We all know our college students love to receive gifts from home.   This year, why not create an advent calendar that not only counts down the days until Christmas, but more importantly, the days until finals are completed!

When my daughter was a college freshman, she lived in the dorms.  She had just one roommate and I wanted the advent calendar to be for the two of them.

I gathered together wrapped candies and a few other items that I could tie to a curling ribbon.  As you can see in the picture, I tied two truffles together and labelled it with day one and so forth!

Now that my daughter lives in an apartment with four other girls, the advent calendar needed packaging other than curling ribbon!

Here is what I used!

Cellophane treat bags worked well!

Favor Bags are fabulous – these are from Wilton.

These are again from Wilton, but for sending cookies!  These worked wonderfully for wrapping candies and they are so adorable!

For larger items – Seasonal Lunch Bags

I had a few items that I found on clearance and they were too cute to pass up, but these items required a bigger bag!

Here is a list of items you could include in the advent calendar!
Candy – of course!
Jokes or favorite quotes from television shows or movies!
Pens, pencils, erasers, highlighters…
Sticky notes, sticky flag notes, tape…
Hand sanitizer
Nail polish, lip balm, tiny perfume bottles, small hand lotion for their backpacks…
Kleenex packs, again for their backpacks!
Gift Cards  – iTunes card or a card for a favorite restaurant…
Money, Currency, Cash…

Labelling the Advent Calendar
I created my labels by using card stock and my 1 & 2 inch circle punches!

The girls laid out the calendar under their tiny Christmas tree!
They said it’s like receiving a gift everyday!

Here is a video presentation on Advent Calendars!