE CALENDAR WITH TREATS.

I had lots of leftover Halloween candy & thought that this would be a good way to use it up.  I love the sound of my son's voice when he says "choc-O-lot" but I don't want him to binge & overdose on the stuff.

STEP 8:  COVER THE FRONT WITH TISSUE PAPER.

Apply the tissue paper to the front using the technique from Step 5.

Then use a Sharpie marker to write on the numbers. I felt that the 25th is the most important date, so I placed it on the top of the calendar.

Et voilá!  An upcycled Advent Calendar.