Alright, so December was rolling around, and I was thinking, you know, advent calendars are cool, but they’re always chocolate or little toys. What about us football nuts? Specifically, Premier League nuts like me. That’s when the lightbulb went off – I should totally make a Premier League Advent Calendar!
Getting Started – The Big Idea
First off, I had to figure out what this thing would actually be. I’m not exactly a master craftsman, so building a physical one with 24 little doors was out. Too much faff. I thought about maybe a little website, but coding all that seemed like a headache I didn’t need. Then it hit me: I could just do daily posts! Like, a cool graphic or a bit of trivia each day leading up to Christmas. Yeah, that felt doable.
The Nitty-Gritty: Planning and Content
So, I grabbed a notepad. What kind of stuff would I want to see? I jotted down a load of ideas:
- Iconic goals – you know, the screamers!
- Legendary players from past and present.
- Maybe some funny manager quotes or moments.
- Team badges, but maybe with a festive twist? Nah, keep it classic.
- Little-known facts or stats.
That gave me a good starting point. The main thing was getting 24 unique bits of content. Easier said than done, let me tell you. I spent a good few evenings just brainstorming, trying to remember all sorts of Premier League history. My search history was pretty wild for a while there, just “Premier League best…” this and “Premier League shocking…” that.
Once I had a rough list, I thought about the visuals. I’m no design genius, but I can knock a few things together. I decided each day would have its own simple graphic. I wanted it to feel a bit festive, obviously, but still scream “Premier League.” So, I played around with some classic Christmas colours – your reds, your greens – but tried to keep the focus on the football content itself. Nothing too fancy, just clear and punchy.
Putting It All Together (The Grind)
This was the part where the real work kicked in. I had to actually make these 24 daily bits. For the facts and trivia, it was a lot of double-checking. You don’t want to put out duff info, right? For the player highlights or goals, I tried to find decent images or at least good descriptions if I couldn’t actually show a video clip in a static image. It was basically me, my laptop, and a whole lot of football nostalgia for a couple of weeks.
Making the graphics took a bit of time too. I used some basic software, nothing too professional. Just layering text over images, trying to make each one look a bit different but still part of a set. I decided to number them clearly, from 1 to 24, so people could follow along. My biggest worry was running out of steam or good ideas by day 15 or something. There were a couple of nights I was staring at a blank screen thinking, “What on earth am I going to do for tomorrow’s post?” But I muddled through.
The biggest challenge? Honestly, just the sheer volume. Twenty-four distinct pieces of content is more than you think when you’re trying to make each one interesting. And I wanted to get it all done before December 1st, so I wasn’t scrambling each morning. That meant a bit of a content creation marathon at the end of November.
Showtime and What I Reckon
Then December 1st came, and it was go time! I started posting them each morning on my usual social spots. It was pretty cool, actually. Just a little daily dose of Premier League fun. I got a few nice comments from mates, which was good. They seemed to enjoy the little reminders of classic moments or learning a new bit of trivia.
Looking back, it was a fun little project. A bit more work than I initially thought, especially the content sourcing part. But it kept me busy, and it was cool to share something I’m passionate about. It wasn’t super polished or anything, just a homemade effort, you know? But that’s kind of the point. Maybe next year I’ll try to be a bit more ambitious. Or maybe I’ll just stick to enjoying the football on the telly and leave the advent calendars to the chocolate companies. We’ll see!
