Embracing the Tradition of Advent Calendars

As an ever-present part of the Christmas season, the personalised advent calendar embraces ancient religious traditions and modern-day beliefs to create a unique custom that is cherished by children all over the world.

The modern version of the Advent calendar dates back to the nineteenth century. With an underlying spiritual message, advent calendars are associated with anticipation and hope and help us reflect on Christian values. While the commercialized version often displays mini window boxes that are filled with sweets, the most stylish of advert calendars are embellished with stunning photos of happy memories.

What is Advent?

The season of Advent is the time of the year when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s named after the Latin word ‘adventus,’ which means ‘arrival’ or ‘coming.’ The season officially begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day and leads up to the December 25th festivities.

Themes of self-reflection, anticipation, hope, and joyful celebration are typically conveyed in a striking calendar format that marks the countdown to Christmas Day.

A Brief History of Advent Calendars

In the mid-nineteenth century, families in Germany started counting the days until Christmas by leaving a tally of chalk marks on a door or wall. Soon other people began a ritual of lighting a candle or displaying a religious image for each day leading up to Christmas Eve. By the early 1900s, a few publishing companies and newspapers were producing simple printed calendars to replicate the homemade ones.

Having grown up with a homemade calendar, a German printer named Gerhard Lang designed an advent calendar made out of cardboard and featuring miniature doors that could be opened each day. A devotional picture or Bible verse was hidden behind each of the doors.

Due to paper rationing during World War II, the production of Lang’s advent calendars was halted until the resolution of the war. Once the seasonal tradition was revived, it wasn’t long before families in the United States of America were purchasing advert calendars to celebrate Christmas. Many of the early American advent calendars included small and simple gifts like chocolate or a toy behind each door.

While the popular advert calendars of today are typically non-religious, they do still feature tiny doors that open to reveal a surprise.

What Are Personalized Advent Calendars?

Not unlike the traditional religious-themed item, the personalized advent calendar is a decorative accessory that marks the countdown to Christmas Day in style.

Cool and contemporary customizable advent calendars are made from 100% recycled paper that’s decorated with colorful festive imagery. Behind the doors, you can hide your favorite mini-printed photos or add Christmassy messages.

Once every door has been opened in your unique advent calendar, it can be easily transformed into a stunning photo collage poster, ready to frame and hang on a wall.

Creating the Ultimate Advent Calendar

Customizable advent calendars that are designed to facilitate the countdown to Christmas provide countless possibilities for expressing your innate creativity.

If you’re choosing a bespoke design, you can select a calendar that serves a variety of pre-Christmas purposes. A coloring advent calendar will keep youngsters entertained during the lead-up to the main event of the festive season. Behind the doors, you can write an array of activities, like baking cookies, making paper chains and Xmas tree decorations, and writing a letter to Santa, to keep children happy and busy until December 25th.

If your customized Christmas countdown advent calendar features boxes instead of doors/windows that you open, you can fill them up with a selection of fun, mini-sized gifts.

A simple, stylish, and grown-up advent calendar that’s adorned with an elegant illustration or fabulous print will create a beautiful wall décor feature that everyone can admire and enjoy.

The images that you choose to display in the windows of your advent calendar can set the tone and theme for a striking arrangement. While you can certainly take inspiration from Christian traditions and select beautiful photographs that inspire spiritual reflection, you can also opt to embellish the seasonal accessory with Xmas-themed snaps from Christmases past that build anticipation.

If you prefer, you can feature a random selection of your favorite family portraits or snapshots of stunning places you have visited. As the advent calendar is designed to mark time, a custom-made calendar can also be used to create a spectacular personalized gift for loved ones. Doting grandparents will be absolutely delighted to open the doors to snapshots of their favorite little people in anticipation of a big family get-together on Christmas Day.

How to Use an Advent Calendar

It can sometimes be difficult to remember to pause and enjoy the moment during the chaos of Christmas. Being able to take time out from activities and responsibilities to reflect upon the true reason we celebrate the season is beneficial to the family bonding experience.

Moments that you cherish together as a family help you to create traditions that are personal and meaningful. To bring the family closer this Christmas, it’s a lovely idea to start an advent tradition…

Pick a time each day to spend time as a family gathered around your special seasonal calendar. You can connect via devotional practice or enjoy a moment of peaceful reflection. Take turns expressing gratitude for people, experiences, and things that you love and appreciate. You can also write gratitude notes on pieces of paper and drop them into a pretty jar for safekeeping.

Once you’ve opened the door of the day in your personalized advent calendar, sharing a sweet treat or a small gift will help younger children build Christmas countdown anticipation.