Turn your street into a winter wonderland with festive scenes and glittering lights peeking out of windows, and encourage a bit of seasonal neighbourliness, too
Living advent calendars have become increasingly popular, particularly since the pandemic, when many streets started their own WhatsApp groups, which then spawned various charity and community events. If you’ve not had the pleasure of visiting a living advent calendar before, here’s how it works…
What is a living advent calendar?
A local community, usually a small village or a street (anything works as long as you have at least 24 willing households) gets together to plan an ‘advent calendar’. Households throw their hat in the ring and 24 are chosen to each decorate a window of their house. One window display is ‘opened’ each day in December until Christmas Eve, so visitors to the Advent Calendar can walk past and spot the pretty displays. The calendar usually remains up for the 12 days of Christmas so people can visit and view the whole thing over the festive period.
How to get started
If you don’t have a street WhatsApp group, set one up so you can organise it from there. Ask for volunteers to take part. If you have more than 24, semi-detached properties, terraces or flats can perhaps share. More of that later! Once you have enough willing windows, allocate everyone a number from one to 24, so they know the date in December on which their window display has to be put up.
How to decorate an advent window
You’ll need to make a large number to show which day you are (coloured cardboard is best for this) and stick that in one corner of your window. You can decorate a small window or your main one, depending on how ambitious you are, and either upstairs or downstairs. Ideally, everyone should pick a theme for their window and share them with the group in advance so you know you aren’t going to have any duplicates.
Themes can be religious if you like, such as the three wise men travelling to Bethlehem, or shepherds on the hillside. Or they can simply be festive, perhaps a big fat robin or a Christmas pud. Of course, it’s fine to go off piste too - we’ve seen very Christmassy Star Wars characters bring a lot of festive joy to a street advent calendar, or you might like to picture a local icon. Whatever you choose to do, keep the design simple so it’s clear what it is from a distance.
One of the easiest methods is to make a large cardboard ‘collage’ piece and then attach it to the inside of the window, but you could use window paint if you wish, fake snow, or 3D soft sculpture if you’re a dab hand with a sewing machine. Knitted scenes can look truly amazing as long as the window is close enough to the pavement. Think about how you will illuminate it too, so it’s visible at night. You might just leave the light on in that room, or move a couple of lamps close to the window to give the scene a gentle glow.
Can we share a window?
Sharing is really good fun. You and a neighbour could do two ‘teams’ of snowmen, one in each house’s window, having a snowball fight, with pom-pom snowballs strung up between the houses, flying at each other. If you’re in a block with several residences with windows close together, you could do a ‘cartoon strip’ style that tells a story, perhaps gold, frankincense and myrrh arriving at the crib. Or if you have one window above another you could have a reindeer waiting by a chimney pot and Santa down below, delivering gifts in the fireplace. Have a good look at your properties from the outside and inspiration will usually strike. And what more excuse do you need to get together with the neighbours for a glass or two of mulled wine on the driveway?
Choose a charity, if you wish
A living advent calendar is a great way to raise a few pounds for a local or much bigger charity that’s close to the heart of your community. Pop up a few posters in local shops and advertise it online, perhaps with a suggested small donation for visiting your advent calendar over the festive period, and then create a JustGiving page where people can donate. Or if you have somewhere where it’s easy for people to leave cash donations in envelopes, such as a church or pub on the road, you could do that, too.
Create a map of the Advent Calendar
This is especially useful if you’re a village or a very long street, and a great way to encourage charitable donations, if you include the charity’s details on the map. Get a neighbour who’s handy with some felt tips or a computer to draw a little map, showing where each of the windows are and their numbers. You can either leave them somewhere sheltered for people to pick up whenever they visit, or just put the map up online for folk to print off themselves and ask community groups to share it.
Make an event of it
The calendar will be complete by Christmas Eve, and while it’s fun looking out for the new windows each day, you’ll find you get the most visitors once it’s complete, particularly on those slow days between Christmas and New Year when everyone is at home but also in dire need of a bit of fresh air. If you can gather enough volunteers, and particularly if you have a community hub like a hall or cafe on the road, you could throw a small Advent Calendar party. It’s a lovely thing to do on Christmas Eve and selling a few cups of mulled wine and gingerbread men or mince pies is another way to add to the charity pot, while making it into a bit of a day out for visitors to your area. It’s also a great chance for the neighbours to get together and for everyone to admire their handiwork. You could even introduce an element of competition and fun with a prize for the best and most unusual windows!
Be inspired to find more free and reasonable festive outings with our feature, Finding The Fairytale for Free (ish) in our new December issue.
Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe
