My husband’s diabetes means he can’t have a chocolate advent calendar. So I decided to think outside the box and create a plant seed advent calendar, which I knew he’d love more than chocolate! Hubby has an allotment, so I thought that making him a seed advent calendar would be a cool idea. Read on for step by step instructions.
Making A Plant Seed Advent Calendar
I started by picking up a seed tin to serve as a holder for the 24 parcels, and also to make sure hubby had somewhere suitable to store the seeds. Hubby is a little OCD about organising things, so I knew the date dividers, pencil and seed cards would please him massively!
As I am clueless when it comes to the allotment, I got the team down at Bents Garden and Home to help me out when it came to deciding what to put into the plant seed advent calendar. (Thanks guys!)
Between us, a staff member and I chose 24 different seed packs which can all be grown in Hubby’s allotment. The plan being, hubby can start them off in his greenhouse in the new year, ready to plant out once it’s warm enough. Here’s a sneaky peek of the seeds we opted for…
Bents have a massive seed range most of the year, but it’s been downsized for the Christmas period. There was still a decent selection though, and we haven’t got any duplicates! (There were loads more flower seeds we could have gone for, too)!
Shop Local
The good thing about selecting your seeds in-store is there’s help available if (like me) you’re clueless! There’s also an amazing restaurant in Bents – the cream tea with a Cherry Scone is my favourite!
Once home, I got my daughter to help me wrap up the seeds ready to give the plant seed advent calendar to hubby.
All Wrapped Up!
I went for 3 different colours of wrapping paper this year. I think using brown paper (or even newspaper tied with string) would have looked brilliant as well. I’ve opted not to number the envelopes so each day will be a bit of a “lucky dip”.
I popped some scrunched up tissue paper underneath the 24 seed packets for the purpose of the above photo. If I remove that, the box will close and the lid goes on fully for easy storage.
If you don’t need to purchase a seed tin, you could always wrap up a box to present them in? Or even hang the parcels on the wall as part of your Christmas decorations?
The Verdict
When we gave hubby his plant seed advent calendar, he was absolutely gobsmacked. He said it was the most thoughtful gift he’d ever received. (Methinks the pressure is on now for him to find something equally as good for me)!
Once Christmas and New Year were out of the way, I asked what the verdict was on the Seed Advent Calendar and was told it was brilliant. He had a few packs which were duplicates of ones he already had, but they have years on the use by date so they’ll all get used.
One thing I wish I’d done is pop a few notes in, for non seed packs which I could have hidden elsewhere. So for example, I could have wrapped up a note saying check under the Christmas Tree, and popped a wrapped up seed tray there, or a mini bag of compost etc – just to break up the monotony of “yay – another seed pack”.
If you’re looking for other Advent calendar ideas, you might want to take a look at my Christmas Book Advent blog post, too!
