DIY Lego Harry Potter Countdown to Christmas - Advent Calendar

Shhhhh.....Don't tell my children but I am really excited about the Advent Calendar that I made for them. I wanted to tell you about it because there may be time for you to pull this off for the Harry Potter fans in your house.

I was looking at Lego Advent Calendars for the upcoming season. I didn't like my options. Last year we had the Lego City Advent Calendar. They loved it but I didn't think it was worth money.  The problem with the Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar is that only one of my four children really like Star Wars. I began wondering if I could make my own Lego Advent Calendar.

I started thinking about a Lego theme that all my children would love. Harry Potter was the first to come to mind.  I immediately looked on eBay for Harry Potter Legos and started to watch auctions for minifigures and accessories. I quickly realized that it wasn't going to be cheap, so I decided to allow myself to spend up to $40 which was the cost of the Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar at the time I began the project.

I won an auction for 10 Harry Potter minifigures for about $33. Then, I purchased a small lot of Lego owls for about $3. I stayed within my budget but I needed to get creative to fill out the whole advent calendar. I used the Lego Harry Potter Characters of the Magical World book as a guide to use pieces we already had in our collection to make Harry Potter-like accessories.

Check out what I did below.

I found a spare package of envelopes and wrote Harry Potter-like numbers on them from 1 to 24.

I got out all the minifigures I purchased and accessories I made.

Then, placed them on the envelopes to determine when they would be chosen.

I sealed the envelopes.

Inside the envelopes were potion jars and cauldrons that I made. Also, I found a magnifying glass and a goblet from other Lego sets we already owned.

I made a mandrake from a barrel, a zombie head, and plant-like legos.

I made dementors from black hoods from the Darth Maul Star Wars character and some black fabric I had in the basement. 

Here are the owls I bought with some extra wands and other accessories.

I made a lantern that I found in Lego Harry Potter Characters of the Magical World book.

Harry's luggage cart was also idea from the book.

This is how I will display the Harry Potter Countdown to Christmas in our house starting December 1st.

I downloaded and printed the Hogwarts crest for the center of the countdown.

I think my kids are going to love this. Just don't spoil the surprise!!