My brother in law is one of those people. Every year I ask “What would you like for Christmas” and he always replies “socks!”

So this year, I prefaced my text with “What would you like for Christmas – and don’t you say socks again!” to which he still replied “Socks?”. And while I know there is nothing better than putting on a brand new pair of socks, I feel it is not the most exciting of gifts. But since that is exactly what he wants, I thought fine – socks it is, but with a little twist! Hence the Sock-(ad)vent calendar.

And since the other thing he loves is chocolate (he is obsessed with Dairy Milk Buttons) – I felt I found the perfect pairing! So after a quick look online, a TK Maxx & The White Stuff order later, I had half of what I needed.

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And since I know my he will not have any Christmas decoration up, I decided to make a fun advent for him, that he could use to decorate his home during the festivities. I had initially planned to make a Christmas cup wreath – but then lockdown happened and mailing one to him just seemed ridiculous, so I had to change my design slightly.

I then thought a forest of Christmas trees which he could use to decorate the mantel or the table in his living room with would be perfect. And while I had initially planned to just make Origami trees, I stumbled across Tell Love & Party’s site – where there was a free printable tree template for a tree advent calendar which I could use instead! Meaning less work for me!

What you need
A4 Brown Kraft Cardboard
A hot glue gun
Cellophane tape
Pair of scissors or blade
Template from site above and printer
Advent stickers – for the dates (you can hand write this too!)

To decorate
Ribbons, yarn, buttons – basically go crazy

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Part of the reason I chose simple brown paper was because I was making it for Adam. You can also use different coloured thicker A4/cardboard or decorate it after with some Christmas craft/wrapping paper if you like.

Also, I used the glue gun to glue the sides of the tree together as ordinary glue just does not do it – though I have not tried super glue. However since I am mailing it I decided to go ahead and use Sellotape on the outside just to be sure it does not open up, though if it were on display at home you could use glue/double sided tape.

This is the final product! What do you think? Hopefully he send’s me a good photo of what he has done with it once he gets it and I can upload it up here later on.

Do you know anyone would like a sock(ad)vent calendar too?