December has a way of filling up fast, which is exactly why this calendar doesn't ask you to do anything on a schedule. Twelve pockets, twelve small projects - start on the 1st, dip in whenever there's a spare half hour, and work through them in whatever order suits your week. No pressure to open one a day, no catching up after a busy weekend. Just twelve little craft projects waiting whenever you're ready for them.
It's a proper fabric calendar for kids - soft, hand-numbered pockets from one to twelve, hung by its ribbon wherever it'll be seen and fussed over. Pocket one holds the Christmas Countdown Calendar Chart itself - a wooden stand with a festive scene and numbered tokens, so there's a countdown running alongside the crafting all December long. From there, no two pockets are quite the same: a Stitched Christmas Tree Decoration to hang straight on the branches, a Rosy Robin Pom Pom Kit for a wonderfully fluffy new friend, an Elf Peg Doll ready for mischief, a Gingerbread Man Keyring and a matching Gingerbread House Keyring Kit to thread, a Christmas Snap & Match Card Game for the evenings that need a bit of noise, a Stitched Wreath Decoration, a Santa Keyring Kit, a Snowflake Keyring Kit, a Woven Snowflake Decoration Kit with six decorations to stitch & a set of String Along Snowmen - three more to make & to finish. Twelve makes, twelve keepsakes, not a scrap of plastic tat amongst them.
What's really nice is the effect this calendar has on the whole month. Instead of racing through a countdown that's mostly sugar or, worse still, mostly nothing, children get small, absorbing projects to look forward to, fitted in whenever life allows, rather than squeezed in every single evening. And because the calendar itself is reusable, it comes back down from the loft every December, ready to be filled all over again.
