You’ve seen a pricy tea advent calendar online but really can’t swallow the price. That’s okay! You can make a tea advent calendar to gift to a friend for just a fraction of the price.
There are so many great food gifts that you can give! Once you’ve got the tea drinkers covered, consider assembling a An Easy Wine & Cheese Gift Basket or a set of homemade spice mixes for the cooks and connoisseurs.
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If you’re a tea drinker, you know how much fun it is to try new flavors. Ooh! Winter Spice! Green Tea Jasmine! Earl Grey Supreme!
To try a variety of flavors at home, however, requires a pretty steep investment in tea, no pun intended.
Not only that, but storing an assortment of teas can become cumbersome.
That’s why a tea advent calendar is the perfect gift for you or a tea drinker you love.
Why Do This
A tea advent calendar is a super fun gift as it provides a variety of teas to be sampled, one for every day in December leading up to Christmas.
It’s a meaningful individual present. While traditional advent calendars or Christmas countdown activities focus on candy or readings or family activities, this tea advent calendar is more for personal enjoyment and contemplation. The kids are likely not going to steal the tea when one isn’t looking!
It’s a stress reliever. Research suggests that tea can improve one’s mood, improve the ability to focus, and help with mental decline. A tea advent calendar provides one cup of tea a day to help one progress in the right direction.
Supplies
Here’s what you’ll need to assemble a tea advent calendar to give as a gift:
25 individually-wrapped tea bags – You can buy a tea sampler pack like this Twinings sampler or this Harney Teas pack
25 mini envelopes – I’ve tried a number of different wrappings for the tea bags and was most pleased with sealing each one in a mini, 2.7×4-inch envelope. You can also wrap each one in scrapbook paper if you prefer.
number stickers – You can draw your own number stickers or buy advent stickers all ready to go. Some varieties feature numbers 1-24; others run 1-25.
a storage box – You can use any small box you like or tape each envelope to a larger poster or folder. I prefer these plastic boxes over the file folders I’ve used in the past.
ribbon – Ideally, you’ll tie the tea advent calendar box up with a ribbon. You can use grosgrain, raffia, or other favorite ribbon.
optional, tea quote card – I had a copy of this Instant Tea Party Kit that includes quotes about tea and drinking. I printed and cut one out to adhere to the top of the tea advent calendar. Kinda gives the recipient a clue as to what they’re getting.
Other things to include:
There are a host of other items you can include with your tea advent calendar to make the gift more deluxe, including a bottle of Honey Syrup, a batch of Easy Black Currant Scones or a few of Bilbo’s Seed Cakes.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Putting together a tea advent calendar is pretty easy. Here’s what you need to do:
- Choose your teas. I had two different sampler packs of tea to mix and match so that my tea advent calendars have a lot of variety in them.
- Place each tea packet in a small envelope.
- Seal each envelope with a number sticker.
- Place the envelopes in order in the box. Close the box and tie it up with ribbon. Attach the tea quote card. Alternatively, you can glue each envelope to a piece of poster board or a file folder.
FAQs and Tips for Success
- Make sure your gift recipient likes tea!
- Consider hosting a party to assemble these gifts with friends. Depending on how many people you invite, you can ask each person to bring 1 to 3 boxes of tea. In that way, you can have a wide variety of teas without having to buy designated samplers. If you host a tea party, it would be the perfect activity to do as a group!
- To reduce costs, raid your own tea stash. If you have several types on hand already, it’s likely you can assemble a variety of teas without buying too many samplers.
- Be sure to assemble one for yourself. It’s a super fun treat every day in December.
A tea advent calendar is a type of Christmas countdown activity that includes 24 or 25 packets of tea, individually wrapped to surprise the recipient each day in December.
You can assemble an advent calendar in a number of ways. Basically, decide on what will be the daily treat (options range from picture books, socks, candy, chocolate, tea, coffee, or booze) and then wrap each one with a number so the recipient knows which one to open each day in December.
You can use loose tea in an advent calendar provided you have small airtight containers for storing each day’s worth of tea and a way to label each variety.
More Fun Food Gifts
Tea Advent Calendar
Equipment
- scissors
Ingredients
- 25 tea bags
- 25 mini envelopes
- 25 number stickers
- 1 storage box
- 1 ribbon
- 1 tea quote
Instructions
- Choose your teas. I had two different sampler packs of tea to mix and match so that my tea advent calendars have a lot of variety in them.
- Place each tea packet in a small envelope.
- Seal it with a number sticker.
- Place the envelopes in order in the box. Close the box and tie it up with ribbon. Attach the tea quote card.
Molly
This is a GREAT idea. I used it as the basis for a birthday gift (I’ll email a picture) – I crowd-sourced (via my local buy nothing group) a lot of individual teas, a friend had a box of the perfect sized envelopes, and the envelopes fit perfectly in a box I had (which we wrapped). It turned out fantastic, and I think the recipient will really enjoy it. Thank you for such an awesome idea!
Shana
Adorable! I also love the idea of getting a group of friends together in november and creating these for christmas gifts. Thank you!
Maya
This a great idea! Thank you for the links for the products you used.
Jessica Fisher
I’d love to see how it works for you!