This advent calendar idea so so charming! A tiny, handpainted Christmas village holds a daily advent gift in each house. Check out the tutorial to learn how to get the gifts inside!

How to make a Christmas Village Advent Calendar

A couple of years back, this little Christmas village DIY from my friend Kelly took the internet by storm. The kids and I made our own version of the Christmas village for our home, and each year we add one or two houses to it.

This year, I’m putting a twist on the village and turning it into an Advent Calendar!

Psst — check out our other advent calendar ideas below!

And be sure to sign up below for my VIP group, where I’ll send more of my very best holiday ideas right to ya!

An Advent Calendar Idea for Displaying Your Christmas Village

This advent calendar idea eventually became part of our advent tree! Check out this post to see how we displayed our village on a little pink tree. It’s so charming, and perfect for kiddos.

Also, you can check out the Studio DIY tutorial for painting and decorating the village — she has an amazing how-to right here. For the rest of the tutorial on how to make your houses hold little gifts inside, keep reading!

Supplies to Make a Christmas Village Advent Calendar

assorted bottlebrush trees
unfinished wood birdhouses (This is one of the houses we used. You can search Amazon for “unfinished birdhouses” and you’ll get a lot of options! I recommend getting them no taller than 7 inches, and varying your sizes.)
Dremel saw
sandpaper
optional: drill and cotton rope
craft paint
paintbrushes
house decorations (I recommend going to your local craft store and checking out their Christmas miniatures section for ideas!)
ModPodge
fake snow/glitter
number stickers
small gifts and gift wrap (I did lots of gift cards, some sweets, and tiny toys!)

Bring Your Advent Calendar Idea to Life

Start by cutting the back off of all of your houses. You’ll use an oscillating Dremel tool to cut off a portion of the back wall of each house. Cut a hole large enough to fit a small gift inside.
Use sandpaper to smooth the edges on the hole that you cut.
If you think you might want to hang your houses on a garland, wall, or tree, add a hanger to any houses that don’t already have one. Use a drill to drill a hole through the top of your house. Then take an 8″ piece of cotton rope, fold it in half, and tie the ends together so that it forms a loop. Put the loop inside the house and push it up through the hole you drilled. The knot should stop the loop and be strong enough to hang your house from. Mask all the loops with masking tape.
Once you’ve got the back cut out and the loops added (if you want them), paint and decorate your houses using this tutorial!
Allow your houses to dry completely. Then, wrap all of your little gifties and insert them in the houses via the holes you cut in the back.
Add number stickers to your houses for the days of advent! We used 12 houses here (kind of a “Twelve Days of Christmas” Advent Calendar), but you could go big and do 24!

A few More Ideas

I just love this idea! It serves as decor and also as a countdown calendar for the holidays. I love that you can peek through the windows and get a glimpse of the gifts inside.

I also just love the feelings of tradition and joy that an advent calendar can bring to the Christmas season. And if you celebrate another holiday, or just the holiday season in general, you can use it as a simple countdown calendar. Hope you love this little project! xoxo

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