Candy Advent Calendar Filler Ideas That Make Your Countdown Extra Sweet

What is an Advent calendar?

An Advent calendar is a Christmas countdown calendar. The advent calendar tradition originated in Germany, where it is still commonplace to open a little numbered window or bag for each day in Advent.

Most advent calendars are stuffed with small chocolates, candy, and treats, but unique and cool advent calendars can be created too with non-edible surprises.

Every school class had one, and every day one kid would open a bag (sometimes two kids one bag because we were more than 30 kids in class). The point is to use only candy or gifts with a value of less than $2 or €2 per filler piece.

In this post, we will focus on candy and chocolates. By the way, advent calendars used to be mainly for kids before the year 2000.

We millennials grew up, and now we have upgraded the game, and we still practice this tradition every year, even as adults, for ourselves and our loved ones.

How to make it?

Let's talk about making or getting an advent calendar before we move on to the advent calendar filler ideas.

You can either make your own advent calendar from scratch, or you can buy a ready-made calendar or the material for a semi-homemade advent calendar

I love to make my own because it allows my creative juices to run to the fullest. I usually make an advent calendar for my husband, Paul, because I love to surprise him.

He loves sweets and a little Christmas pick-me-up every day during the Advent season.

In Europe, it has become a thing where the girls prepare an Advent calendar for their boys. So, it's not just for kids; we adults love a fun Christmas countdown too!

Here are some ideas on how to make a homemade calendar from scratch:

• hanging bags made of cloth, felt, or paper
• pouches made of cloth, felt, or paper
• drawers in a box
• toy train wagon advent calendar
• small paper boxes
• wrapped candy with numbers

You can either make those from scratch, which means stitching the bags and buying paper bags and numbering them, or you can just buy whatever you need and fill them with candy.

I had another fun advent calendar idea last year, which was a bit challenging too for Paul and easy to “build.”

The advent calendar was just a sheet of paper with each day of the advent calendar listed and a description or riddle on where to find the candy surprise.

I would then hide the candy at the described place, and my husband would have to find it. (which was a challenge in itself!)

Filler ideas

I compiled a great collection of candy advent calendar filler ideas. You can use homemade candy or candy from the store, whichever you prefer. I, personally, like to use a combination of the two.

I would select some of Paul's favorite commercial candy, such as Mon Chéri cherry chocolates and Raffaello coconut balls, and add a few selected homemade candies.

It would be crazy to add 24 individually different homemade chocolates (way too much work!), but you can pick 3 homemade candies and add each about 3-4 times as a calendar stuffing.

I wrap my homemade candy in butter paper or pretty-looking candy wrappers before I place them as fillers into bags and pouches.