Aytai DIY Wooden Advent Calendar Christmas Advent Calendar 2019 with 24 Drawers, 24 Days Countdown Calendar for Christmas Holiday Decorations

I purchased this for a craft project, and had not very demanding expectations. I've extremely pleasantly surprised by the sturdiness and workmanship in this project. It has quite exceeded my expectations. I'm a dice collector. I plan to paint it in appropriate themes, and then give it to my spouse to fill with interesting dice for me for next Christmas season. My requirements were paintable, with small drawers which could hold a couple of RPG, and not a lot of money.You should know that it comes packed flat, with many small pieces. Each of the drawers is six pieces, and there are 24 drawers. Then there is the frame of the unit, and the decorative embellishments. I was very impressed by the precision of the fit. Once assembled, it is sturdy and stable, even without the drawers inserted, because the fit of the various tabs and the slots they fit in is perfect. I'm used to getting furniture items which kind of mostly line up, if you force it a little, and maybe make an extra hole or two. There was none of that here. It did take some careful lining up, but once everything was properly aligned the fit was perfect. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for assembly by young children. The wood is thin enough that I can imagine it cracking if forced.I debated whether it would be best to paint the pieces and then assemble the unit, or assemble first then paint. After fitting a couple of pieces together I chose to assemble first because it's reasonable to expect some swelling of the wood after painting, and the tolerances of the way the pieces fit together are so tight I think they might not fit if painted first.I won't comment on the decorative elements for the drawers and the top, as I purchased the item intending not to install them.The instructions were generally well written, although clearly not by someone whose first language was English. I had no trouble following them. Parts are labeled clearly on the part, and everything that was supposed to be included was.In short, if you want an advent calendar you can customize easily, I recommend this very highly. If you only care about a finished product, assembling it may take more time than you want to invest, and you might prefer to buy a pre-painted calendar.

This was a cute idea and my kids enjoyed using it as a calendar. with that said, i wish i had not purchased 2 of these for my children. they are so difficult to put together and take forever!!!! they arrive like ikea furniture, so you get 1,000 pieces to snap together. you have to use some pressure to get them to snap together, but if you use a tad too much pressure, the balsa wood will break. the glue dots they give you for the little door decorations are worthless. i had to buy a glue gun. the kids had fun painting them, but that was after i spent 2.5 hours putting these things together. several drawers came a part when we used them and had to be put back together. the picture is deceiving. the product looks pretty big, but it is shorter than many of my children's picture books. these won't store well until next christmas so i have to trash them. which defeats the purpose because i wanted something reusable. next year i am buying a more expensive one that is already put together from target.

If you are ok with DIY, this is a fantastic deal. It takes a bit of time to assemble & decorate. I highly recommend using some kind of glue when assembling the individual boxes as they can pop apart easily. The individual compartments are a good size compared to other advent calendars. ** TIP ** when assembling mine, I had some rubber washers without anything in my directions explaining where they go. I contacted the company who was great in explaining that they go on the outer edges of the base piece to keep parts from coming apart. They do not go on easily but once in place, I painted over them. I was told they would update the instruction manual. Overall, this was fantastic and I've purchased four more for next year!

If I didn’t look closely at the dimensions of this calendar I would have been very upset when it arrived and saw how small it actually is. A few of the pictures make it look rather large but the dimensions say otherwise. Other than that I liked this calendar. I bought it for my parents as something special to do with them this month.I wanted to give them some things that are too big to fit in the boxes so I wrote out little cards with a number on it that went with a corresponding gift. With those little cards I did also give them a small piece of candy too.I used paint pens to decorate it and it worked out much easier than actual paint since the pieces are so small. Putting it together proved a little challenging at first but once I got the hang of it I was done quickly.My birthday is on the 25 of May, I wish there was one that wasn’t Christmas themed.

This was awful! Definitely not a kid friendly project. It’s extremely hard to put together, the pieces don’t fit exactly right, and the wood is easily broken. You have to break the pieces out yourself from a flat sheet and they just splinter and don’t come off easily. It’s a lot to make and it’s smaller than I anticipated. Would not buy again

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  I love it. Very easy instructions to follow. It is a very fun little project. If you love Arts and crafts you will not regret this purchase. It is very well constructed.

I guess I should have read the dimensions more closely... The pictures are a gross representation of the product. It is really really really small. It's also a HUGE pain to put together. I've been trying to get the sides connected for 30 min. As soon as you get one side on the other pops off. So disappointing.

I’m not sure how this got 5 star reviews. It’s a great concept but it is impossible to put together. The wood splinters when removing from the cutouts. It breaks when applying force when assembling. So frustrating. I can not get the last bit assembled no matter what I do. I guess you get what you pay for.