A Kiss a Day ‘Til Christmas Advent Calendar

This is one of my family’s favorite Christmas traditions. Our version of the advent calendar, we cut one Hershey’s kiss off each day as a count down to Christmas!

Instructions

Start with a really long length of Saran wrap. I’ve never measured, but I think about 4-5 feet would do it. You can cut the wrap in half length-wise in order to make two Kiss a Days. Then, line your kisses up along the wrap from top to bottom like so:

I like to make patterns with the kisses. You can also do a different color for each member of the family (that way there’s no “He ate my kiss, Mommy!” disasters).

Next, fold the edges of the Saran wrap over the kisses to make a tube like so:

Then, take your yarn pieces and tie in between each kiss. The easiest way to do this and not move the kisses around is to lift the tube just slightly and slide your yarn underneath. I’ve tried running the yarn up from the bottom, but it tends to make the kisses change positions, and they are HARD to put back without ruining things. Also make sure to tie above the first kiss and below the last one.

Snip the ends of the yarn to make things look neat, and all that’s left is the topper!

To make the topper, go online and find some clipart that strikes your fancy. You’ll want it to be at least 5 inches tall and 3 inches wide. I usually use something I like and resize it in Word.

For this year’s Kiss a Days, I used the gingerbread house found here. I liked it because it had the nice window I could write names on. In the past, I’ve use Christmas trees, Santa faces, and gingerbread men as toppers. If you have kids, you could even try one of these cute handprint crafts.

Once you’ve figured out what you want to use, print it off on sturdy cardstock, then cut it out.

Next, cut a short length of yarn. Tie the yarn with a small loop in the center. Then, cut a small cardstock circle. You can use this circle (the small one) as a template, or just freehand it like I do. Here’s your set-up:

Using your hot glue gun, glue the yarn to the center of the topper. This is going to operate as your hanger. Then, hot glue the circle over the yarn to help hold it in place.

Your final step is to hot glue the top of your kiss string to the circle on the topper like so:

Now go hang your Kiss a Days and enjoy a sweet treat from now until Christmas!