December 1 is seven weeks away. That sounds like plenty of time, until you remember that a full advent calendar is 24 pockets, each needing to be printed, assembled, and filled. Start now and you can do it comfortably. Start in late November and you will be printing at 2 a.m. with a flashlight and the slowly dawning realization that 24 small boxes is quite a lot of small boxes. This is not hypothetical advice.
The Thinger Advent Calendar collection has 36 free models covering every approach: pre-built countdowns, modular drawer systems, flip mechanisms, theme builds, and companion sets you reveal one piece at a time. Here is a practical route through the best of them, organized by how much print time you want to commit.
The classic shape: Christmas Advent Calender
The Christmas Advent Calender by Elproducts is a Santa Claus-shaped countdown that has been circulating in the maker community since 2017. Elproducts designed it in Tinkercad and tested it on a Prusa MK2S. The model includes a separate "DaysTilSanta" piece for displaying the countdown count on its own, which is a nice detail if you want a number visible from across the room. The spelling is "Calender" with an e, which has been generating patient corrections in the comments for nine years, and which I think gives it a certain charm at this point.
The drawer approach: Advent Calendar
If you prefer a modular wall-hanging system over a single figure, the Advent Calendar by jbovee is a numbered-drawer structure designed for family use. Jbovee built it for his wife and grandkids, and the proportions reflect that: pockets are generous enough to hold small gifts, and the assembly is straightforward. It is the kind of print that earns its spot on the wall in early December and stays there for years, which is the best kind.
The flip mechanism: Christmas Countdown Cubes v1
The Christmas Countdown Cubes v1 by brlittle takes a different approach to the problem. Instead of 24 pockets to fill, it is two cubes you flip to display the number of days remaining: one for the tens digit, one for units. Brlittle paired it with a Santa face assembly (base, backplate, face, hat pieces, glued together) to give the numbers somewhere to live. A v2 with a "Grinchier font" exists if that is more your household's aesthetic. The cubes themselves print fast. Start with those and decide on the Santa hat situation later.
The gamer version: Magic the Gathering Advent Calendar
The Magic the Gathering Advent Calendar by brimstone326 is for anyone who has outgrown chocolate-filled pockets. It holds one MTG card per slot across all 24 days, with two or three cards crammable per slot if needed. Brimstone326 designed it when their oldest outgrew toy-filled calendars, and is admirably upfront that it was not designed to account for sleeved cards, so check your card situation before committing to the print. The photos show it painted in card-art colors, and the effect is genuinely good. The design is on Cults3D.
/https://fbi.cults3d.com/uploaders/15372503/illustration-file/f250c368-5b53-46d3-906f-56afb5fb0e8f/MTG_Painted.jpg)
The reveal approach: No-Supports Nativity Set
This last one is not a calendar box at all, but it is one of my favorite takes on the advent idea. The No-Supports Nativity Set by stockto on Thingiverse is 12 figures: Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, Manger, Stable, Donkey, Shepherd, Wise Man, Angel, Star, and two Sheep. All of them print without supports. Stockto originally designed them to be an advent calendar where you reveal a new figure each morning, but the box design never came together and was never posted. The figures work perfectly for that purpose anyway: print them all now, keep them out of sight, and bring one out each day through December until the full scene is assembled on the mantelpiece by Christmas. No box required.
Where to go from here
All five of these are in the 3D Printed Advent Calendar collection on Thinger, alongside 31 more models I didn't have room to cover. If you want to search across Thingiverse, Printables, and MakerWorld at once for advent fillers, small gifts, and ornaments to add to the mix, the free Thinger app searches over 600,000 free models in one place. December 1 is seven weeks out. The printer does not need much notice, but it does need some.
