Fun
Advent Calendar Maker
Fill 24 doors with your own messages, jokes, links and pictures — or ready-made daily surprises — then send one link, and each door opens on its own day in December.
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Play and explore in your browser. No account needed.
Frequently asked questions
How do the doors lock until their day?
Each door opens on its date in December of the calendar’s year, going by the date on the recipient’s own device, so door 5 opens at midnight on December 5 wherever they are. Before December 1 the calendar shows how many days are left, and from December 24 until the new year every door can be opened.
Could someone peek at the doors early?
Yes, if they are determined. The lock runs in the browser, and the whole calendar — every message and link — is packed into the web address you share. Someone who changes their device’s date, or decodes the link, can see behind the doors early. It keeps honest people honest; don’t put anything secret in it.
Is my calendar stored on a server?
No. The calendar is compressed into the part of the link after the # sign, which browsers never send to a server. The doors the recipient has opened are remembered on their device only. Your unfinished calendar is also saved as a draft in your own browser, so you can come back to it.
What are the ready-made daily surprises?
Over two dozen original little treats written for this tool: activities such as a blanket fort or a lights walk, true Christmas and winter facts, mini challenges like a secret act of kindness, and simple crafts such as paper snowflakes and a pine-cone bird feeder. There are also 31 family-friendly Christmas jokes, each with a Show the answer button.
Can I add photos?
You can show a picture by pasting its web address (it must start with https://). The picture is loaded from where it is hosted each time the door is opened, so it must stay online and be publicly viewable. Photos from your device can’t be put in the link — it would become far too long to share.
How long can the link get?
A calendar of ready-made surprises makes a link of under 200 characters. Long messages in all 24 doors can make it a few thousand characters, which works in browsers and email but may be cut off by some chat apps; the page shows the length and warns you when it gets long.
About this tool
An advent calendar turns the days before Christmas into a countdown with a small surprise behind each door. This maker lets you build a digital one in a few minutes and send it to anyone: a child away at a grandparent’s, a partner in another city, a classroom, or a group of friends. Each of the 24 doors can hold a personal message, a big emoji, a link to a song or video, a picture, a Christmas joke or one of the ready-made daily surprises.
The surprises are a mix of things to do and things to learn, written for this tool: build a blanket fort, go on a lights walk, make salt-dough ornaments, learn to say Merry Christmas in three languages, or find out why snowflakes have six arms and why reindeer eyes turn blue in winter. Every door starts filled with one, in an order that saves the cosy Christmas Eve night for door 24, so you can send a complete calendar straight away or swap in your own ideas.
The recipient opens the link and sees a festive board of doors — in order or shuffled, in one of five themes. Each door opens on its own date in December using their local date, with a little swinging-door animation (switched off when the device asks for reduced motion). Opened doors stay open on their device. Before December the calendar shows how many days are left until door 1.
Everything happens in your browser. The calendar is compressed into the link itself, so there is no account and nothing is stored on a server; that also means the lock is a friendly one that a determined peeker could get around. For a paper calendar, Print calendar gives a page of numbered doors to decorate and a page of cut-out slips with what is behind each door, ready to fold into envelopes, boxes or pockets.