Twenty-four doors, and you write what is behind them
Every free advent calendar online is a shop. The doors open onto somebody else's products, half of them want an email address before December, and the ones that do not are selling the chocolate.
What people actually want to make is a calendar of their own: a treat, an activity, a job, a joke, one for each day. So the doors here hold your own words and nothing else, and the whole thing travels in a link rather than in an account.
The numbers are scattered, and that is not decoration
A calendar with the doors running 1 to 24 in neat rows can be counted along. A child works out which door is the 12th without reading a single number, and once one good thing has been found the pattern gives away where the next one is.
Scattering them is how a real advent calendar has always been printed, and it is the whole difference between opening a door and finding one. It also stops the impatient from working forwards.
The scatter is fixed by the settings rather than random each time, which matters: a reprint that moved the doors would be a different calendar, and that is no use at all once somebody is halfway through December.
Line one is the 1st
The list is read straight down in day order, so it is easy to write and easy to check. A blank line in the middle is treated as an empty day and marked as one, because that is almost always a day you have not thought of yet rather than a day you meant to leave out.
Blank lines at the bottom are just an untidy text box and are ignored, so you can leave the cursor wherever it lands.
You do not have to fill all 24
Empty doors print blank. That is right if the plan is to write them in by hand, and it is a problem if it is not, so the tool says how many are still empty and which days they are rather than letting you find out at the printer.
How many across
Six across and four down is the shape that fits an A4 sheet comfortably and leaves each door big enough to write inside or to stick something behind.
Seven or eight across makes small doors. Fine for a wall chart that somebody ticks off day by day, tight for anything with a photograph or a folded flap involved. The tool says so when you go past six.
Nothing behind the doors but your own words
No products, no links out, no account, and no email address wanted in November in exchange for a calendar in December.
The whole calendar travels in the part of the address after the hash, which a browser never sends to a server. So it can be shared with whoever is making it with you, and there is still nothing stored anywhere and nothing to delete in January.
Common questions
What goes behind the doors?
Whatever you write. A treat, an activity, a job, a joke, a chapter to read. The doors here hold your own words and nothing else: no products, no links out and no email address wanted before December.
Why are the numbers jumbled up?
So the doors cannot be counted along. A calendar running 1 to 24 in neat rows means a child works out which door is which without reading it, and the one with the good thing behind it is obvious from where it sits. Scattering is how a real advent calendar has always been printed, and it is the difference between opening a door and finding one.
Will it print the same way twice?
Yes. The scatter is fixed by the settings, so a reprint is the same calendar. A reprint that moved the doors would be a different calendar, which is no use once somebody has started opening it.
Which line is which day?
Line one is the 1st, straight down to line twenty-four. A blank line in the middle is treated as an empty day and marked, so you can see what is still to fill in. Blank lines at the end are just an untidy box and are ignored.
Do I have to fill in all 24?
No. Empty doors print blank, which is right if you are writing them in by hand and a problem if you are not, so the tool says how many are still empty and which ones.
How do I share it?
Copy the link. The whole calendar travels in the part of the address after the hash, which a browser never sends to a server, so nothing is stored anywhere and there is no account at either end.
How many doors across should I use?
Six across and four down fits an A4 sheet comfortably and leaves doors big enough to write inside. Seven or eight across makes them small: fine for a wall chart somebody ticks off, tight for anything you want to stick a picture behind.
Can I use it for something other than Christmas?
The tool makes 24 numbered doors with your own text behind them. Plenty of people use that shape for a countdown to a holiday, a birthday month, or the last few weeks of a course.