A DIY brick advent calendar: 24 days of building one design
To make a brick advent calendar, take one build with step-by-step instructions, divide its steps into 24 days, and bag each day’s pieces in a numbered bag with that day’s instruction pages. Each evening in December you open a bag and build; on Christmas Eve the last bag finishes the model.
Any set or instruction book works. For a calendar that ends in something personal, build a model of the family home or a family photo as brick wall art: we design either from your photos for $19, ready within 24 hours. Bricks are sold separately.
Choose the build
Pick something that takes 10 to 30 minutes an evening for whoever will build it. Divide the piece count by 24 for a feel of each day:
| Build | Pieces | Per day, over 24 days |
|---|---|---|
| House modelSmall & abstract | 500 | about 21 |
| House modelCompact & charming | 1,000 | about 42 |
| House modelMore architectural detail | 2,000 | about 83 |
| House modelDetailed display | 3,000 | about 125 |
| House modelLarge display model | 4,000 | about 167 |
| Framed pictureSmall, square | about 1,150 | about 48 |
| Framed pictureMedium, square | about 2,250 | about 94 |
| Framed pictureLarge, square | about 3,750 | about 156 |
- For children building with an adult: a 500-piece house, about 21 pieces an evening.
- For an adult builder: a 1,000 to 2,000-piece house or a small or medium picture (the brick frame adds a good share of a picture’s pieces).
- For a family sharing the evenings: anything up to the largest sizes, with turns.
Houses are the more varied build, a different part of the house each night; pictures are calmer, built in layers and rows. Bricks are about $60–$110 for a 500-piece house and about $160–$220 for a small framed picture at LEGO® Pick a Brick prices.
Split the book into 24 days
- Count the steps. Instruction books differ a lot: in our own designs, houses of 1,600 to 3,300 pieces run to roughly 350 to 1,000 steps, while framed pictures have 10 to 140 bigger steps. Divide by 24 for an average day.
- Mark the day breaks in the book with a pencil, at natural stopping points: the end of a section, a finished wall, a completed row. Days can be uneven; finishing something each evening matters more.
- Save a satisfying last day. The roof, the chimney, the frame or the final details make a good December 24.
- Print the book and cut it into each day’s pages, or note the page numbers on each bag.
Bag the pieces
- Sort the bricks by color first. It makes picking each day’s pieces much faster.
- Work through the book step by step. Each step shows the pieces it adds; take those pieces for the current day’s bag until you reach that day’s break.
- Number the bags 1 to 24 and put each day’s instruction pages inside.
- Check that nothing is left over. At the end the brick pile should be empty. If a piece is missing or extra, you find it in November, not on December 18.
Bagging takes an evening or two for a small build, longer for a large one. Paper bags pegged on a string, small boxes in a crate or a pocket calendar all work; use a sturdier box for the biggest days.
When to order for a December 1 start
- The design is delivered within 24 hours; most are ready in about an hour.
- The bricks need to arrive by late November to leave time for bagging. LEGO® quotes about 5 days for Pick a Brick Bestseller pieces and up to 28 business days for Standard pieces in the US (LEGO® Help: delivery timeframes, as of October 2026). If your bag has Standard pieces and it’s already November, buy those on BrickLink instead; see Pick a Brick vs BrickLink.
- Running late? Make it a 12-day calendar from December 13, or count down the last 12 days of the year to New Year’s Eve. Split the book the same way, into 12.
Safety
Loose bricks are small parts: keep the bags out of reach of children under three and pets, and build at a table rather than on the floor.
More Christmas ideas
Questions
Can I make my own LEGO® advent calendar?
Yes. Take any build with step-by-step instructions, divide the steps into 24 days, and put each day’s pieces and instruction pages in a numbered bag. Sorting by color first makes the bagging faster.
How many pieces per day is right?
About 20 to 40 pieces a day for children building with an adult, roughly a 500-piece build over 24 days; 40 to 80 or more for adult builders.
What should we build?
Something that ends with a reveal: an official set, or a custom design of your own house or a favorite photo as framed wall art. Ours are $19 per design, delivered within 24 hours, with bricks sold separately.
When should I order the bricks?
Early enough to arrive by late November. Pick a Brick Standard pieces can take up to 28 business days in the US, so order those by mid-October or buy them on BrickLink; Bestseller pieces take about 5 days.