Make Your Own Wine Advent Calendar

So you’ve heard about Aldi’s wine advent calendar that has finally made its way to the US. Well you may have also heard that it sold out in seconds and they will not be restocking them this season. As a Marylander, I do not have the pleasure of being able to buy wine in my grocery store, whomp, whomp. So, I knew there was little to no chance of me scoring one of their coveted wine advent calendars. I did a little online searching and discovered there are other versions out there, but most are only sold in the U.K. or they want $130+ for 12 GLASSES of wine? Are you freaking kidding me? That better be the best damn wine EVER with that price tag.

Well, here I sit with no wine advent calendar. No way of getting one at a reasonable price, and that makes for a sad Winey Parent. Never fear, Pinterest to the rescue! I took to searching Pinterest for ideas on making my own wine advent calendar. There are a handful of ideas on there. One really cute one that makes a Christmas tree with PVC pipes and you put the wine in the pipes. But I don’t have time to buy and cut all the PVC. So, I took some paper boxes out of recycling at school (they were going to the trash anyway, so it’s allowed!) and decided to try my crafting skills out and make my own wine advent calendar.

Check out how I made my wine advent calendar for step-by-step directions to make your own. I’ve never done this before, so cut me some slack if it is a complete flop. I figure all I have to lose is a little time and the materials used to make my own wine calendar. I also have 25 mini bottles of wine and champagne to show for my attempts, even if it is a flop! So really, there is nothing to lose, just booze to gain!

Step One 

Head to the wine store (or grocery store if you are lucky enough to live in a state that sells wine in the grocery store) and pick up some mini bottles of wine (24 to be exact). I also picked up a small bottle of prosecco for the 25th pick, which is a bit unconventional for an advent calendar, but we like booze and making it to Christmas seems like a reason to celebrate a little more!

Step Two

Get your paper box ready. I measured the height of my tallest bottle (the prosecco in our case) and trimmed off the excess box at the top. This step isn’t necessary, but I didn’t want a lot of extra box space between me and my wine. (sorry, I also didn’t get a picture of this step.)

Step Three

Lay out, in your box lid, where you want the bottles to go in the box (see picture-it will make sense in the next step). Then trace around each bottle so that you know where to cut.

Step Four

Cut those little circles. I recommend an Exacto Knife for this, but I didn’t have one at home so I ended up using a paring knife. I discovered this trick after my hand nearly fell off after cutting 3 circles. The knife is the way to go, trust me!

Step Five

Trace those circles on to the lid of another box top. You are going to use this as your divider/support for the bottles once they are placed inside your box. Can’t have our precious wine bouncing and rolling all over the place in there, can we? And of course, after you trace those circles, cut them out again. This step is messy, but it is critical to the safety of your wine.

Step Six

Wrap the bottom of your paper box in whatever paper you have on hand. I used Christmas tree wrapping paper, but you can use whatever your little heart desires!

Step Seven

Wrap the top of your box. I had plain brown butcher’s paper on hand from the kids crafting drop cloth, but use whatever you have. I would try to stick to a plain paper because you are going to write numbers on the top to mark where the holes are.

Step Eight

Place the bottles in the box and try to get them as close to the same spacing or layout you used to cut the holes in the top and support.

Step Nine

After placing the bottles in you are going to carefully slide the divider down around the bottles. You may want to make sure you can pull the bottles through those holes with relative ease.

Step Ten

Depending on the weight of the paper you used to wrap your lid, you may want to poke tiny holes through the paper where you will pull out the wine. My paper was quite heavy, so I used my paring knife that was still on the table to poke holes. Then, I took my Sharpie and wrote numbers. I know some advent calendars count you down to the last day, but I never remember to stay on top of advent calendars (this one may convert me though!), so we numbered it 1-25 to correspond to the date on the calendar!

Final Step

Put that lid on and step back to admire your handy work. This whole project cost less than $50, and that was just the cost of the wine and prosecco! Now the waiting game begins. I can’t wait for December 1st so we can start using our advent calendar. Make sure you follow Winey Parent so that you get all the latest updates and to find out just what we put in our calendar!

Enjoy your Winey Parent advent calendar and have a happy and safe holiday season! Have other crafty, yet simple ideas to booze up the holiday season? Drop your ideas in the comments! Just try to remember, I am not a master crafter and I am quite lazy about actually doing the craft, so go easy on me!