I Made My Own K-Cup Advent Calendars. Here’s How I Did It!

I really go all out come Christmas time. There are cookies to bake, gifts to wrap, crafts to do, and of course, a tree to decorate! But, with dogs, cats and tiny humans under my feet, it can all get a bit much. Which leaves me? Sitting on the floor. Surrounded by wrapping paper and glitter. Utterly behind and contemplating running away. This season, I am DETERMINED for things to go easier.

This brings me to the other day. I was sitting at my kitchen table, sipping my Christmas go-juice, aka my Angelino’s Cinnamon Twist coffee, when I came across the cutest idea on Pinterest – k-cup advent calendars (timing, am I right?!) Which is perfect, because I literally had no idea what to do for the adults on my gift list. Pretty sure they’ll all love me if I pack a cute advent calendar with some gourmet coffee pods.

Why K-Cup Advent Calendars Make a Perfect Gift

I already have 25 steaming hot reasons why this is the perfect gift but let me dive into a little more detail on why I went with this Christmas craft. 

• Number one reason? It’s EASY! Seriously, I completed 10 separate advent gifts in one afternoon. I knocked out my kid’s teacher gifts and my parent’s gifts and had them ready for the gift exchange I have coming up this weekend.
• You don’t have to spend a lot. Those wine and liquor advent calendars for adults? Forget it! You practically have to take out a loan just to buy one!  With the k-cup advent craft, I did the math, and each calendar came to roughly $10 or less total, with my coffee spend not exceeding 39 cents per cup (what?! Thank you, Angelino’s Coffee!). 
• SO much better than cheap chocolate. Let’s face it, most advent calendars have cheap milk chocolate that’s loaded with nothing but sugar. No one like this but the kids. With the k-cup theme, I just ordered some variety boxes from Angelino’s (which came quickly, thankfully! Because I got a super late start) and I’ve practically got a different coffee for each day in December! Plus, because this brand roasts their coffee fresh daily, you don’t have to worry about anything going stale by the time you gift your homemade advent calendar.
  
  

Three Festive Advent Calendar Designs

There are so many awesome advent calendar designs out there. They lend themselves to being arranged in so many different ways. Luckily, k-cups are just the perfect shape for advent calendars, so I was able to find some pretty cute designs easily. Here are the three versions I went for.

Christmas Tree K-Cup Advent Calendar

You can’t get more Christmas-y than a Christmas tree! Here’s how to make a Christmas tree K-cup advent calendar:

1. You will need 25 compartments for your K-cups to secret away in. Empty toilet paper rolls are the perfect size. You will need 13 of them. (I collect toilet paper rolls all year for crafts – they are so dynamic!) Cut each one in half. 
2. To make them extra festive, you can paint them. A combination of green, red, and white will look festive! If you don’t feel like the hassle of waiting for paint to dry, you can simply wrap a piece of festive paper around each roll. Or, you can use Christmas-themed washi tape to decorate the little tubes.
3. Once you are happy with your decorated advent calendar holders, arrange them in a tree-shape and apply glue to the ends touching other toilet paper rolls to hold them together. 
4. While you are waiting for the glue to set, cut out 25 squares of tissue paper. Squares measuring 3 x 3 inches (7.5 x 7.5 cm) will work well.
5. Cut out 25 circles measuring between 1 and 1.5 inches. (2.5 – 4 cm). If you have a 1.5-inch circle punch, that will do the job perfectly. These are for the dates on your advent calendar.
6. Write the numbers 1 through 25 on each of those circles. Or, have a look online for some fun advent calendar number sheets. This free printable and this one are super cute.
7. Grab your k-cup choices and place one in each TP holder. I have several decaf drinkers on my Christmas list, so for this particular design I just alternated between the 5 decaf coffees that Angelino’s has. 
8. Place a piece of tissue paper over each tube's top and secure it with an elastic band. The, simply glue your advent numbers onto the tissue paper.
9. Et voilà! Your Christmas tree K-cup advent calendar is complete!
   
   

 

Deconstructed Christmas Wreath K-Cup Advent Calendar

This is one of my favorite ways to do this craft. Why? Because it is SO EASY and cute. This craft makes a festive deconstructed k-cup advent calendar wreath to count down the days to Christmas! I say deconstructed because we’re not going with the traditional circular shape. This version doubles as a fantastic Christmas décor item, too! Here is the how-to:

1. Cut two pieces of twine or thick yarn, about 5 feet in length each. My favorite type of twine to use for projects like this is pretty cheap and can be grabbed in a pinch from Michael’s craft store. 
2. Cut out your advent numbers and stick them onto 25 small paper bags.
3. Place one Angelino’s cup into each bag. Fold top of bag neatly down and secure with small dot of hot glue. The k-cups fit so perfectly in the bags! I went kind of crazy on the variety on this one and just put a little of everything – a little French roast here, a dash of my fave Angelino’s Chocolate Mocha there. Just mix and match however you want!
4. Take the brown paper bags and clip them evenly along the length of the two pieces of twine/yarn.
5. If you have a bit of spare time on your hands, you can decorate your wreath with leaves cut from green card. Or, make pretty little bows out of holiday-themed ribbon and glue them in gaps between the plastic cups. 

And there you have it! A caffeine-kick Christmas wreath!

Christmas Gift Box K-Cup Advent Calendar

Do you know what is awesome about the number 25? It is a perfect square! In other words, it is the square of an integer or the product of an integer multiplied by itself. This really appeals to me (#geek) and, it makes it super easy to form a square gift box shape out of 25 little K-cups! So, let’s get to it:

1. Find a nice, shallow gift box that you can categorize into 25 sections. I really did the up-cycle thing with this one and used the shipping box that my Angelino’s coffee came in!
2. To section your box, use strips of card – four across and four down. Cut slits halfway down the card strips at intervals where you want them to meet up with the other strips so that they can slide into each other and grip nicely.
3. Place one coffee pod into each toilet paper roll. On this variation, I went all in on the flavors! Angelino’s has over 15 flavors to choose from, and then 2 cappuccinos, so I had no problem creating a delicious rotation throughout the 25 days.
4. Stick your advent numbers onto squares of festive tissue paper.
5. Place the tissue paper over the tube and secure it with an elastic band.
6. Pop the gift box lid on and tie it up with a beautiful bow. I made this amazing bow from the tutorial I found here on Pinterest. Too cute!

Your Angelino's advent calendar K-cup gift box is ready to be served!

Alright you guys – done and done! Now I am going to go do a little of this. Happy Christmas crafting!