A money-saving dad has made his kids their very own Christmas advent calendar out of something we all have at home - toilet roll.
Darren Cullen, 35, a magician and dad of two from Dover, wanted to do a fun family project with his sons that taught them about recycling.
He collected toilet rolls, stocked up on chocolate from B&M and set to work making the advent calendars with his wife and sons.
Each advent calendar only cost £3.50 - the price of the chocolates from B&M - and the family asked friends to collect toilet rolls for them to boost their supplies.
However, it may not necessarily be the most economical project.
For those looking after their pennies, you can pick up advent calendars from £1 in the supermarkets or from Poundland.
Darren was inspired to create the advent calendar so he could post the video on TikTok.
He toldLatestDeals.co.uk: "I had to ask all my friends and family to collect toilet rolls for me as my original idea was to make four advent calendars.
“One for each of my sons and one for me and my wife, totalling 100 toilet rolls needed.”
Darren put the advent calendar together using standard PVA glue.
This took longer to dry than a glue gun, but it meant his sons could help without the risk of burning themselves.
"We glued the rolls onto a cardboard backer and waited for it to dry,” he explained.
"We used PVA glue so as not to risk burns from a glue gun. This took longer but was more messy fun for the boys.
"Once glued and dried, we painted the tree shape we had made green.
"Then we filled each space with a chocolate of our choosing and sealed it shut with wrapping paper doors.
"We numbered the doors and voila: they are ready for December.”
Darren said another advantage of his project is there is no plastic involved, so it's more environmentally friendly than your standard advent calendar.
The boys also get to choose what goes in the doors for each day.
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"My brother loved the idea and is now insisting we make him one so I'm on the hunt for more tubes now.
"The main tips I can offer are to make sure you give plenty of time if you're going to give this a go as drying time is important so the actual structure is sturdy enough to hold itself together.
“Also, consider the size of the toilet roll tubes, as some are slightly different sizes and can cause the front to be uneven.
Would you ever make your own advent calendar? Let us know in the comments below.
“Each cost only £3.50 to make: the cost of the chocolate, which I bought in B&M."
Darren shared his creation on Facebook and soon got 3,000 likes, with his thrifty advent calendars inspiring other parents.
"It's gone mad on social media inspiring lots of people to do the same,” Darren added.
“It's also helping people to recycle rather than going out and buying ones with little chocolates in as you can fill them with whatever you like."
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