21 Pockets Instead of 24: 9 Handmade Advent Calendars Families Refill Every December

People
11/01/2026
21 Pockets Instead of 24: 9 Handmade Advent Calendars Families Refill Every December

My mom sewed our advent calendar the winter I turned five, and every number on its 24 pockets is stitched in a different thread because the red ran out at nine. It still hangs in her hallway, and she still fills it every year, even though I moved out long ago. These 9 families made their own calendars too and refill them every December.

A Mom Felted a Little Opossum for Her Daughters’ Advent Calendars

“Working on my daughters’ advent calendars. I felted this little opossum!”

24 Tiny Crocheted Stockings, Each Hanging on a Different Christmas Button

The back drop is just single crochet.

Each one is a different Christmas themed button.

I collected buttons as a kid. My grandmother liked to sew and I would pick them out when she took me to the fabric store.

A Felt Truck Carrying 24 Tiny Gifts, Finished Just as Christmas Ended

“Finally finished my advent calendar right as Christmas is about to end!”

The little gifts that are piled in the truck bed are attached by Velcro! They go in the pockets. You can see the bottom row for example.

We had one as kids growing up and I used to race with my siblings to get the day up before them now I’m pregnant with my first and I picture him doing the same with this one some day.

From the author:

Mom ran out of red thread at nine and never went back to the store. Ten is green, eleven is the gold she used on my lion costume, and seventeen is the brown button thread, the only spool in our house that never runs out. She calls them nine proper numbers and fifteen improvised ones. I like the improvised ones better. You can see exactly where she started guessing.

An Advent Quilt That Came Out With Only 21 Pockets Instead of 24

“Finished my advent quilt!...Or did I?”

I finally finished my quilted advent calendar and after I finished filling the pockets with the ornaments I had three ornaments left. I was confused because I was sure I had only made 24 ornaments...so I counted the pockets. I only sewed on 21 of the 24 pockets! I will leave it for this season, since my daughter is too young to notice, and I will re-do the pockets after the Christmas season is over. But man, I was sure kicking myself. I could have saved a lot of work had I double checked the pockets just ONCE.

The pockets hold ornaments, and each day you take one ornament and add it to the tree, and they are held on by magnets :)

I had something similar as a child — it wasn’t quilted, but it was a fabric hanging that you could velcro an ornament to each day.

Six Wooden Drawer Calendars, One for Each Child, Decorated With Papers the Kids Picked Themselves

It has contributed to my favorite holiday tradition immeasurably.

I took each child to the craft store and asked them to choose 12 of their favorite scrapbooking papers from a giant wall of choices. We then picked out different beads and “pretties” to act as drawer pulls and selected a paint color that complimented their selections.

My daughter went through a flamingo phase and she has an artistic eye for sure!

From the author:
I moved out years ago, so for a while I assumed Mom filled our calendar for nobody. She doesn’t. Since her pottery class, every pocket holds something she made: a clay star, a bead, a tiny bowl that wobbles like her first one. Every December morning she texts me a photo of that day’s pocket. So I still open my calendar every day, just from my own kitchen.

A Felt Teddy Who Moves From Pocket to Pocket, Like the Family Calendar Their Brother Has Now

“Making a felt advent calendar from scratch and I’m in love with this little guy!”

My mum loves teddy bears and we had a teddy advent calendar growing up. My brother has it now, and I decided I want my own! This is the kind of calendar where this teddy moves from pocket to pocket.

I’m making it up as I go along, but that involves making a pattern, because I’ll probably be making more than one. I have no idea what I’m doing! Wheeey!

24 Crocheted Stockings for Mom, Made in a Month From Leftover Yarn

“Advent calendar for my mom done! every stocking if filled with a sustainable gift and I only used yarn from my stash. I love it when a plan comes together!”

Multiple stockings are filled with organic, fair trade tea and several contain slave-free chocolate. The striped stockings are for Sundays and contain scented candles from my cupboard.

It took me about a month, but I didn’t crochet every day.

From the author:
Last year I tried to return the favor and crochet Mom a calendar of my own: 24 tiny stockings, one per evening. I made four. The fourth took three evenings, which Mom says counts double because I unraveled it twice. She pinned all four over pockets one through four and tells everyone the rest are in progress. In our family, that isn’t a deadline. It’s a tradition.

A Quilted Calendar Sewn From Tree-Skirt Scraps for a Sister’s Family

“Had enough scraps from the tree skirt to gift a matching advent calendar too”

I was thrilled to have enough scraps to make the advent calendar too! Each day an ornament is taken out of the pocket and tied to the tree!

I put so much love into these, I hope they become family heirlooms for my sister’s family.

I can’t take all the credit for the idea! We had one that looked a bit different than this growing up, not sure who made ours but I’m guessing my crafty aunt made them since she had one too.

A Quilted Tree With a Fabric Bauble for Every Day, Sewn by Nana and Auntie

“I had grand plans to make my 3yr old an advent calendar this year, but with a newborn as well I couldn’t find the time. Luckily she has an amazing Nana and Auntie who made this beauty!”

There is a little fabric bauble for each day to hang on the tree (as well as a chocolate of course!)

My mum has executed my ideas far better than I ever could I think. And it’s so lovely to see how excited my daughter is each morning.

I only put one coin in the next pocket each evening and the rest are stashed away out of sight!

The calendar in the last story was sewn by Nana and Auntie for a 3-year-old who hangs a new fabric bauble on it every morning. An advent calendar counts the days until Christmas, and somewhere along the way it starts counting the years a family has spent together too.

Did your family have an advent calendar you still remember? Tell us in the comments.

Preview photo credit bluestmercury / Reddit

Comments

Get notifications
Lucky you! This thread is empty,
which means you've got dibs on the first comment.
Go for it!

Related Reads