Things You'll Need:
- 8 ½ x 11 inch piece of burlap
- 8 x 10 ½ inch piece of iron-on backing fabric
- Needle with an extra large eye
- 100 inches green or red 1/8 inch-wide ribbon
- Scissors
- 25 mini candy canes or home made cookies in which you have created a hole using a chop stick or knitting needle before they cool
- 9 inch long 1/4 inch dowel
- Thread
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Step 1
Iron the backing to the burlap. This will stiffen the fabric so that it will hang nicely and also tolerate the weight of the food.
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Step 2
Turn down the top ½ inch of fabric and secure by sewing so that the dowel can fit through it protruding about ½ inch from each end. Tie a piece of ribbon to each end that you can use to hang the finished calendar from a nail on your wall.
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Step 3
Use the wide-eyed needle to thread 4 inches of ribbon through the fabric. One inch of the ribbon will look like a straight stitch with 1 ½ inches of ribbon hanging from each end. You will use the ribbon to tie the candy cane or cookie to the burlap. There are 25 days in December prior to Christmas and most Advent calendars begin on December 1 so you need to thread these ribbons equidistant from each other to create a grid with five spaces going across and five spaces going down. Each space will be approximately 1 ½ inch square.
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Step 4
Tie a candy cane or a cookie to each ribbon. Hang the calendar from a hook on the wall where there is room for the family to enjoy it.
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Step 5
Decide on a time to gather as a family each day during Advent. Even though there is only one edible feature per day on the Advent calendar, make sure that you have enough candy canes, cookies or other treats for everyone in the family to eat something every day. Take turns eating the daily treat from the Advent calendar. Then count the remaining pieces to figure out how many days are left before Christmas.
