DIY Hanukkah Treat Calendar

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When I recently created our DIY shoe organizer advent calendar, I had no idea it would go viral on TikTok (which was pretty cool). We got tons of comments and questions, but the ones that stood out to me was from my Jewish family, followers, and friends, asking whether or not they could make something similar for Hanukkah. I’ve been working hard on it ever since, and I’m super excited to share this Hanukkah treat calendar!

You may not know this, but I’m Jewish. Having grown up in a household that only celebrated Hanukkah, I vividly remember seeing all of the Christmas decor and wondering why they didn’t make as many options for Hanukkah. Sure, it’s amazing to get one gift a night for eight nights, but now that I have kids of my own, I noticed that Christmas always seems so much “bigger” than Hanukkah.

As an adult, having married someone who celebrates Christmas, I struggle with walking into every store and finding 45 aisles of Christmas options and one end cap of Hanukkah options. So, my mission is to make sure that I contribute to those options by developing some DIY options for my Jewish readers.

This will be the first year we are using a Hanukkah treat calendar. You can make it a countdown calendar, like the Christmas advent calendar, or as a morning option for each night of Hanukkah.

There are so many reasons to make this Hanukkah treat calendar this year.

It’s reusable. At the end of every year, fold it up and put it with your other Hanukkah decor. All you’ll need to do next year is fill it with goodies for your kids.

You can take the opportunity to fill it with Hanukkah-specific goodies. Think chocolate gelt, dreidels, etc. I found some super cute Hanukkah-themed goodies on Amazon.

It makes beautiful Hanukkah decor. Hang it on your child’s bed to bring the holiday into their bedroom. Just make sure you explain that they can’t peek at the gifts until the day of!

Supplies You’ll Need for the DIY Hanukkah treat calendar

• a 10-pocket hanging shoe organizer
• Cricut (I have a maker 3)
• Smart iron-on in two or three colors (I used white, navy blue, and gold glitter)
• heat press (mini or standard)
• weeding tool
• scissors

I linked all of the items I used. If you don’t have a heat press, you can also use an iron, though I do find the heat press is much easier as it allows you to set the temperature and the timer. Cricut also has a heat guide online to look up the material you are ironing onto to give you the perfect time and temperature. It makes things so much easier!

You can use any shoe organizer; however, I spent a ton of time trying to find one with just eight pockets, and the ten-pocket organizer was the closest thing I could find. The shoe organizer I used is made for RVs, so it’s very long and perfect for hanging on a bed.

How to create this DIY Hanukkah treat calendar:

Step 1: Remove the hanging shoe organizer from the package. You may need to iron it, depending on how it was packaged. You want each shoe compartment to be as flat as possible. **Important** make sure to check if your shoe organizer is fabric or plastic on the inside of the compartments. The one I chose is plastic on the inside, so you’ll need to put cardboard in each slot so that when they are heated, they don’t stick together and seal the compartments shut.

Step 2: Using Cricut Design Space, search for my project, “Hanukkah treat calendar.” I’ve prepared the numbers, menorah, and dreidel for you, so all you have to do is load the iron on vinyl and cut. We will be using three colors: white, navy and gold glitter.

Step 3: Using the weeding tool, weed the all of the numbers, dreidel and menorah (be super careful with the images as they have tiny parts that may rip).

Step 4: Cut out the numbers for the background and foreground colors using scissors. Keep the plastic backing on.

Step 5: Place one of the images on the first compartment and the other on the last compartment. Then, place each of the white number on the remaining 8 pockets. If your shoe organizer has plastic on the inside, make sure to add a piece of cardboard inside of each pocket so that the inside doesn’t melt.

Step 6: Using your heat press, secure the images and the numbers to the shoe organizer.

Step 7: Once the backing is cool, peel it off. The white iron-on and images should be secured to the shoe organizer. Don’t worry if it’s not completely smooth. Since you will be layering the iron-on, the second pass will help. Place the navy iron-on numbers on top of the white. Make sure to center them. Using your heat-press, secure them. Once the backing is cool, peel it off.

Step 10: Hang the shoe organizer on the bed or any long surface and fill each numbered compartment with one gift. I chose to use tissue paper to wrap them. It makes the DIY Hanukkah treat calendar prettier and keeps little eyes from prying at their gifts ahead of time.

**If you have more than one child or you’re just feeling extra, add a name to your DIY Hanukkah treat calendar. If you only want to make one, for multiple children, you can put multiple treats in each pocket as long as the treats are small.

Ideas for gifts for the DIY Hanukkah treat calendar

Looking for some ideas to put into your Hanukkah treat calendar? I’ve got you!

• Dreidels
• Hanukkah gelt
• Small toys
• Socks
• Candy
• Snacks
• Crayons/Markers
• Stickers
• Toiletries
• Clothing or accessories

If you’re on a budget, I highly recommend checking out the dollar sections in your favorite stores. You can also buy things that contain multiple pieces in each and split them up between days. This works well if you have more than one child too!

I hope that these instructions are easy enough to follow. If you have any questions, please comment below, and I’ll answer them as soon as I see them.

Check out our other fun craft ideas if you love this DIY Hanukkah treat calendar. We have some for all occasions, with lots more coming soon!

If you decide to make a DIY Hanukkah treat calendar and post a picture on social media, please tag us @thesupermomlife so we can see how they turned out!

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