DIY Valentine’s Day Countdown Advent Calendar

Valentine’s Day Countdown Advent Calendar: easy DIY countdown calendar filled with treats to help your children count down to the big day.

Making the Celebrations Last a Little Longer

Valentine’s day comes and goes too fast for little ones, so here’s a way to stretch out the fun, with a really easy countdown Valentine advent calendar. It’s similar to the Christmas activity advent calendar I made for my girls at Christmas -see it here, but this one is a little more low key. Each day they get to open a little bag and find a treat inside, and a fun Valentine’s day joke. It’s simple for mom, and still lots of fun for little ones to help them celebrate the season of love.

Inexpensive Treat Ideas

I started out with a trip to the dollar and party store for some little treats, I also “shopped” the pantry at home and re-used some of the Christmas treats that were leftover. For our treats I alternated each day with something sweet and a little toy treat. Some ideas for the sweets are:

• • truffles
  • peanut butter and chocolate hearts
  • red and pink jelly beans
  • caramel squares
  • valentine chocolates
  • cinnamon candies
  • conversation hearts
  • Valentine lollipops

You could use whatever candy your family member will love.

For the toy treats I included some small unique gifts like:

• bubbles
• pink bouncy balls
• stamps
• stickers
• erasers
• pink and red bead kit
• heart shaped balloons

Here’s a little tip, at the party store you can buy things individually for a few cents from the loot bag section, so if you only have one or two kiddos to buy for you won’t be stuck with a package of eight.

Valentine Jokes

I thought about including a little activity, or even a bible verse about love in the little bags.  But in the end I decided on a joke each day. My kids loved the lunch box notes I found on-line and included in their lunch each day for Christmas.  So I thought it would be fun to use some Valentine’s Day lunch box jokes for this calendar. I found mine here, and here. Just download, print, cut up and slip one in each bag.  I like to think of us all enjoying a little laugh as the perfect way to start our days starting February 1st.

Ideas for Older Kids, or A Partner

Jokes, treats, and toys are the perfect fun things for my small children to enjoy.  If you were making this for older kids, teens, or your partner, you could change up what’s inside the bags.  You could change up the treats everyday like I have or go for a theme.  Any teen girl I know would love a makeup or self care themed beautiful Valentine’s day advent calendar.  The chocolate lover might like all different kinds of chocolate treats each day.  If your child loves lego you could break up a set and give them a little each day.   Another great option for a partner is a different love note each day, with a different thing that you love about them each day, or a favourite past memory each day.  The possibilities really are endless, but any of these would make for such a fun Valentine’s Day celebration.

Decorate the Bags and Add Numbers

To decorate the little bags, I used a heart punch to cut out hearts.  Then, I used a dollar store number stencil and a marker to add the numbers. Once the treats were in the bags, I used some pink thread on my sewing machine and stitched them up. I love how the stitching looks, and it also helps excited little ones to keep from peaking.  You could also use some tape or glue instead of sewing.

To hang the little bags, I  decorated some wooden clothespins with washi tape.  Love how they turned out. I hung it all up on the fireplace.  I used some some sweet pink pom-pom yarn I had, and little string of heart shaped LED lights.  Ribbon would be a great addition too.

My kids can’t wait to get started opening the little bags tomorrow.  

This is such a fun way to countdown to Valentine’s Day and brighten up dark winter days..  I’m pretty sure it’s about to become a favorite tradition.  With Valentine’s day advent calendar, life really is a party!

More Valentine’s Day Ideas

You might also like our 3D Origami Hearts here.

Also check out our Valentine’s Day Breakfast here.

You might also like Valentine’s Day Pizza Party here.