Halloween Advent Calendar: A Spooky but Cute DIY Craft

Our DIY Halloween Advent Calendar
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Advent calendars aren’t just for Christmas…not anymore!

My kids LOVE Halloween. It’s also the one holiday that my husband loves too. So, why not celebrate all month long?

I found this idea on Pinterest from Stephanie Hanna and I loved it! I just knew I had to try to make one for us.

And here’s how I did it!

Supplies

For this project, I used:

  • 24″ embroidery hoop
  • chunky yarn
  • hot glue gun & glue sticks
  • scrapbook paper/cardstock
  • glue dots
  • number stickers
  • marker
  • string
  • Halloween wreath picks
  • googly eyes

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Step 1: Make Your List

First things first, you want to make sure that you have enough activities to fill up the month before you get started.

I wrote down a bunch of things that we do every year, like buy costumes, go to a pumpkin patch, watch Hocus Pocus, carve pumpkins, etc. And then I added some ‘easy’ things like wear a Halloween shirt, light a fall-scented candle, drink hot chocolate, etc.

For the rest of the month, I had to search Pinterest for some ideas. And Stephanie Hanna has a whole list of rhyming clues to make a scavenger hunt advent calendar! How cool is that?!? (We do a scavenger hunt advent calendar for Christmas and my kids LOVE it!)

Our List:

  1. Halloween Movie Night: watch the Nightmare Before Christmas
  2. get Halloween Costumes
  3. put up Halloween decorations
  4. wear a Halloween shirt
  5. burn a fall-scented candle
  6. go to the library and get Halloween books
  7. listen to Halloween songs
  8. Halloween Movie Night: Hocus Pocus
  9. go watch Hotel Transylvania 4 at the theater
  10. bake Halloween cookies
  11. learn the dance to Thriller
  12. eat dinner by candlelight
  13. eat some Halloween candy
  14. wear a Halloween shirt
  15. Halloween Movie Night: Halloween Town
  16. go to a pumpkin patch
  17. play a board game
  18. draw a Halloween picture
  19. do a Halloween craft
  20. burn a fall candle
  21. drink hot chocolate
  22. Halloween Movie Night: The Addams Family
  23. carve pumpkins
  24. get Halloween cards ready to mail
  25. eat a Halloween snack
  26. turn the kids into mummies
  27. sing Happy Birthday to Lexy
  28. wear a Halloween shirt
  29. Halloween Movie Night: Casper
  30. go to the Fall-o-Ween Festival
  31. go trick-or-treating

Step 2: Wrap the Embroidery Hoop

The first thing to make the Halloween Advent Calendar was to wrap the embroidery hoop with the yarn.

It can be done on your own, but it will go much faster and smoother if you have someone hold the hoop while you wrap.

After it’s completely wrapped, secure the loose piece with hot glue.

Making a DIY Halloween advent calendar.
(He’s always willing to help me with my projects….even right after he walks in the door from work!)

Step 2: Adding Embellishments to the Hoop

After the hoop was completely wrapped, I added the embellishments at the top. I used 3 Halloween wreath picks that I found at Michaels.

The black glittery leaves gave me a good background/filler and the ghost and candy corn made it cutesy.

To add them to the hoop, I cut the ‘stems’ off with wire cutters and hot-glued them to the wooden piece of the embroidery hoop that has the screw tension on it.

Step 3: Make the Number Cards

This was the most time-consuming part for me. But I love paper crafts, so I enjoyed making the Halloween advent calendar number cards.

Using scrapbook supplies that I already had on hand, these little cards turned out better than I expected. I used black construction paper, striped and glittery scrapbook paper, number/letter stickers, and googly eyes.

I placed the striped paper in different places on each card, added the stickers and googly eyes, then punched a hole in the top.

For the back of the card, I used regular computer paper, wrote down that day’s activity, and glued it to the back.

It was simple but time-consuming. I watched the last season of Schitt’s Creek while I cut and glued, so I didn’t mind.

Step 4: Tie the Cards to the Hoop

This part of the Halloween advent calendar was frustrating, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I laid the hoop flat on the ground and placed the cards in numerical order in the place where I wanted them to hang. Then I cut the string and tied one end to the top of the card and the other end to the top of the hoop.

Make sure you cut the string longer than you actually need to make it easier to tie. You can always trim it afterward.

Leave the hoop laying flat until you have tied all of your cards on. Then carefully pick it up and hang it on the wall.

(This was before I wrapped the hoop, but I made sure all of the cards would fit inside before going any further.)
An advent calendar for the fall!
(The girls LOVE flipping over the card every day to find out what activity is on it!)
DIY Halloween advent calendar
(The finished product! I’m so happy with how it turned out!)

And you’re done!

My girls have been LOVING this Halloween advent calendar!

Even though I haven’t been home to enjoy it with them, I’m so glad they have it and have stayed busy this October.

They always love our Christmas advent calendar tradition. I just can’t believe it has taken me this long to do one for Halloween!

You can find some other fun fall and Halloween ideas here:

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This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, I may make a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. For more info, please see my full ad & affiliate disclosure.

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