What to Put in a Digital Advent Calendar: A 24-Door Plan

You’ve opened the empty calendar, door 1 is looking back at you, and you have no idea what goes behind it. This page is the plan for all 24 doors, week by week, with the door type next to each one. It’s written for a partner, a friend or a relative; the lists for particular people start from the same rhythm, and the wide list of ideas for anyone is 24 digital advent calendar ideas.

The maker is free, with 24 doors, no account for you or the person who opens it, and one link to send; the email address you enter is used once, to send you the secret link that edits or deletes the calendar. Each of these pages goes deeper on one kind of door: digital gifts, videos and songs, kindness tasks, riddles, jokes and quizzes, messages and quotes, fillers for adults and door 24.

The rhythm: a message, a memory, a thing to do, a thing to keep

Twenty-four doors of the same kind wear out by door 9. Four kinds in a fixed order don’t, because the person opening the calendar learns the beat and still can’t guess what’s behind the next door. The order is the same all month:

• A message is words from you, in text or on video. It’s the cheapest door to make and the one most often replayed.
• A memory is a photo or a few lines about something that happened. It asks nothing new of you, only a slow scroll back through your phone.
• A thing to do is a small task for the day: a walk, a recipe, a call, a film at the same time. The door is the invitation and the task is the gift.
• A thing to keep outlasts the day: a playlist, a shared album, a GIF, a gift sent by email. It’s the door they’ll come back to when the house is quiet.

Door 1 is a message, door 2 a memory, door 3 a thing to do, door 4 a thing to keep, and the order starts again at door 5. Doors 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 are the keepers, which means door 24 is always one. Bend the order where the date asks for it (a call on a Sunday, a birthday on the 17th); it still works as a check that no run of five doors in a row is all text.

Week 1: doors 1 to 7, a start that explains itself

The first week sets the shape. Keep every door short, because the person is still working out what this thing is.

1. Message: what this is and who it is from (text door). Four sentences: from whom, that there are 24 doors, that each opens on its day, and that the last one is on December 24. A calendar that arrives without this line looks like a link from a stranger.
2. Memory: the first year (image door). A photo from the first year you knew each other, with the date and one line about where you were standing.
3. Thing to do: cook something this week (link door). A link to a recipe on any recipe page, with a text line: “make this on Saturday and send me a photo”.
4. Thing to keep: a playlist (link door). A link to a playlist on whichever music service you both use. Name the first song in the door text so the link isn’t a blank.
5. Message: good morning, filmed where you are (YouTube door). A 20-second video, uploaded as Unlisted, pasted as a link. This is the door they’ll replay, and the plan puts it early so they find out the calendar can hold you.
6. Memory: the day you met, in five lines (text door). Where, what was said, what the weather was doing. Facts, not feelings, are what make it specific.
7. Thing to do: a ten-minute walk with the phone in a pocket (text door). Name a place: “to the end of your street and back; tell me one thing you saw”.

Week 2: doors 8 to 14, more of you

By the second week the pattern is clear, so the doors can get more personal.

8. Thing to keep: a photo made for a phone screen (image door). A picture from this week, cropped tall, that works as a lock-screen background.
9. Message: something you admire, with the evidence (text door). One quality, then the day it showed. “You are patient” is a claim; “You waited forty minutes at the airport and never mentioned it” is a door.
10. Memory: a place you went together (image door). The photo, the street name, and what you ate.
11. Thing to do: a film or video at the same time (link door). A link to the video and a start time written in both time zones if you are apart. For videos worth a door, see 24 videos and songs.
12. Thing to keep: an inside joke as a GIF (GIF door). The maker takes a GIF link as a door. The joke only the two of you understand is the whole point.
13. Message: you reading a page aloud (YouTube door). A page of a book you think they’d like, 30 to 60 seconds, filmed with the cover in shot.
14. Memory: the worst trip, told fairly (text door). Six lines: the delay, the wrong hotel, the thing you laughed about afterwards.

Week 3: doors 15 to 21, tasks and a small gift

The third week is where a calendar usually sags. Put the things to do here, and keep the gift for door 20.

15. Thing to do: a quiz about the two of you (text door). Ten questions in the door; the answers come in a later door, or by message when they’ve had a go. More formats are in riddles, jokes and quizzes.
16. Thing to keep: a shared album that fills as December goes (link door). A Google Photos album set to share by link: Google’s page says anyone with the link can view the photos and add to the album. Ask for one photo a day and by door 24 there are 48 in it.
17. Message: one screen of letter (text door). Written on your phone so it reads well on theirs. Nothing in it that needs an answer.
18. Memory: an object with a story (image door). The mug, the scarf, the key ring. Photograph it and write down what happened to it.
19. Thing to do: one small kindness for someone else (text door). A task for today, done for a neighbour or a colleague and not for you. The 24 kindness tasks page has them ready to paste.
20. Thing to keep: a gift card sent by email (text door). Send the card to the person’s own email address, and put only “check your inbox” in the door. A code or a claimable link pasted into a calendar can be used by anyone who opens the calendar. Digital gifts that fit behind a door lists what each vendor says about delivery, expiry and country.
21. Message: ten seconds from someone else (YouTube door). A sibling, a friend or a colleague says one sentence on video, filmed by you, with their permission.

Week 4: doors 22 to 24, closing it properly

Three doors are all that’s left, and they decide how the calendar is remembered.

22. Memory: the best photo of the month (image door). Pick the one from the shared album at door 16 that made you laugh out loud.
23. Thing to do: tomorrow’s plan, in writing (text door). The call time, the table, the train, the person who is cooking. Specific enough that nobody has to ask.
24. Thing to keep: the longest door in the calendar (YouTube door). A two-minute video, one take, about the year; or a letter that fills a screen. Door 24 lists twelve endings and what not to put there.

In the tool The maker’s doors hold text, an image, a YouTube video, a GIF or a link. In this plan, doors 1, 6, 7, 9, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20 and 23 are text; doors 2, 8, 10, 18 and 22 are images; doors 5, 13, 21 and 24 are YouTube links; door 12 is a GIF; doors 3, 4, 11 and 16 are links. Videos are links to YouTube, not uploads. When all 24 are filled, the calendar goes out as one link by WhatsApp or email, and the secret edit link in your inbox opens it for changes.

Digital fillers for adults

Adults like their sweetness in small, exact doses. What works behind a door for a partner, a friend or a colleague is a small piece of information they didn’t have:

• A one-paragraph review of your own year, with one thing you got wrong.
• A table reservation or a train time, written as plain text.
• A chapter of a book you read, as a link to the library listing or a photograph of the page.
• A playlist with a note on why the third song is on it.
• A riddle or a quiz, scored on the next door.
• A voice message, for the day when typing feels too formal.
• A gift card sent by email, one in the whole calendar.

The page on digital advent calendar fillers for adults has 24 of them; the page on messages and quotes that are not clichés covers the text doors.

Digital fillers for a family

A family calendar is opened by a parent with a child leaning on their arm, so the doors are written for reading aloud and for doing in ten minutes:

• A read-aloud: one chapter or one picture book a day, with the title in the door, and a parent reading it.
• A kindness task for the day, with no purchase: write a card, fill a bird feeder, tidy a shelf for a sibling.
• A photo of the family from one year ago, with a question: “Where were we?”
• A song to sing together, linked from a video.
• A game for the dinner table, written out in three lines.
• A call to a grandparent, with the time in the door.

The doors are addressed to the parent, who decides what the child sees. A child’s photo or name should not go behind a door that others can open; the page on photos of children in an advent calendar sets out the school rules. Ready-to-copy kindness tasks for a class or a family are on the kindness page.

Where the platforms set limits

Good to know Unlisted is not private. Google’s wording is that unlisted videos and playlists can be seen and shared by anyone with the link, viewers need no Google account, and “link sharing has no restriction on resharing”. A video door is a link to a video on YouTube, so record what you’d say to the one person and nothing you’d mind a third person seeing.

Three more limits matter for the video doors.

Ads. Google’s page says embedded videos may show skippable or non-skippable in-stream ads, that the ads follow the same settings as on youtube.com, that only YouTube and the video’s owner earn from them, and that there is no way to turn off ads on embedded videos only. The maker can’t switch off YouTube’s.

The player. Google’s rules for sites that embed YouTube require a viewport of at least 200 by 200 pixels, with 480 by 270 recommended for a 16:9 video, and no overlays, frames or other elements in front of any part of the player, controls included. For you it means a video door is a plain player, not a decorated one, so let the video do the decorating.

Vimeo. On Vimeo’s free plan the only privacy settings are Public and Private, and a private video cannot be embedded anywhere; Unlisted is a paid setting. A surprise video for one person therefore goes on YouTube unless you pay for Vimeo. If you embed a video on a site of your own, Google’s privacy-enhanced mode, on the youtube-nocookie.com domain, stops views from personalizing the viewer’s YouTube experience and makes the ads non-personalized.

Put it in a calendar

Pick the template nearest to the person, such as the template for a partner, and copy it with the rhythm already laid out. Or start empty: Create your calendar, pick a background, write door 1 tonight and door 24 tomorrow, then fill the middle at your own pace.

Frequently Asked Questions

What to put in an online advent calendar?

Text, an image, a YouTube video, a GIF or a link: each door holds one of the five. Fill them in a rhythm of a message, a memory, something to do and something to keep, as in the plan above.

What are some good ideas for filling an advent calendar?

A 20-second video of you, a photo with a date and a line, a quiz scored on the next door, a shared album, a recipe to cook on the same night, a gift card sent by email, and a closing letter. The plan above gives each one a numbered door.

What to put in an advent calendar that is not candy?

Anything that can be a link, a photo or a few lines: a memory, a walk, a song, a task. A calendar made online has no limit of size or weight, so the doors can be small and specific, and the small, specific ones are usually the ones people remember.

How do I do a virtual advent calendar?

Create the calendar, fill the 24 doors, and send the link by WhatsApp or email; the person opens it in a browser, with no account and nothing to install. Videos are YouTube links, set to Unlisted if the video is for one person.

How can I create a digital advent calendar?

With the free maker: the steps are a name and a design, then the doors, then the link. The comparison with other routes is on how to make a digital advent calendar.

Can I put a gift behind a door?

Yes, as an idea, a link or a gift sent to the person’s own email. The vendors whose own pages state how a card arrives, what it costs and where it works are listed with their dates on digital gifts for an advent calendar.

Do I have to fill every door before sending it?

No. The edit link opens the calendar for changes at any time, so you can send it with the first week filled and add the rest as December goes.

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