Mum shares 'genius' DIY advent calendar hack that only cost her £10 and parents are impressed

8 November 2019, 16:21 | Updated: 5 December 2019, 16:45

If you're sick of being overcharged for bog standard advent calendars for your children then this could be one for you.

A thrifty mum has been praised by others for her great idea to make her own DIY advent calendar for her son, which has gone down a treat on social media.

Taking to Facebook to explain how she made the creation, the parent explained how she filled the £4 tray with treats from the pound shop and some of her son's favourite sweets.

READ MORE: Mum praised for genius hack which she uses to get kids to do chores

The woman, called Maria, shared the clever hack on the Facebook group Extreme Coupling and Bargains and the post has since been liked over four thousands times and attracted hundreds of comments.

She said: "I was so disappointed with the advent calendar I got for my little boy last year, so decided to make my own!"

"£4 from The Works for the calendar and about £6 to fill it. I'm made up with it.

"The Thomas minis I've managed to find at Poundland, B&M, Home Bargains and the good old 50p shop!"Still available to buy in store, I went into the Crewe store and they had loads."

As well as the long post, Maria shared some pictures of her creation and how she went about filling it - it looks fab!

The "fill your own advent calendar" is £4 from The Works - but is currently sold out online.

The mum also posted images of the treats she filled the calendar with, including Thomas & Friends trucks and trains as well as packs of Haribo and jelly beans.

Members of the Facebook group were blown away with the great idea, as hundreds flocked to the comments section.

One wrote: "Going on the hunt for these, absolutely brilliant idea."

Another agreed with her, commenting: "I didn’t know you could do anything like this, I think I’ll do this for my little boy instead of chocolates, they get boring don’t they haha."

And the comments didn't end there, as one said: "I've done this for my son and got hot wheel cars for it too."

One member even said she'd also bought the calendar - but would be using it for the dog: "I've bought one of these for my dog (son's idea) cos he's so fussy with food, so I can fill it with the only one treat that he will eat!"

Will you be trying this out?