December Contest: Week 2 Runners Up!

Runners Up Responses:

Ashlee:

 One of the sweetest handmade projects I have seen that can be given as a gift and kept as a keepsake is a handprint snowman ornament. I plan to do this each year with my children. First, you take a plastic or glass ball ornament in the shade of blue that you prefer. Second, you paint the child's hand with a sponge brush, in white acrylic paint. Third, you have the child cup his or her hand, and place the ornament into the cupped hand, with the fingers slightly spread and the bottom of the ornament in the palm. Gently remove the ornament and allow to dry. The fingers of the handprint look like snowmen, and can be decorated once dried with either permanent markers or paint pens. This is great to see how big the hands are each Christmas, they're adorable as gifts for grandparents, and lots of fun!

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Benny:

Our favorite thing to do is make paydoh "Love" coins for our family members and special friends. Mould different colors of clay/playdough into large flat discs and imprint a symbol or word of affection like "Peace" or "Love" or a Heart shape. Set out to dry/harden overnight. Wrap and enjoy the meaningful message on Christmas Day!. You could also leave a small hole on the top in order to place a ribbon through to hang on next year's tree!

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Tabitha DePaolo:

My daughters and I like to make cookie bouquets for our family and friends. We mix up whatever cookie dough we want (or buy it if we are feeling lazy) and shape the cookies. Then we push popsicle sticks or wooden skewers into the cookies (my 2 1/2 year old loves this part.) Once they are baked and cooled, we decorate them. Even my 11-month-old can help (she loves to shake the sprinkles-many of them actually land ON the cookies!) ;) We use icing, sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, or whatever else we want to decorate them. (For Christmas, we shape and decorate them like ornaments, snowmen, stockings, and Christmas trees.) Then we push the sticks into some styrofoam in the bottom of a cup or basket (Again, the kiddos LOVE this part!) to "arrange" the bouquet. My kids love doing this and my family enjoys eating them. We even do a modified version of this for a cookie exchange-- we bake the cookies on sticks and decorate them, then wrap them indi vidually in cellophane. They are almost like cookie lollipops and are a big hit at the event!

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Debi B.:

My daughter painted rocks as paperweights and we labeled them "Dad/Pa/Poppi, You Rock!"

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Melissa McGuire:

WE LOVE TO MAKE FLEECE BLANKETS!! (NO SEW) Baby/Toddler - 1 to 1 1/2 yards (in both fabrics) Child - 1 3/4 yards (in both fabrics) Teen/Adult - 2 yards (in both fabrics) Two pieces of fleece the same size. Piece may be the same pattern, two different patterns, two plain colors or a pattern on one side and a plain color on the other. Scissors (sharp ones) Tape measure or ruler one 4" x 4" piece of paper 1.Take your two pieces of fleece. Put one piece on top of the other lining up the edges so they are even 2.Trim off any selvage around the edges of your fleece. 3.Take your piece of 4"x4" paper lay it on the corner of your blanket. Then cut out the corner through both layers. Proceed to do this on all four corners. 4. Now cut thru both pieces to make a fridge...approx. 4inches long and 1"wide. Continue on all four sides. 5. When you are finished cutting then start double knotting the bottom and top together!! SO SIMPLE AND EASY TO MAKE :)

Comments

[Daisy]

At our family Christmas parties, we all bring white elephant gifts (stuff around the house you don't need anymore or gag gifts, like a huge macrome owl that seems to resurface every year LOL) and one of the kids reads "The Right Family Christmas" story http://cubbobwhite.tripod.com/skits/skit37.htm
as we pass the gifts left and right according to the words in the story. It's so funny.

Another game we play is "Who Am I?" As I greet each person at the door, I put a piece of tape on their back with the name of a person, and they have to ask yes and no questions from the rest of the party guests to guess what name is one their backs. For Christmas, you could use words like: Santa, Jack Frost, The Elf from "Elf", Rudolf, Frosty the Snowman..." this is fun for all ages.

Happy Holidays!