The Holiday Season is Coming!
I am not a religious person by any means. But I am one to partake in festivities, especially if they involve some alcoholic beverages. We all have our vices so please do not judge. I also do not enjoy sweets or chocolates, so the standard holiday countdown calendar you buy at the store does not do it for me. For the past several years, our local liquor store has had a product called the Advent Beer Calendar. It is a great idea, but you need to buy it in August or September to have it before the holiday season, and let’s be honest… that is too much forethought. And, as a bonus, it was like $150-$200 for 24 beers… A bit pricy for my liking. So, I have designed my own homemade beer advent calendar.
And, if beer is not your drink of choice, check out this Wine Advent Calendar instead.
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Supplies needed to make Beer Countdown Calendar:
- Cardstock – You will need lots of cardstock. It can be white or colored cardstock or holiday-themed.
- Cutting Machine or Scissor – I use my Cricut Explore Air 2, but any cutting machine will work. Scissors will also work, but will take a while to get through all the pieces.
- Hot Glue and Glue Gun or Craft Glue – When I first made this calendar, I used doubles-sided tape, but I found that it would always run out too quickly, so I switched to craft glue. But hot glue with a glue gun will work just as well.
- 24 Craft Beers – The nice thing about this calendar is that you do not need to use craft beer. You can use tall cans or short cans, or you can even use it with pop cans.
- Box to hold said 24 craft beers.
- Wrapping Paper – Holiday-themed paper works best, but anything you have on hand will do. The idea is to hide the box and make it look pretty.
- SVG file for the beer calendar – you can get a copy of my design by signing up for my newsletter below.
How to make a Beer Countdown Calendar
Get your Design for your Advent Beer Calendar
I created a design for a beer countdown calendar a few years ago. I think it’s a great idea and design, albeit I may be biased. I made some modifications to the file in the last few years to make it better. So, bear with me as I walk you through how to use the Beer Advent Calendar Files.
Original Design – Beer Advent Calendar
The original file I made for this Beer Advent Calendar consists of 24 boxes. Each box has a number on top that can be cut out with your cutting machine.
To use this file you will need to make the following changes:
- Upload the Original Beer Advent Calendar SVG file into Cricut Design Space.
- Ungroup all items
- Center both vertically and horizontally.
- Make sure the lock dimensions lock is locked.
- Adjust the size of the box so that it is 4.5″ in both length and width.
- Select the 4 lines on each box and change them from Basic Cut to Score lines. This will need to be performed on each box. Using the layers panel, you can select all the cut lines and change them all at once.
- The squares are colored differently to allow different pieces of paper to be used. You can leave the colors as they are or change them all to the same color.
I measured the top of a can of craft beer to be about 2.5″ in diameter. So, I have used the top of the boxes to be 2.5″. However, if using off-brand cans or bottles, measure the diameter and adjust this size to fit your can or bottle.
New Design Holiday Beer Countdown Calendar
For this design, I made things a bit simpler. Simply because I do not like losing the centers of numbers after cutting them out.
Once you have downloaded the file to your computer, you will need to import the Plain Holiday Beer Countdown Calendar into Cricut Design Space.
This file only has 1 box. Here are the modifications you need to make in Design Space with this file:
- Make sure the lock dimensions lock is locked.
- Adjust the size of the box so that it is 4.5″ in both length and width.
- Select the 4 lines on the box and change them from Basic Cut to Score lines.
- Duplicate the box 23 times, so you have 24 boxes total.
- Adjust the color on the boxes in Design Space, or use different paper on each cutting mat.
You can write the numbers by hand, or you can get a copy of the numbers I created in the signup sheet below, and I will send you a copy of the numbers.
Cut out your Beer Advent Calendar Boxes
Once you have made all the adjustments above, hit the Make It button in Design Space and keep feeding it more paper until you have all 24 boxes cut out.
If you are cutting out the numbers, adjust the size so they are smaller than 2.5″ and change the numbers from Basic Cut to Pen. Quickly cut out the numbers, and you are ready to assemble this awesome countdown calendar.
Assemble your Beer Advent Number Boxes
If you set your score lines up correctly in the previous steps, you should have nice lines ready for folding these boxes. Fold all the boxes along the score lines. You will notice little tabs on each end to connect one side to another.
Once done folding, glue the corner tabs to the sides of the box. In the past, I have used tape, which works just fine. I just found that I ran out of tape before the craft was complete. But use whichever works best for you.
If you cut out numbers, now is a good time to glue them onto the box tops.
Make the Calendar Box
Craft beer does not come in a specialized box where I live, so we buy them individually. I picked up 2 empty base boxes from the liquor store. I cut the bottom out of one so only the sides stayed. This part will be the walls of the box.
The second box base stays intact.
The first cut-up box goes on top of the untouched base. I used my faithful duct tape to hold it together.
Prepare your Calendar Box
We want the countdown calendar to look nice. Wrap the outside of the box with the wrapping paper of your choice. I used Christmas wrapping paper that I had around the house.
When wrapping the box, you only need to wrap the sides of the box. I left a bit of overhang on the top and bottom to allow the cardboard box edges to be hidden. But the inside and bottom of the box do not need to be wrapped unless, of course, you want to.
Assemble your Beer Advent Calendar
By now, you should have all your pieces and beer ready to assemble. Place all the beers in the box and place the box tops on the beers. You can arrange the numbers in order or randomly. I like to place them randomly to make it a bit of a challenge, but you can set it up any way you like.
And That’s It! Your Advent Beer Calendar is Done!!
What Did I learn About Making a Holiday Beer Countdown Calendar?
I have been making this calendar for several years now. As a result, I have learned quite a bit… Here are some highlights:
- Drinking a beer every night will start to be tough on your body by about day 6… so it might be wise to do this with your partner, and each person has 1 beer every 2 days or spit a beer in half. Splitting beers works well if you have selected a wide range of craft beers.
- Don’t feel like you have to drink every day! Drink responsibly!
- Once you start taking beers out of the box, there will be the potential for some shifting to happen in the box. The side of beer cans can become visible, and box tops can fall off. You can put the old empty cans back into the beer box and put the number boxes back on. But this is entirely up to you.
- I like using a variety of craft beer for this calendar. I find having a different beer to try makes it an enjoyable event.
- I designed this Beer Advent Calendar myself using Inkscape. It’s a great program to use for designing to share files with friends. However, going back to check out the original file, I see that I have come a long way with my learning by using the program. So, thank you to everyone who has used this file in the past and not complained about how it could have been better. However, I have made some changes to the file in hopes of making it better and more user-friendly.
Was this Tutorial Helpful?
Did you find this tutorial helpful? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Check out my other Christmas theme crafts HERE.
If you like countdown calendars, be sure to check out my other ones listed below:
- Christmas Bulb Holiday Countdown Calendar
- Hanging Star Holiday Countdown Calendar
- Toilet Paper Roll Countdown Calendar Christmas Tree
- Snowman Christmas Countdown Calendar
- Christmas Tree Countdown Calendar – DIY
- Wine Advent Calendar
- Holiday Wreath Countdown Calendar
Get your Free Craft Beer Advent/Holiday Calendar Cut Out by filling out the form! I’ll send you the details to your inbox right away! Check out junk box just in case.
How cute! I’m doing this for my husband!!
He will love you for it!
Totally love the idea, but I’m not a beer drinker (more of a wine drinker), and yes, beer or wine every day would be too much, but I’d settle for a bottle of wine/week? I like the idea of making your own calendar though.
I was thinking about doing it for wine also, but I don’t think would be good for anyone! Although a weekly one might work! Or maybe if they made/sold wine in smaller sizes…?
Although I am a teetotaler, I think this is a wonderful idea that can be implemented to other categories of treats for consuming moderately!
I was going to make one for all of the Halloween candy that we have but I found so many already online that I lost encouragement in making another one. And I’m not a chocolate fan,… but you are right, the concept can be used for other things as well! Thanks!
This is so cute!! <3 I need to do this for my fiancé – he LOVES beer!
I’m sure he’ll love it! Who would t love 24 days of beer!
Love craft beers. This is very creative.
The nice thing about craft beers is you can buys lots and mix and match and it’ll would out great!
I love this idea and my SO loves beer. I think he’d save 7 for Saturday nights, but that’s OK 😉
That’s might be a better plan! In year past I haven’t been able to keep up with one everyday… it’s a lot!
Love this idea!!!! Buying these calendars can be so expensive. Plus now you can pick beer the person will love!
I think picking out the different types of beers is part of the fun, it’s always nice to have a variety
What a fun idea! I have a lot of beer drinkers in my family.
It can even be done with smaller cans. Some craft beers sell in pop cab sizes, so you don’t have to break the bank if you’re hoping to make lots!
This is such a fun idea! I can think of so many ways to do this even for non beer drinkers. Thanks for the cool idea.
The nice thing about the size of cans is they are all the same size, so you can even do pop cans.
This is a really fun idea! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hopefully you’re able to try it, or something similar!
Fabulous
👍
I LOVE this idea. Last year my sister got me a tea Advent calendar, and it reminded me of how much fun Advent calendars could be. As much as I love tea, a beer advent calendar might be even better. My siblings would absolutely love these as gifts. We all love craft beer and have been trying to support our local breweries during the pandemic, so I might try and tackle this all with local beers!
I’ve done purchased advent calendars in the past, from gifts to chocolate, to beer. And I have always been sad with the selection, so now I can have what I like! I hope you can make it work out also!
I LOVE this idea! My husband is a craft beer blogger and I could totally see him getting behind something like this… I think I’m going to have to make him an advent calendar this year lol!
It’s worth it! I bought one for hubby last year, and it was fun, but the foaming beer made us lose our appetite so I thought I would try our local craft breweries as well!
This is a cute idea. I will definitely share with friends. Any ideas for doing a wine related one?
I was thinking of what to do with wine as I have some wine friends, but I think a bottle of wine a night might be a bit much! Someone suggested one per week, so I’m still thinking about it!
I know so many of my friends and family that would absolutely love this as a gift! This is so creative, and I Iove it. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you for the kind comments! Hopefully your friends and family were able to get set up!
This is such a fun idea! I think men will love this!
I know my hubby does! 😉
That is so fantastic; I’d do a gluten free one for my Hubs! Pinned 🙂
I just posted the wine advent calendar the other day – you should check it out! Wine is gluten free -> http://www.katherinelearnsstuff.com/wine-advent-calendar/
This is SO creative – I absolutely love! My Dad would go crazy for this.
It’s super easy to make! Hopefully you have time to help him out with it! There is a free printable/cuttable PDF in the sign up sheet.
This seems so fun. I don’t drink, but LOVE chocolate so I think I can do it as a way to reward myself after a workday!😂