Grinch Advent Calendar for Christmas
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We love the Grinch and enjoy incorporating him into our Christmas decor when we can. We also love Advent calendars, and decided to combine the two — introducing our "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" storybook advent calendar!
Making an Advent Calendar from a shoe organizer
Did you realize that most over-the-door shoe organizers have 24 pockets? Anything that comes with 24 compartments is fair game for us to create an advent calendar, and an ordniary 24-pocket shoe organizer works great with its large pockets and ability to hang on any door.
For our Grinch version, we decorated the organizer and then filled the pockets with story cards and gifts. Keep reading and I'll walk you through all the steps to create your own!
The Grinch storybook cards
To make this Advent calendar fun every day, of course it has room for gifts, but the most fun part is that it also contains the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
We designed a printable story card set that is broken up into 24 sections, one for each pocket, so you can read a small part of the story each day leading up to Christmas.
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To use the story cards, just print them onto white cardstock and cut them out. They are sized at 4" x 9.5", which should fit most shoe organizers, but you might want to measure yours first and be sure you cut them to a size that will fit.
Then you need to number the cards 1-24 on the back. You can use stickers or cut them out of paper with a Cricut machine like I did. I alternated red and green paper, and used a font from the Storybook Cricut Cartridge (affiliate).
To help these cards last year after year, I suggest laminating them to make them extra durable.
Decorating the shoe organizer
Now that the cards are done, let's decorate the shoe organizer to make it suitably Grinchy!
My organizer had a clear back, so I covered it with fleece in Grinch green. We placed the organizer on top of the fleece and cut around it to size.
A little hot glue along the edges worked perfectly to attach the fleece to the back of the organizer.
Then we used thin, red ribbon to cover the white lines that criss-crossed the shoe organizer.
The final touch was adding a faux fur ribbon trim across the top of the pockets to mimic the fur trim on the Grinch's Santa outfit.
Setting up the Grinch Advent Calendar
The cards are done and the organizer is decorated, so let's put it all together! Simply put the 24 cards into the 24 pockets, in order, with the number side showing and the story hidden.
The story will be revealed a little each day, but for now you should just see the numbers.
Then add a little gift to each pocket, wrapped up in coordinating paper.
How to use the Grinch storybook Advent calendar
Each day of December, the kids will open the presents in that day's pocket and then flip over the correponding story card to read part of the story. As the days go on, the story will unfold until finally it finishes on Christmas Eve.
To help keep track of which day you're on, you can add a Grinch doll and keep him in the current day's pouch.
It's not necessary, but I think it adds just that bit of extra oomph! He looks all Grinchy hanging out, don't you think?
As Christmas draws closer, you get to read and see more of the story, the kids get to open their little presents, and the Grinch gets a little closer to having his heart swell to three times its size.
I think it looks super cute even without the presents but look at how much cuter it is with the presents and your Grinch doll marker!
Other storybook Advent Calendar ideas
This storybook idea can be adapted to any theme you want. We think A Charlie Brown Christmas would be super cute and fun.
Or if you start with a more natural-looking canvas shoe organizer, you could paint pine cones and cardinals all over it for a rustic look and put the numbers on the front of the pockets.
More Grinch holiday inspiration
If you're looking for more Grinch-themed holiday inspiration, check out our other posts:
- Grinch party printables
- Grinch Hershey's Kisses party favors
- Glitter Grinch painted canvas
- Grinch treat bag tags
- Grinch face favor bags
similar projects
Christmas Advent Calendar for a Crafter or DIYer
Disney Frozen Advent Calendar
Gumball Machine Christmas Advent Calendar for Kids
30 comments so far:
This is such a great idea especially moving the plushy Grinch along with the days. Love those Cricut numbers, too. The shapes are so Dr. Seuss-ish.
I love the Grinch and I love this idea! I might have to make one for me and one for my friend's kids.
This is SOOOO cute!! Love it!
What a cute idea...thank you for sharing.
Love this idea!!! I'm thinking of making them as teacher gifts!
Cool idea! I dug that same door sorter out of my closet and am going to make one for my classroom.
This is the best advent idea I've seen in a long time!! I'm excited to do it!
What Cricut font did you use? I LOVE it!
I used a font from the Storybook cartridge (ad)
This is absolutely adorable! Oh my stars! My girl LOVES the Grinch -- so perfect!
I appreciated the link for the shoe organizers. Do you remember which one you used? It appears that not all of them are clear on the back and I would like the grinch green to show through!
Susan, we're not sure which one we used exactly, but this one looks clear on the back, especially in the customer-added photo.
I am having so much fun creating this project! Thank you so much for the fabulous, creative idea! Also, thank you for the links - I picked up a Grinch banner and can't wait until the holidays! The ready made story cards makes this so easy! I am making these for each of my five children. You guys really inspired me and got my creative juices flowing again! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Susan, you're very welcome! I'm sure your kids will love them :)
Any ideas on where to pick up a cute little Grinch like yours? I've almost gotten all mine done, but need to find a little Grinch guy! I hear Kohls has them around Christmas, but the ones I've seen of past years of theirs don't have the santa suit, and look too large to fit in the pockets. I'm hoping there will be lots of them out closer to Christmas, but if you know of anyplace they can be purchased now, I'd sure be grateful. I am sending one of these to Taiwan where my son is doing humanitarian work and I have to ship it in October to get there in time!
Susan, here's a link to some plush Santa Grinch dolls available on Amazon. Hopefully one of them will work for you.
THANK YOU!!!!! You are amazing!
I am gathering all my supplies right now to do my Grinch calendar and I was wondering if you could confirm a measurement for me? How wide was the faux fur you used? the smallest size I can find is 1" wide is this correct?
Tracie, we did indeed use 1" faux fur trim. Have fun with your calendar!
Love, love this idea!!!! I think I may do one for my classroom AND my daughter!
I love this idea!! Do you know about what size your grinch doll is?
Chelsie, he's about 6 inches tall.
I am making my own grinchy calendar..except I couldn't find the faux white trim...I was however able to find fuzzy grinchy green trim.
Love this idea. Im going to start this tradition with My 2 and 1 yr old boys.
Did you read the #1 page first or start with #24 so it's a true count down? I'm thinking either way would work, correct?
Susan, the story cards are laid out so that you start reading with page #1 on December 1st, reading in order, and continuing through to page 24 on Christmas Eve.
I printed this off 5 years ago for 2 of my grandchildren. They look forward to it every year. I've had friends ask me to do one for their children and it becomes a keepsake for years to come.
Also, you can use one calendar for 2 children and alternate days. I give them both a gift on the 1st and 24th of December and then alternate with day 2-23. I also wrap them in different wrapping paper so they can identify their gift easily.
Nancy, we're so glad to be a little part of your family's holiday tradition. And I also alternate gifts for my two daughters. It makes it easier on me and more affordable, too.
This is such a cute idea! What font did you use for the numbers? Thanks!
Cathy, I'm so glad you like it! The font is from the Storybook Cricut Cartridge (ad)