Ideas that Impact
  • Ideas that Impact
  • SE101: Socent

Special Event Advent Calendar {Idea Post}

11/12/2011

1 Comment

 
Picture

A dear friend is retiring at the end of the month. I decided to take a twist on the season's advent calendar to commemorate her life's work by making a retirement advent calendar, "A Bouquet of Memories from Natural History."  

Picture



I took the calendar and stripped it down to it's base so that I had a sturdy cardboard backing and an easy hook at the top for the calendar to hang on.


Then, I cut velcro squares into quads. (Twice as many needed for the receiving side.)  I arranged those quads on the top of the calendar. Around each piece of velcro I wrote a little "happy memory prompt" ... this is a retiring attorney so things like "best court moment," "truth stranger than fiction," "best  argument"... 


Then, I cut and taped the calendar for December 2011 to the base. 

Picture


For this project, I used the page on the calendar where it gives you a "preview" of all the pictures.  I cut each of those mini-pictures around its edges to make small "advent cards."



I took each advent card and put a small piece of velcro for the attaching side on the back and covered the prompts. 


Then, on the front page of the calendar, I attached the second set of receiving velcro at the bottom of the full size picture.

The front page was attached to the backboard with clips and ribbons. And voila! 

Picture


By the end of the month, as she takes one flower from the top and places it onto the bottom, she will create a bouquet and each day, she'll have a new prompt of happy memories to make the last few weeks fun. 



This is a great recycling/reuse project for calendars, which are also abundant at this time of year.  I usually cut the gorgeous prints and (re)use them for cards, wrapping paper or wall hangings.  

This is a new and exciting use and a fun way to build anticipation for a special occasion! 





It would be cool to make this a scalable project.  I enjoyed the physicality of playing with the calendar, but one could imagine a template in iphoto or a calendar service where one could select the advent card icons and write the text for the prompts and then send it to someone as a printable or virtual special event advent calendar.... ooh, possibilities!
1 Comment

    part of Kate's Mural

    idea incubator & 
    prototype lab 
     . . . architecting hope . . .  


    Featured
    Guest Posts
    101
    21st Century Career
    Changemakers
    Creative
    Design
    Ethics
    Learning
    Leadership
    Life Lessons
    Social Impact

    Sectors
    Aging
    Education
    Health
    Macroscope
    Social Enterprise

    Themes
    Wildflower (thoughts)
    Idea (seeds)
    Prototype (experiments)

    Failures
    Fun
    Future/Innovation

    About this blog
    About Kate
    View my profile on LinkedIn
    Picture
    All writing licensed by
    Kate Michi Ettinger and guest contributors under a
    Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    April 2016
    March 2015
    January 2015
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    November 2012
    August 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    March 2011
    September 2010
    August 2010
    June 2010
    November 2009
    October 2009
    July 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008
    February 2008
    October 2007
    July 2007
    June 2007