If you’re looking for a new family holiday tradition, or simply looking for a fun advent calendar, then look no further! We bought this linen pocket advent calendar last year and fill it with family photos each day, and this is a tradition we will carry on every Christmas without question.

Supplies Needed for Your Polaroid Advent Calendar

There are a few supplies you’ll need to purchase upfront, but once you have them, you can reuse them year after year. You’ll have the sweetest memories to look back on. You will need:

1. Advent Calendar (are favorites are linked below)
2. Polaroid camera
3. OR Bluetooth Polaroid Printer
4. 2×3 Labels 
5. Film 
6. Envelopes 

Below are some of our favorite advent calendars, and if you use this idea, tag us in it so we can see!

Calendar 1 | Calendar 2 | Calendar 3 | Calendar 4 | Calendar 5 | Calendar 6 | Calendar 7 | Calendar 8

Filling the Advent Calendar

Each day during December, we take a photo of something we did. Whether we were out looking at holiday lights in Wayzata, bringing Myka along on a site visit of a custom home we were building near Lake Minnetonka, or simply decorating the tree, we’ll capture a special moment of each day to put in the that day’s pocket.

While you can carry the polaroid camera around with you, I personally did find it easier to use the bluetooth printer so I only have to bring my phone.

Once you’ve figured out which picture you want to use for the day, print the photo and put the date on the bottom of the photo (don’t forget to include the year!).  I like to add add these labels to the back of the photo to add a little blurb about what we did. Then, in future years, we can look back and have a little more context for what we did that day.

At the end of December, I put all of the photos for each day in it’s own little envelopes with the date on it, and then either store them in the pockets or in a separate location. Then, the following year, not only do you get to add a photo for each day, but you get to open up past years photos.

When it comes to the holidays, we’re big on experiences versus things. While this advent calendar is something you will have to store, in my opinion, I love that you’re able to look back on memories versus buying some other advent calendar that gets thrown away each year.

If this is something you decide to do, tag us on Instagram @almahomes so we can see yours!