Reusable Advent Calendars: Wooden, Fabric and Drawer Styles

A reusable Advent calendar is a frame you refill each year: wooden drawers for a shelf or table, or fabric pockets for a wall or door. Measure before you buy, because typical wooden drawers are only about 1.3 to 1.5 inches wide inside, while fabric pockets around 2.75 inches square hold bulkier gifts.

What matters when choosing a reusable Advent calendar

• Opening size. This decides what you can put inside, year after year. Look for inside dimensions, not just the overall size.
• Wall or tabletop. Wood usually stands; fabric usually hangs.
• Number of openings. Most count 24 days from December 1. Some add a 25th for Christmas Day.
• Storage. A flat fabric calendar slips into a bin. A wooden house needs shelf space for 11 months.
• Who opens it. Young children need calendars without small detachable parts and without loose button batteries.

Counting from December 1 is exactly what makes reuse possible. Swansea University historian Martin Johnes notes that early commercial calendars counted from December 1, “allowing them to be reused each year,” since the four Sundays of Advent cover a different number of days each year. Vox makes the same point about calendars today.

Wooden drawer calendars

Wooden calendars come as houses, books, trees and simple grids of drawers. The drawers slide or pull out, which hides small gifts better than a pocket does.

The catch is size. Here is what one maker, Brubaker, lists for three of its 24-drawer designs:

A drawer of that size holds a foil-wrapped chocolate, a pair of earrings, a folded note, a sticker sheet folded small or a tiny figure. It will not take a full-size candy bar, a nail polish bottle or most toy blind bags. Our Advent calendar filler ideas are sorted by what fits a drawer this size.

Unfinished or painted?

Unfinished wood, like the Brubaker DIY house, is sold to be painted or decorated. It suits a family craft project or a calendar you want to match to your room. Painted and lacquered versions are ready to display straight out of the box.

Light-up wooden houses

Some wooden houses have built-in LED lights. If they run on coin batteries, the CPSC advice applies: toys with button cell or coin batteries must have a secure closure that needs a screwdriver, coin or tool to open, and the agency advises keeping products whose battery compartments lack a screw closure away from children. A button battery can burn through a child’s throat in as little as two hours if swallowed.

Wooden drawer Advent calendars on eBay

Shop the range

Browse current wooden advent calendars on eBay, new condition only.

Shop wooden advent calendars→

Opens eBay in a new tab. Check condition, seller feedback and returns on the listing.

• 24 drawersShop on eBay →
• House or villageShop on eBay →
• TreeShop on eBay →
• Unfinished DIYShop on eBay →

Fabric and felt pocket calendars

Fabric calendars hang from a dowel, a loop or a hook, with numbered pockets sewn on. They are lighter, fold flat and usually have more room per day than a wooden drawer.

One example: the Pockets of Learning canvas calendar measures 28 inches long by 14.5 inches wide, hangs from a 16-inch wooden dowel, and has 2.75 by 2.75 inch gusseted pockets. A gusseted pocket has a pleated base, so it expands to fit something thicker than a flat card.

Pocket size varies a lot between designs, so check the listing. A pocket around that size takes a small toy car, a lip balm, a mini notebook or a rolled pair of socks, which a wooden drawer usually cannot.

Things to check on a fabric calendar:

• Whether pockets are sewn or glued. Sewn seams hold heavier items better.
• Whether the numbers are sewn, printed or attached with hook and loop tape.
• How it hangs: a dowel spreads the weight, a single loop can sag.
• Whether heavy items will pull the lower rows forward.

Fabric and felt pocket Advent calendars on eBay

Shop the range

Browse current fabric and felt calendars on eBay, new condition only.

Shop fabric and felt calendars→

Opens eBay in a new tab. Check condition, seller feedback and returns on the listing.

• FeltShop on eBay →
• BurlapShop on eBay →
• QuiltedShop on eBay →

Wall or tabletop: which works better?

Hanging a calendar higher is also a simple way to keep small fillers out of reach of toddlers. The CPSC’s small parts rule for children under 3 is about objects small enough to fit in a young child’s throat, and many calendar fillers fall into that range.

How long does a reusable Advent calendar last?

With care, many years. Refilling is an established format, not a new trend: the German children’s media institute IfaK describes self-fill calendars that can be reused every year as a later development in Advent calendar history, and shows a wooden fillable one from its archive.

What shortens their life is usually storage, not use:

1. Empty every drawer and pocket before you pack it away. Forgotten chocolate melts and attracts pests.
2. Store it dry. Keep wood and MDF out of damp basements and garages.
3. Remove batteries from light-up models for the off-season.
4. Wrap wooden pieces in a cloth or box so painted numbers do not scratch.
5. Fold fabric along the rows of pockets, not across them, to avoid creases in the numbers.

Buying a used or older reusable calendar

Reusable calendars suit secondhand buying, since nothing inside expires. A few checks help:

• Ask whether all 24 or 25 drawers or pockets are present and whether any numbers are missing.
• Look for photos of the back, where hanging hardware and battery boxes sit.
• Check seller feedback and the return policy before you pay.
• For light-up models, confirm the battery compartment closes with a screw.

Related guides

For the full range of options beyond reusable styles, start with our best Advent calendars hub. If you are filling a calendar for children, Advent calendars for kids covers age labels. Deciding between 24 and 25 openings? See when to start an Advent calendar. And for a quick checklist before you buy, read how to choose an Advent calendar.