DYD 2022 Holiday Project | Christmas Countdown Blocks

Hi there! Guest Polly Robin here to bring you a quick and easy tutorial to help decorate your space for the upcoming holidays. My kids LOVE counting down to Christmas day and continue to do so even though three of them are in their 20’s and live on their own. Knowing this, I decided I’d make them each a countdown box for their apartments. Since they are made from paper products, none of the kids will feel badly for throwing them away at the end of the season (and all three live in tiny spaces, so this is an added bonus!). I’ll show you how simple this project is, and anyone can make it even if you don’t have a cutting machine. Let’s jump right in. First, you’ll need a template for the boxes. Head over to templatemaker.nl website and select the “Gift Box” option shown below.



Y’all, this site is AMAZING! It has a ton of templates for numerous shapes. You can support the developer if you’d like by donating a small amount, but if not, it’s free and you don’t have to leave your contact information which means you aren’t signing up for anything!

After you have selected the template, you can pick any size you want, but let me give you some helpful tips. First, change the units to inches. Next pick a length, width, and height that you’d like your box to be (they should all be the same value since this project calls for 3 cubes). Keep in mind that the base unit will be 3 times the length of one box. Besides the amount of space it takes up, the length also plays a factor in how you print this template. If you are using an 8.5x11 sheet of paper like me, the biggest size you can enter is a 1.5-inch block. If you are using a 12x12 piece of cardstock, you can go up to a 2-inch block without any problems. The only other thing I changed was the thumb hole diameter. I made mine 0.40 inches since I’m not really trying to open and close this box. The remaining parameters don’t need to be changed. Take a look at my settings here:



Now, when you go to print this, you can choose a SVG if you have a cutting machine, OR you can save this as a PDF. YES, you don’t have to have a cutting machine for this project! Simply print your PDF, cut around the red lines, and fold where the blue lines are. It’s really that easy!

Next, we need to work on the base. Like I said earlier, whatever value you used for the length of your cubes will need to be multiplied by 3. As you can see below, mine is 4.5 inches for the length, but leave the width and height the same as your cubes. I also changed the thumb hole diameter on this one too. Here are my settings for the base:



Now for the fun part. You’ll need the following numbers: 0, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (ignore the numbers in the photo since I didn’t count right and had to stop and reprint another 0, 1, and 2! Don’t be me ) You’ll also need at least five elements for the cubes. For the base, you’ll also need some text. I chose the words “Days Left” because that’s what my kids say. But you can print off anything you’d like! I made my numbers and text in a Word document and colored them to match the Meowy Christmas stickers and papers by Becca Bonneville (my daughter is obsessed with cats so this kit will be PUURRRfect for her hehe!) Print and cut out your SVG or PDF templates. You’ll need 3 of the box templates and one base. Here are my paper pieces ready to go:


Assemble your boxes using THIS video (it’s pretty intuitive and you don’t really need a tutorial, but this is one if you’d like). Jump to 30:04 into the video as there's no need to watch the rest of it! Here are my boxes assembled, glued, and ready to go.



Oh, you don’t really need to glue them either, but since my daughter’s cats will knock them off the counter multiple times, I figured I’d make it a wee bit sturdier Okay now it’s time to decorate the boxes. For box #1, put numbers 0, 1, and 2 on three different sides and then 3 different elements on the remaining sides. For box #2, glue numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 on five different sides, and then put one element on the remaining blank side. For box #3, glue numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 as well as one element. Finally, put your text card on your base and decorate it how you’d like. I did use foam dots on my base to give it a bit of visual “oomph”! That’s it. Your countdown box is completed:



Y’all, you can customize this in so many ways! You can make one for each holiday, birthday, or any other event. You can count up or down. You can use two boxes and then make the base only twice as long as the cubes. You can do pretty much anything you like! I hope you like the project and that you give it a try. Be sure to take a picture if you do and show me what you came up with. I can’t wait to see them!

 

You should totally try it. It's kinda addicting to be honest. Who knew I enjoyed making templates for boxes??

 

Yes!!! See how flexible this is. You could easily put a piece of candy (or two!) in each box to open each day. I love the options