h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: How to make your own advent calendar - A87777201
Author: Tavaron da Quirm - Arts Editor - U1314679

I found out that we have no Entry aboutthis topic, although there is a small section about making an advent calendar in the Entry about self made Christmas persents.
I didn't want to write a too detailed guide, rather a collection of ideas to get people to think about how to make things themselves.

I thought if I don't write this now it will be too late, maybe it is already.

Oh, and I think I need some help with some English words.

Happy to help, Tav. It would be a bit bulky to do it here - perhaps you can e-mail me (address on my PS, but you probably have it somewhere anyway) and I can e-mail you my suggestions, and fill in some of the jargon for you. I am probably notorious by now for not getting round to things, but if it's for someone else, I am more conscientious.

The bag-making section is rather cumbersome - that can be trimmed a little with the relevant vocabulary.

Oh, and I have also seen lots of other ideas which can be made with a little skill.

One really easy one was to attach the tiny gifts to long ribbons or cords with little cards with the numbers on the end and to put them all in a large glass jar with the numbers dangling over the top. Much fun can surely be had untangling the cords/ribbons when you pull on the number for the day!

One of the most common forms would surely be a large piece of material in a suitable pattern, maybe stiffened a little, or pulled like a sleeve over a large piece of cardboard, MDF or hardboard, attached perhaps to a wire hanger or with some dowelling along the top to hang it up by. You sew pockets on to the cloth with the numbers written, embroidered or appliqued on to them.

Or you can put a few twigs of pine or fir into a large vase and hang the gifts on that, using generous amounts of gift wrap, coloured ribbons, and decorating with extra baubles and such, as the twigs will look rather bare, once the fourth week of Advent arrives.

A favourite shape, especially with little boys, is a small train with 24 carriages (again, about the size of matchboxes). Requires some work, the engine could be bought, or taken from the toybox, though.

Back in the days before digital photography, films came in little plastic containers with well-fitting lids. If you had 24 of these, you could just pop the gift into the little container, place the ribbon across the top, and snap the lid on. The ribbon would then be quite long, and could be strung along a wall or a window.

Thanks for the ideas and I'll write you an email later.

Tavaron, this presents lots of interesting ideas and offers a worthwhile project to the creative person.

Some pieces are a little difficult to visualise, without sketches. Can anyone add sketches?

Apart from some typos etc, I've got a few points where clarification might be necessary.

I'm not sure what you mean in the sentence beginning "Then twist one end to one side...."

I believe it's quite difficult to knit socks,because of the shaping of the heel. Not a project for the begginner!

In the sentence beginning "Then turn the cardboard so you get a mirrored.." I suggest continuing "version"

Instead of '"Turn a little bit of the upper part of the sock...", you could more simply say "Turn a little hem"

I wouldn't recommend the suggestion "Put nails" for households where there are small children.

In the sentence beginning "Instead of hanging it up, you can also attach to a hoizontal..." do you mean "board"? For me "plate" means either china or metal.

In the sentence beginning "To do this measure the thickness and make a slot..." I would suggest "of that size"

I hope this is of some help.

Hi Tav - I have sent you an e-mail with some ideas.

I have a further suggestion. What about hanging the cloth calendars over a clothes hanger? Or if there's not much space on the walls, hanging them all from one big hook or nail, like a string of onions?

Thanks a lot TC for your email with corrections. I have copied it all into the Entry now and will start to work on all the other suggestions in this thread.

I have added all your suggestions and some more.

Minorvogonpoet's suggestions were incorporated in my corrections as follows:

I'm not sure what you mean in the sentence beginning "Then twist one end to one side...." (I re-wrote that bit)

I believe it's quite difficult to knit socks,because of the shaping of the heel. Not a project for the begginner! (I think this is covered by the comment "If you can knit". Actually, personally, I can knit, but I have never knitted socks, and wouldn't try it. Crochet, however, I can do, and this would be relatively easy. Perhaps you could add "Crochet", Tav.)

In the sentence beginning "Then turn the cardboard so you get a mirrored.." I suggest continuing "version". (I think I rewrote this bit, although I did not necessarily agree with the method. Usually you would cut both layers at the same time, by folding the material in half and cutting once round the template. With felt, it doesn't matter.

Instead of '"Turn a little bit of the upper part of the sock...", you could more simply say "Turn a little hem" (done)

I wouldn't recommend the suggestion "Put nails" for households where there are small children. (I added a sentence to this effect)

In the sentence beginning "Instead of hanging it up, you can also attach to a hoizontal..." do you mean "board"? For me "plate" means either china or metal. (I rewrote this bit to tidy it up and corrected the jargon. I'm not sure if it's quite right even now, so if mvp could have a look....)

In the sentence beginning "To do this measure the thickness and make a slot..." I would suggest "of that size"

I hope this is of some help.

On re-, re-, re-reading, I am still unhappy with the following sentences:

>>Punch a hole into one corner and attach it to the ribbon which you tie around the parcel. <<

Punch a hole into one corner and thread the ribbon through this, before tying it around the parcel.

>>If you want to use little boxes as containers you can of course simply buy them<< There should be commas before and after "of course"

>> stick a toothpick through the box near to it's bottom and << No apostrophe in "its". The same applies to the first line under "Vases and Jars"

>> a leaveless branch << - That would be "leafless" - or simply "a bare branch"

One point that should perhaps be generally made, is that the presents, whether strung in a line, or spread about a board, need not be in numerical order. Half the fun is finding that day's number.

I've just had another idea. With the coat hangers, I had actually meant to take a piece of fabric about the size of two tea towels, joined together at the narrow end, with a small hole exactly in the middle, which you then put the hook of the hanger through, so that the material hangs down on both sides. It will possibly need to be sewn down to allow for the slope of the shoulders of the hanger.

If someone is really lazy, or just no good at crafts, they could hang a tee-shirt on a hanger and pin the presents to it with safety pins. The tee-shirt itself could be the final gift for Christmas!

Sorry. Once I start thinking about things like this, my mind goes off at all sorts of tangents. I'm going to do that tee shirt thing for my kids next year. I wish they were small again so I could try out all your other suggestions. I'll have to wait for grandchildren now!

And continuing the re-, re- reading, I see you have improved on some of the things I did. Together we'll get there!

One last word from me: I think that before or after "Lego" we are obliged to put the Trade Mark sign. I don't think I'd even be sure of that if I was still a subed, so maybe you can check with someone among the PTB. The code is .

Sorry for writing so much. Verbal diarrhoea seems to have overcome me.

Well done, Tav, for thinking of this and for writing it all down. Happy Advent!

Corrections are made and I put all of your ideas into the Entry. Thank you!

Thank you. The tee shirt idea doesn't fit, it has since occurred to me, because these are supposed to be re-usable calendars.

Good luck with it now!

Don't worry about it. I'll leave it there anyhow.

Does anyone else have anything to add?

I think all the points I was unsure about have been cleared up now. The result is a good, comprehensive article.

There are a few typos left, which should be easy enough to clear up.

In the sentence beginning 'Take a rectangular piece','about' has been misspelt.

In the sentence beginning 'If you don't want', 'want' has been misspelt.

In the sentence beginning 'There should never be two ribbons', 'close' has been misspelt.

In the sentence beginning 'Glue,screw or nail' I think you can delete 'the' before 'underneath'.

I hope this makes sense!

Well spotted, mvp. The last sentence you quote is mine. I thought about it so much, I got it wrong in the end. I think I meant to put "The underneath of" - which would also work.

Thanks, I'll change this later.

Hang the gift containers on a wreath.

I think I know what I might do for the Christmas Boutique next year, instead of killing myself cooking--since it's held the 2 days after (US) Thanksgiving, the timing's perfect for advent calendars!