Are advent calendars a thing where you live? They’re not very popular in Portugal, but when we lived in Germany they were everywhere this time of the year! The daily surprise is always exciting, whether it’s chocolate, toys or something else. Our favorites though, are the ones that are lovingly prepared by family or friends.
Around this time of the year, Carina (aka Caradeangel) from Germany is busy preparing an advent calendar for her son. Nicholas is 7 years old, and he used to get sad that he didn’t get much mail… so Carina decided to fix that, making him 24 days of special mail. Here she is to tell the story:
“Two years ago I decided to make an Advent Calendar out of postcards for my son. I chose 24 postcards that I thought he might like, decorated them and wrote something on them. To keep him in suspense, I put the postcards in envelopes which I decorated as well. I put them all on a string and hung that string on the door to his bedroom. And so from December 1st to the 24th, he got to open one envelope every day. Needless to say he loved it!”
We were intrigued and delighted by the idea, so we asked Carina what she usually wrote on the postcards. Writing 24 postcards to the same person isn’t easy to do!
“Some postcards held personal messages of love or encouragement, such as how proud we are of him for making good progress in school and how he will soon be able to actually read the postcards himself. On some postcards, I shared memories. For example, I used a postcard with the Berlin TV tower which we had visited earlier that year and on the postcard I wrote about that visit. On some animal postcards, I just wrote some information about the animal pictured. On other postcards, I gave a kind of outlook on things to come such as the next big vacation. Also, he LOVES the Minions so of course I had to have a Minions postcard and wrote in ”Minionish" (with a German translation) on it. With one postcard I included a little poem that fit the theme of the postcard."
Thank you for sharing, Carina!
This is a such a sweet idea to do for a loved one, and not that hard to put together… maybe something to do these coming weekends? 😊 Gather your stationery supplies and put them to good use!
64 comments so far
What a great idea Carina, thank you! I wish I'd thought of this when my son was little. Maybe I'll still try it even though he's 23 😂
What a great mom! Merry Christmas!
This is a fabulous idea. This is a labor of love and one that can be kept and cherished for a long time.
Very very sweet !!! I guess every person-no matter what gender or age-would love to receive one like this ! I'm thinking....one son, two daughters, a hubby ....I better get started:-)
What a clever idea and so very personal. What a great way to make a young man feel even more special. 🤶🎅⛄🎄
Interesting! Kudos to you. Just might do the same . ;-) thanks
Great idea!
Wonderful story!
Postcrossers are so creative!
a marvellous keepsake for your son! Great idea!
Wow how fantastic! I'm going to try this for my great nieces and great nephews.
What a great idea, I am going to share it with my Brownie parents - they might then join Postcrossing to help their daughters get more cards....
Such a nice idea
Wow thans A great idea❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Love this idea!
what a sweet idea🎁🎄🎀
I really enjoyed reading it
Прекрасно!!! Вы молодец, Карина)
What a wonderful and touching story.
The little boy is very lucky to have such a caring mother, a real fairy.
It's an idea to imitate.
Merry Christmas to this little family
When my daughter moved out, she hung me an advent calendar with 24 self-photographed postcards in her empty room.
They were blank, so I could use them for the postcrossing project ....
I was so happy about this surprise!
Very beautiful idea
What a lovely holiday tradition.
What an amazing idea! I love it 😍 when my son is a little bit older I would love to do this for him!
What a wonderful mother you are! 💜
What a thoughtful mother with something her son will treasure years to come. Great idea!
Great invented! Bravo, Karina!
Whoa, this is really cool. It's a great idea to use your postcards for something and this is definitely a fabulous use!
I love advent Calendars. I grow up in the Netherlands and live now in Canada and in both countries, they're popular but I love Carina's idea too. I don't have children but I can send a good friend 24 advent cards with messages. Yes, that's what I gonna do...this year.
Once again a Postcrosser shows such brilliance!!!
This is a very nice idea. Here in Austria "Adventkalender" are very popular, too. Nowadays many of them are filled with sweets or toys (Lego) or little cosmetics etc., but I like most the old fashioned ones with lovely pictures or little Christmas stories inside.
Washi Tapes, stickers, postcards..I'm having a heart attack! LOL
Carina you are so great ! You are creative, you have patience and so much love to your Son ! You inspired me to do something alike ! Thank you ! Anna
Cool idea!!!! :)
So cute and thoughtful!
love love love this idea, so cute <3
Advent calendars are wonderful! My parents always bought a traditional one for my siblings and me, and we took turns at opening the "doors".
Nowadays my sister and I use to send each other a postcard advent calendar (just one postcard with 24 tiny "doors"). Which reminds me of - I haven't sent hers yet. Luckily I have several at home to choose from.
A big one with 24 different postcards would be absolutely great. I'll have to remember it until next year and begin writing the cards early on. Thanks for that great idea, Carina!
Nice!
What an amazing idea! One of the best advent calendar ideas I've ever heard about! <3 When my brother and I were kids, we made our own advents calendars with our mom and she would then fill it for us. That was always awesome too. :)
A lovely idea. Wonder where Advent Calendars originated. Does anyone know?
This touched me! Great!
I am a big fan of advent calendars! But this idea is outstanding! Thank you for sharing it with us!
My daughter gets a calender with 24 sacs, which I fill with "little" presents (not always easy to find so many little things). She is 10 now and started to make an advent calernder for us, her parents, every year when she was 7 I think - it is a great tradition, because if you create or fill them yourself, it is always also filled with love :-)
But also a dear friends from me gets one every year - I often received one from my mum even when I was "very" grown up ... For me an advent calender is always a "proof" of love.
This is such a great idea. Well done!!
Nice idea
such a nice one ....well done !!!!!!
I love this idea!Thank you for sharing:0)
What a fabulous idea! I am now inspired to actually mail out a postcard a day as an advent calendar to one of my fabulous pen pals. She will love it.
Advent calendars were first used by German Lutherans in the 19th and 20th centuries to mark the days of Advent, the four Sundays before Christmas. Religious Advent calendars feature Bible verses and pictures having to do with the birth of Christ.
My niece made her boyfriend an advent calendar from postage tubes covered in Christmas paper - each tube contained a bottle of beer, 25 different beers. A postcard advent calendar sounds really easy compared to that one (and much less expensive).
Simply beautiful.
I have that lenticular postcard with the lion on it, too!
I love advent calendars and postcards! And so i arranged a postcard advent calender for myself a few years ago, asking my Postcard-Friends to send me a card in an envelope and to add a little gift (like stickers or teabags) if they want, and i send them one back. So i had 24 Envelopes to open. Many love this idea and every year there are more people who arrange their own adventcalendar. This year i will have 3 postcard calenders from different groups. One does something like the "secret santa" so you send someone of the group 24 Envelopes and someone else sends you your 24 Envelopes, and you dont know from whom of the group the calendar came, until the last envelope, where the one reveals his identity :) its so much fun
What a creative way to show your son how much you love him Carina.
In the best spirit of Christmas!
What a lovely idea - well done, Carina!
This is a wonderful idea! Lucky boy!
Lovely idea💕💕💕
What a great idea! I took the model and made it for my husband. He is very moved.
This is a wonderful idea! I made one for my cousin’s 6 year old.
Wow, lovely idea <3
Started working on my kids' advent calendar thanks to this post. Such a good idea! Wayyy better than chocolate! I can't wait to start giving the cards :)
I've made a postcard advent calender for a good friend mine of mine and she has made one for me. We going to exchange them tomorrow. It's so much fun to make. She's also a postcard addict and a postcrosser .
love the way the washi tape is organized. I have mind on a metal hanger. I unbound the top and strung them all on. then I recoiled the metal and now hang it on the side of my desk.
I built an advent calendar out of Lego for my best friend this year, but this is SO going on the list for next year, I absolutely love the idea! Thank you for sharing it, Carina! :-)
thanks for the idea my friend Ethan who lives in utah and i did this, i cant wait to partake in the magic openings.
I didn’t realise when I started postcrossing at the end of last year how important it is. Just have to tell everyone that I received a postcard from a DOG in Hong Kong. It was really strange and I just wondered if anyone else had had one from Hugo xx
↑ Back to top ↑