Colour-At-Home Light-up Christmas Village Advent Calendar Kit

Each day, colour in a new feature of the village (houses, shops, trains, trees, etc) and place it on its allocated spot (starting with Shop 1). Press down the tab in the base to have each day's addition light up at night like a real village!!

Fun for kids to colour in or adults who still love to colour (and there are many of us).

It comes with a string of lights.

It comes flat-packed, cut out, scored, and ready to colour, fold, glue, and place!

The only things you will need to supply yourself are:

Glue - glue sticks work best, but PVA and hot glue will also work.
Colouring materials - this is sturdy card stock (210gsm), so don't limit yourself to colouring in paint, glitter, cloth, or paper.... let your imagination go wild! It's your village, after all; bring your imagination to life!

In your kit you should have:

1 x base - scored and ready to fold
1 x top—with printed numbers and placing outlines plus a few shrubs/trees) scored and ready to fold. It has a black card backing (to dampen the extra light at night and make the base extra sturdy).
3 x Shops
4 x Christmas trees
10 x Houses
1 x Train Engine
2 x Train Carriages
1 x Train Tunnel
1 x Boat
1 x Bridge
1 x Clock Tower
1 x Set of LED string lights (battery included).

Instructions - Creating the Village base & elements

Making the bottom section of the base & adding the lights

Fold up the sides of the base and glue the tabs to make the bottom of a box. Lift all the tabs (with little circle cut-outs) so they stand up.

Unravel the string of lights (remove the white tab to allow the batteries to connect and the lights to work) and feed them through the small hole on the bottom of the base (so that the controller is left outside the base for easy access to turn the lights on and off).

Wind the lights around the base, tethering them to the tabs (the little circle cut-outs have a slit to push the lights into to hold them in each tab. Spread them out fairly evenly around the base; it doesn't have to be perfect, as the lights are bright enough to work well. It doesn't have to be neat either, remember no one will see in the base once its complete.

Test the lights by pressing the black button on the side (make sure you have removed the white tab). One press will make them flash; another press and they will flash very fast; a third push and they will remain steadily on, and a fourth push will turn them off. You might need to go to a dark place or cover them with your hand to see them working.

Making the Top section of the base

You now need to make the top of the box (the top and bottom boxes come together to form the base of the village scene).
You can choose to colour/decorate the base as well; it's easier to do so at this point as it's flat. However, you can work on the folded-up base box; it just might be a little harder to colour, etc.
Again, fold the sides of the top and glue the tabs together to create a box. Ensure the printed elements are facing out, and the black card is facing in.

Putting the base boxes together

Slip the top box over the bottom box (notice the slots cut out of each for the light wire to go through and line them up).
Your Village base is now complete! Ready for you to start your advent countdown with day 1 and shop 1 on December 1st (or however you decide to countdown).

Essemble the Numbered Daily Village Elements

Each day, you will find a new village element to create; they are numbered from 1 - 24. Traditionally, you start with number 1 on December 1st, but this is your village... Of course, you could colour/decorate all the elements at the beginning of the countdown to create your village... and press down a numbered tab each day to light up the elements one at a time as a countdown.

All the village buildings and elements come as flat-packed cutouts, pre-scored along the folding lines to make folding easier. Below are some examples of how to fold and glue your pieces together.

Square/Rectangular Elements

Most of the buildings and elements are square or rectangular in shape and follow the same creation process (trees are slightly different and are explained below).
Firstly, colour in and decorate your element while it's flat - this is a lot easier than once it's a 3-D object..... but if you feel confident, you can, of course, continue to decorate after it's put together (perhaps a festive sprinkling of glitter?). Colour-in as much detail as you like, personalise each house/shop/tree etc to your liking.

Once you're happy with it, its time to fold, the folding lines have been pre-scored, so feel on the card for them and gently fold along them (they are marked with a black line - but not all black lines are meant to be folded... consider the element at hand). Make sure to fold all the tabs, too; they will hold your element together.

For houses, shops, and the clock tower (they have multiple tabs), start by glueing one roof section to the bottom wall. Then glue it to the other gable, and the second roof section to its corresponding bottom wall.

Lastly, glue the last 3 tabs and join the 2 roof sections (at the top) together, along with the second roof section, the other gable end, and the 2 bottom walls. These will need to be done at the same time to complete your element (a house is shown in this example).

For the more simple boxes with flat tops (with only 2 tabs), glue the tops down first, then the second tab.

Constructing Trees

Most trees are round, so are constructed differently. You will still need to fold the tabs and add glue to them, but then wrap the tree around your fingers to bend it into a cone shape and press the other side of the tree onto the tab. Gently pinch the tip of the tree between your fingers to help it make a point and close any gap at the top. Trees have small cutouts to represent Christmas tree lights so that they can twinkle at night when the lights are turned on.

Placing the elements each day

The base has numbered and outlined spots for each daily element. Within the outline are pre-cut tabs each day before you place another element onto the base, press the numbered tab down (there are 2 layers, remember, black and white card - so push BOTH down). This will let the string lights light up each new element at night! Of course, you could colour/decorate all the elements at the beginning of the countdown to create your village... and press down a tab each day to light up the elements one at a time as a countdown.