Easy Advent Christmas Tree

Updated 12.4.20

Easy Advent Christmas Tree
I can't believe we are starting the Christmas season!  Well, you will want time to make this adorable little Advent Calendar Tree before December. You know how busy the Christmas season gets! It's so quick to make an Advent calendar, you can do it even if December's already begun.

It’s been awhile since we’ve done an Advent Calendar. When the kiddos were young we had this advent calendar tree.

Original Advent Calendar Tree

They made and painted all of the ornaments. They had so much fun making this! The focus for our family was and is the birth of Jesus, so most of the ornaments reminded us in some way of Him and His life. 

Cute little snowman

On Christmas day they would hang the little ornament of baby Jesus. 

Mary and baby Jesus

The kiddos are all grown and on their own, now, but I thought it would be fun to make a new advent calendar tree that was… a bit more sophisticated.

This is how I/we (Hubby) made our new Advent Calendar Tree.

First, you will need a base.  I used a 1x4 I had in our stash and cut it to a square. The “tree” dowel was 5/8” diameter and 2 “branch” dowels were 5/16“ in diameter. I picked up all of the dowels at Lowes for around $3.

Base and dowels for Advent Tree

For the base, I drilled partially through the center. 

Drilling into base for tree dowel

Then used a tiny drill bit to drill all the way thru to show the middle on the bottom side.

Hubby suggested putting a screw into the bottom of the base through the “tree” dowel to secure it.  It was a great suggestion, because the tree was a bit wobbly. I flipped the square over and drilled a hole. Then used a counter sink bit, so that the screw would sit flush with the bottom, once the screw was screwed in. That made a big difference, now it's very strong and secure.

Counter sink for screw into the base

The “tree” is 28” long with holes drilled through 5” apart. The holes are 5/16” the width of the “branch” dowels. 

I was soooo glad Hubby was helping me! Although, it was one of those situations…  Hubby says, “Oh, I thought this was your project….” Well…. I said, “I need your help! I’m afraid I’m going to screw it up! Oh, you know I’ll give you credit!” 😊

Drilling the holes for the branches is a bit challenging.  You need to make sure they are straight all the way around. We used a punch to help the drill grip. If we had a drill press, it would be a cinch. Although, hubby has a pretty steady hand for drilling. 

Punch for dowel branch holes

Next, we cut the “branches. Well, Hubby cut the 5 “branches”. I thought I had it all figured out. I didn’t want the branches too wide. So we started out with a 14” branch on the bottom and moved our way up.  Well….. That didn’t work out too well.😑

Advent tree branches fail

Haha! Definitely not big enough, a slight fail there!  I need to fit 24 boxes on the tree. I don’t know what I was thinking….

So, I just doubled what was sticking out with the boxes on it. The lengths are 22”, 18”, 14”, 10” and 7”. The only thing left to do is to slide the “branches” through the tree.

Dowel branches for Advent tree

Next, I made these adorable little pyramid boxes. I found the pattern on Pinterest. Here is the link to the pdf and instructions to the Pyramid Boxes. I enlarged the size to 150% and printed and cut it out.

Triangle Box Pattern

Then traced it onto some card stock I had on hand. 

Triangle box patterns to cut out

These little pyramid boxes are so cute even plain! You could cut them out of all sorts of different paper. I decided to keep them white and picked up some adorable scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby @ 50% off. Yay! I only spent a few dollars.

Decorating Triangle Boxes

Then I cut triangles out and glued them on with a glue stick. Omg! Sooo cute! 

Adorable Triangle Boxes

They needed to be numbered, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that.  I looked at stickers and vinyls, I didn’t see anything I liked. So, I just went to my computer, selected several different fonts and printed them up. I remembered I had some scallop scissors. I traced a circle on the back side of every number then cut them with the scallop scissors. The last step, was to glued them on. Ahhhh! I just love this! 

Triangle Box Number 25

You could fill the boxes with scripture verses, treats, little trinkets that focus on Jesus, or whatever you want.

Easy DIY Advent Christmas Tree

Blessings,

2 comments

  1. Love your advent calendar and love the little boxes. I like to put chocolates and cheesy christmas jokes in mine.
    Thanks

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