Today I’m going to start with a funny little story. On Sunday Coley & I were at a Christmas party chatting and she started to tell me how she was so excited because she had this great project she’d been working on. So I asked her what the project was . . . and it turns out we were working on the SAME project! Great minds think alike I guess! Or maybe its just that we spend so much time together that we have begun to think alike. But today I am going to share with you my version of the wood advent tree. What’s really funny about the whole thing, is we had both seen different pictures/blogs that inspired us and secretly saved them on the computer and not told anyone what we were doing. Oh well.

All that to say today I am sharing a Pallet Wood Advent Tree!

For this project you will need . . .

5 pallet boards for the arms of the tree

• 11 inches long
• 14 inches long
• 17 inches long
• 19 inches long
• 21 inches long

1×4 at least 36 inches tall, this is for the trunk of the tree

2 2×4’s cut at 8 inches long a piece

25 clothespins

wood glue

Optional: paint, stain, paint brush, fabric/burlap, twine, paper bags or ornaments

If you are planning on painting your advent calendar, I would recommend painting it now before putting it together. I forgot and instead got it all glued together before painting it, and it I think it ended up taking a lot more time and effort. So if you want to paint and distress your wood, I would do it now. Once your pieces are all ready, its really as simple as laying it all out and using your wood glue to attach all the pieces together.

For the base glue your 2 2×4’s on either side of the bottom of the tree. So make sure when you are spacing out your branches that you leave enough room for the base.

Once all the glue is dry, you can set the base in the center of a piece of fabric or burlap, then gather it upward toward the top of the tree.
I then wrapped some twine around the fabric covered base several times and tied a little knot. This portion of the base will show a little bit, but not enough that it has to be perfect.

I then tucked all the ends of the fabric into the empty space between the two 2×4’s that make up the base.

All finished. The top doesn’t have to be perfect because the top portion will be covered by the bags hanging on the clothespins.

So here she is. Our advent tree in all her beauty. Just kidding. It serves its purpose well.

As you can see I did a light distressing after I painted the wood white. You definitely don’t have to do it, I just liked the look of it.

And then you can add all your little bags. I just used little paper bags that I bought at Michaels for a couple bucks. I of course then had to add a little decorative fun to them. And then you can fill the bags full of little treats or Bible verses, or you can join us in the Advent Jesse’s Tree. My kids have been enjoying opening each of the little bags each night and finding a special ornament inside. This time of year is really hard to keep kids focused on the real reason for the season, the birth of Christ. Jesse’s Tree is a great way to get the kids excited about reading the Bible and to keep them focused on Christ amongst all the santas and presents.

Well there you have it, my version of the Wooden Advent Calendar. What do you think? Do you have your own version of an Advent calendar? We would love to see it, share the link with us in the comments section.

Lindsey