Red Riding Hood Classic Child Costume

Includes Red hooded capelet with tie at neck, one-piece dress with White top and a short Red & White gingham skirt, and Red belt. Available in Child sizes: Small (4-6), Medium (8-10), and Large (12-14). Picnic basket and socks not included.

Advent calendars are a fun and exciting way to countdown the days to Christmas. Each day a new surprise is revealed as Christmas Day gets closer.

A Christmas Pyramid Advent Calendar makes the countdown even more exciting, as bigger surprises, such as ornaments and decorations for the tree, can be revealed.

But perhaps the most exciting way to countdown to Christmas is to reveal, day by day, new elements for a nativity scene, culminating on Christmas Eve with a tiny baby to lie in the crib.

Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day and lasts for 21 days to Christmas Eve. So you will need 21 square boxes, all the same size, decorated with Christmas paper, or painted silver or gold. Alternating gold and silver, or red and green, looks even more impressive.

Take the lids and remove the rims from three sides on each lid, using a sharp craft knife, leaving one rim intact. Paint a thin line of craft glue around the edges with no rim and dip in glitter. Allow to dry.

Make a hole in the edge of the lid opposite the remaining rim - right in the middle - and poke through a gold colored split pin. Open out the split pin on the inside of the lid so that it stays put. Do the same with all the remaining lids. Number each lid from 1 to 21 using stick on numbers.

Using craft glue or a glue gun, secure the remaining rim of each lid to one side of each box, so that it opens like a flap. Allow to dry thoroughly, and then start assembling your advent calendar.

Place boxes 1-6 side by side and make sure they are perfectly aligned with the lids at the front and the split pin handles at the bottom. Using craft glue or a hot glue gun, glue each box to its neighbor so you have a foundation row of six boxes.

Glue boxes 7-11 side by side for the second row, and place it on the first row as if you were making a pyramid of blocks. Glue it in place. There should be half a box length of the bottom row at each end of the second row.

Glue boxes 12-15 together, and make the fourth row with boxes 16-18, followed by 19-20 for the fifth row, and the remaining box - number 21 - on top. You should now have a pyramid stack of 21 boxes with flaps in front that open upward.

Put a Christmas tree decoration, a small gift, or a piece of a nativity scene in each box. The 21st box should hold something special - a glittering star for the tree, a Christmas candle, or the baby for the crib.

Place your pyramid on a shelf or in the window. You can further decorate it by covering the sides with glitter or placing Christmas ornaments on the steps.

Alicia McSorley is the owner of http://www.basketstar.com , an online gift basket store in New Jersey.