It’s the decades old debate: When is it appropriate to start celebrating all things Christmas? Some are ready the first day after Halloween while others insist Thanksgiving has its right of passage first! Regardless of when you decide to embrace the “all things” part, Halloween itself is a perfectly acceptable time to let your Christmas-loving side safely out of the closet! 😂 As a result, we’re sharing a step-by-step guide on how to make our unique Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar DIY Halloween costume!
Christmas Countdown Advent Calendar DIY Halloween Costume
Undoubtedly, there is an extra element of fun to this Advent calendar DIY Halloween costume idea, much like the traditional Advent Calendars of Christmas, due to the 24 doors that are perfect for hiding surprises! Will the door one opens contain a trick or a treat?! It all depends on what you put in this life-size Advent calendar box costume. 😜
This Christmas countdown calendar Halloween costume is great for teachers who want to “treat” their students to a small surprise at the start of class, for adults attending a Halloween party or for greeting trick-or-treaters at your door.
How-To Make Bronner’s Advent Calendar DIY Halloween Costume
*Please note, we are not including suggested measurements but rather general directions, as everyone’s resources and needs may differ.
Suggested Supplies:
- 25 boxes total – 1 large, 24 smaller boxes with the same depth
- A poster or large print that fits on the face of your box; alternatively you can paint your own custom artwork
- Large foamcore board, slightly larger than your large box
- Box cutter and X-ACTO® knife (with extra blades)
- Hard straightedge (like a metal ruler) and cutting mat
- Spray adhesive
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- Miscellaneous office supplies like scissors, pencil, etc.
- Duck Tape®
- Numbered stickers
Preparing the Large Box:
1. To begin, select 25 appropriate-sized boxes:
- 1 – Large enough for wearing
- 24 smaller boxes of the same depth for creating compartments to each door – They will need to fit within the face of your large box.
2. Next, cut holes on 3 sides of the large box:
- A hole on the top for your head.
- Parallel holes on each side of the box for your arms to fit through.
- A large opening on the bottom for your legs.
You can paint your box before or after cutting holes. Another option is to cover the box with wood grain Duck Tape® to look like Bronner’s wood Advent calendar boxes.
Preparing the Advent Calendar:
1. Measure and outline the face of your large box onto the foamcore board + additional space that matches the depth of your 24 smaller boxes all around the outer edge of the box face. Cut that outermost edge.
2. Roughly plan how you would like to lay out your boxes.
3. If using a poster or large print image, adhere to the foam core with spray adhesive.
4. We’re giving you a visual on black foamcore. However, you will want to draw your cut lines onto the face of the image. Some notes to consider:
- You only need three cut lines to create a door; keep your pencil marks minimal for a more polished end result. (The fourth “hinge” line will be scored on the reverse side.)
- Because the lips of boxes are not very wide, we recommend placing cut lines ¼” to ½” inside the actual box size. This will be more forgiving when putting everything together, in addition to creating a little edge to keep your “tricks & treats” from spilling out too soon.
- Keep extra X-ACTO® knife blades handy for the cleanest cuts.
- Equally important, make sure you are working with a cutting mat so you don’t end up like this!
- Be sure to cut at a 90° angle. Any slight variation from your wrist when cutting through can keep the the door from opening smoothly as it catches. 🙋♀️Trust me; I learned the hard way.🤣
5. Score the outer edge (box-depth line) on the top side. If your image extends beyond the box face into this space, you will want to score it as well.
Flip the board over and score the hinge side of each door. Above all, be careful not to cut all the way through or people will be able to peek inside … before Christmas morning Halloween .🥁🤣
6. To preface, this step is optional and can be done different ways depending upon your resources. We used a rubber mallet and grommet tool to create a handle to help with opening the doors. However, this application did not provide the cleanest results.
Preparing Compartments For DIY Halloween Costume:
1. Cut the box flaps. To hide the folded bottom and add a bit more stability, we inserted the box top inside.
2. Glue the box edge, align and attach to the back of the foam core.**
**After doing things the hard way first,😕 I recommend you mark the box lip around the back of each door before gluing the foam core directly and finally placing the box on top. This will alleviate glue dripping down the box sides before you can get it down as well as misaligning compartments with doors. Or worse – gluing them shut as I did🤣 Unless that’s one of your tricks?
Assembling Advent Calendar DIY Halloween Costume:
1. Affix the small box bases to the face of your large box for stability. Then fold down the outer edges to hide them.
2. Finish off and affix the edges of the Advent box with your choice of Duck Tape®
We’re almost there! Just a few more finishing touches.
3. Next, add numbers to each door. We like these “what’s my number” stickers from Pipstick® because they are bold enough to stand out without being too invasive overall. But certainly you can number the doors with stamps or paint-pen markers as well.
STICKER APPLICATION HACK: Use a folded strip of paper as a guide to align stickers before applying.
In the event that you do not plan to reuse your Advent calendar costume in place of a sweater at your next Ugly Christmas sweater party, consider labeling the doors with letters or icons to share a Halloween greeting instead! (Happy Halloween is only 14 characters of 24 doors .)
4. Finally — and most fun — fill the compartments with tricks and treats!
Advent Calendar DIY Halloween Costume Filler Ideas
Of course, options will depend on your box size/capacity as well as your crowd.
TREATS:
- Chocolates and candies
- Gift cards
- Glow sticks
- Socks (rolled)
- Lottery tickets
- Micropuzzles
- Mini nutcrackers or figurines
- Mini TY® Puffies
TRICKS:
- Edible lump of coal
- Halloween jokes
Think OUTSIDE of the Box!
While we’re sharing this idea as a DIY Halloween costume for Christmas-loving hearts, you can certainly create just the Advent-box portion using an additional foamcore board as a base in place of the large box. It is a perfect way to celebrate an almost larger-than-life Christmas countdown or Advent tradition during the holiday season!
Don’t have time to craft your own this season? Bronner’s has plenty of Christmas countdown calendars and Advent wreaths to choose from!
DIY Halloween Costumes For Christmas Hearts
Are you as excited about this new, up-and-coming DIY Halloween costume series as we are? We hope you’ll consider joining our community of Christmas enthusiasts and subscribe to Bronner’s blog so you never miss out on all the holiday cheer we share throughout the year!
👂We’re all ears! What DIY Halloween costume idea for Christmas hearts do you want to see next? Let us know in the comments below.👇