How does the paper chain maker work?
- Type the day you start counting: 1 December is filled in for you, and you can change it to any day.
- Add a family name and activities if you want them: one activity per line, up to 25.
- Download the PDF and print it at 100 percent, then cut the strips apart, loop each one, glue the tab, link the chain, hang it up.
The tool does the counting: it works out how many days there are from your start date to 24 or 25 December, numbers every strip, and prints the right weekday and date on each one. A chain started on 1 December 2026 comes out as 24 strips, from 24 on Tuesday 1 December down to 1 on Thursday 24 December. Start on 8 December instead and you get 17 strips, already numbered correctly: no misprints, no recounting by hand.
Count down to Christmas, or count up
| Numbering | What the strips say | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Countdown | 24 on the first day down to 1 on the last, one loop comes off every morning | the classic “how many sleeps?” chain |
| Count up | 1 on the first day, growing to 24, mark or tear one off daily | children who like watching the number climb |
The date is printed under the number on every strip, so either way the chain and the calendar agree.
What goes on the strips
The topper is a separate sheet you cut out and fix above the chain: a star, your family name, and “Christmas countdown chain” underneath. The activities are the quiet-evening job list (bake cookies, write cards for grandma, read a Christmas story), one per line, and each one prints on its own strip in your order. Any strips without an activity print with a dotted rule, so a child can write the day’s job in by hand.
The colors are pastels on purpose: every strip prints light, the text stays near-black (about 12.5 to 1 contrast or better on every fill, computed October 2026), and a mono printer loses nothing.
Print it at true size
| Paper | Strips per sheet | 24 strips make |
|---|---|---|
| A4 (21.0 × 29.7 cm) | 4 | 6 sheets + how-to |
| US Letter (21.6 × 27.9 cm) | 4 | 6 sheets + how-to |
Each strip is 18.6 cm long and 2 inches (5.08 cm) wide with a 1.5 cm glue tab. In the print dialog choose 100 percent or Actual size, never “fit to page”, which shrinks the strips and the tabs stop reaching round. Ordinary office paper is right; the chain is looped and glued, not folded.
When to hang it
A 1-to-24 December chain goes up on 1 December, and Christmas 2026 falls on Friday 25 December, so the last loop comes off on Christmas Eve. Cutting and looping 24 strips is roughly half an hour with helpers; printing takes minutes. Started late? Set the real start date and print the shorter chain; the numbers re-count themselves. That is the one thing the free templates from craft blogs cannot do: theirs are printed with 24 strips whether you have 24 days or 12.
What this tool deliberately does not do
It does not use photos; the paper chain is names, numbers and dates. If you want a countdown with a photo behind every door, the photo advent calendar is that job. It does not mail anything or keep a list online; the chain is paper, and the paper hangs where the family sees it.
For the rest of the season’s bench: the Christmas wish list gets the lists typed and printed, the wrapping paper with a name on it covers the gifts, and the reindeer food toppers finish Christmas Eve. The whole shelf lives on the Christmas page.
Questions
When do we hang the chain?
The classic way is one strip per day from 1 December, so a chain that finishes on Christmas Eve has 24 strips and goes up on 1 December. Starting late is fine: set the start date to the day you begin and the tool prints exactly as many strips as you have days, with the right numbers and dates on them.
Do we count down or up?
Both are on the page. Countdown numbers every strip with the days still to go (24 first, 1 last), and one loop comes off each day. Count up numbers the days 1, 2, 3, which suits children who like watching the count grow. Every strip carries its date either way, so the chain always agrees with the calendar.
What do we write on the strips?
Type one small activity per line (bake cookies, write cards for grandma, read a Christmas story) and each one prints on its own strip, up to 25 lines. Strips left without an activity print with a dotted rule instead, ready for a word from the pen.
How many sheets will I print?
Four strips to a sheet, so 24 strips make 6 sheets on A4 or US Letter, plus one how-to page, and a topper sheet with your family name and a star if you type a name. Print at 100 percent (actual size) so the strips come out true to size.
How big are the strips?
Each strip is 18.6 cm long and 5.08 cm (2 inches) wide, with a 1.5 cm glue tab on the end: loop it, glue the tab over the other end, link the loops. Glued, each loop is about 5.4 cm across (the strip without the tab, 17.1 cm, curled into a ring), so a finished 24-strip chain hangs about 1.3 metres; the 24 strips are about 4.5 metres of paper before looping (computed from the strip design, October 2026).
Is anything uploaded from this page?
No. The dates, the family name, the activities and the PDF are built inside your browser, and no request carries anything you typed. Closing the tab erases everything.