So, you can’t start Christmas festivities without first writing Santa a special letter with your tot. Get the mystery and magic started early.
![1202171436g[1]](https://willowandwonder.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/1202171436g1.jpg?w=663)
We got it out to the mail and I had a bag handy to quickly snatch it up and take it to my sentimental bin in the house. It was very special and the letter really made little sense with the most bizarre item being a micro My Little Pony light, hmmm…not even sure what that is, clearly some kinda light, and then banana people and other things like that. This will be quite comical down the road, however!
Thus, we begin all of the super duper fun holiday crafts. Firstly, making a gingerbread house is essential for the ultimate fun this year. This was a sweet hostess gift given to me for hosting Thanksgiving. And we have a gingerbread house making birthday party to attend this season, so we will continue to decorate little sugary houses all month long! It never gets old. I recommend doing the kits since all of the candy and cookies are ready to go and the icing is made. The icing is always a little hard, running out seems to happen too easily and sometimes it’s too runny – so already made, I’ll take it.
I have a rule that when my daughter is doing something creative, I don’t touch it. And if I have to to make a structure strong, then I do the least that I can to make sure it is ALL HER. I will not cherish something that my hands were all over, it’s just not the same.
Now we had an ant problem with our house this year. I literally battled against the ants on this gingerbread house. I was attacked, even bitten by them. They covered the house from top to bottom. I smeared them away and finally got every single one off, plastic wrapped the whole gingerbread house and put it on a cake stand so my daughter wouldn’t ball her eyes out. I’m so glad I triumphed; what we do for our children! Fortunately, the plastic wrap is keeping tiny fingers from stealing candy from the sweet house.
We tried a little peppermint ornament. I have to say this was a little bizarre but a fun activity. She loved putting the peppermints in the cookie cutters. The candy dried a bit but was still sticky. I like them on the tree but on my kitchen counters, I was thinking is this just another ant attack waiting to happen.
We followed this recipe but we only had soft peppermints on hand. They came out pretty good. I recommend using the hard peppermints with the green mixed in like this woman did. http://onelittleproject.com/melted-peppermint-candy-ornaments/
This one below we saw in Parent Magazine. I have been a subscriber to this magazine for years and absolutely love it. They made mushroom ornaments (twine loop will be added to the top) with a toilet paper roll cut down a bit and painted and topped with a cupcake wrapper. Willow will glue the sparkly pom poms to the cap next.
Every year we do salt dough hand and foot prints. I had some unfinished feet from age two and a half to fix up. We decided to do a reindeer. Here’s a link to a good recipe: http://fromabcstoacts.com/hand-print-santa-ornament This is honestly the best craft for little ones. I absolutely adore the ones I have and will cherish them more than anything else on my tree. I have painted the hand print itself with gold and then covered it with gold glitter while it was wet. I then painted the outer area with with green or red to help the hand print to stand out. Be sure to write names and dates on the back!
Decorating felt stockings with hot glue and pom poms, hot glue stick on shapes, and feathers. I suggest letting your kiddo lay it all out and you carefully take it to your glue gun station to affix all of the little details to the stocking. These hang on all the closet knobs in the playroom. It’s fun for them to get to decorate with them around the house.
Making snowflakes is a must do. This is made with coffee filters and scissors. We will coat with Mod Podge and sprinkle with glitter. We will also watercolor them and affix them to our window. I plan to spray snow in a huge oval on my living room window. These will be nice additional details on there.
Got these cute snowy white reindeer antlers at RiteAid. I have been thrilled with some things from there this year. I found my little lamp posts, people and grandfather clock for my mini village there which I embellished with paint and glitter (see my blog post about the village here, I found some darling gingerbread men ornaments and tinsel garlands there. Pretty great finds. I think I’m going to add huge white and pink yarn pom poms to my tinsel garlands just to elevate the look a bit.
This is a self-hardening clay called Stonex which if made with a thick chunk, will be hard and secure. If it’s a delicate piece it can break easily. But the little tea set I did was made with this material and it has held up well. Plus, these will be painted and just hang on a tree so they should be just fine. Willow loved sculpting with it. It takes a few days to completely dry and then I will paint them just like the pink gingerbread ornament I found at the 99 Cent store. I will post the pictures in this slideshow afterwards!
Making a Santa face and beard with cotton balls. I just glued the red hat in a semi-circle and let her glue all the rest on. She really had fun.
Making a triangle tree ornament out of popsicle sticks, paint it green, splatter with glitter and glue on pom poms. Also, pine cone tree ornaments with glued in pom poms and pipe cleaner garlands and a splash of paint and glitter. And, embellishing a yarn tree with Mod Podge and glitter to brighten a wooden star for decor.
Another special idea is to decorate a small tree for his or her room. It’s just a little something all their own, that they can enjoy in the nighttime and that is about as tall as them. I especially loved the princess Rapunzel crown for the star on top. Darling little kid detail.
Re-purposing a Fall wreath and turning it into Christmas. I cut all the orange tulle off of it and kept the glittery gold pine cones. I bought some fun red holly berries and fake pine at Walmart for like 1-3 dollars per cluster. Super cheap. I had some green floral wire already. This was a very economical way to make this Christmas wreath! I literally just push the stems into the wreath foundation and weave them around and then secure with wire and layout my pattern first on top. It’s so simple.
So, there you have some fun craft ideas for home decor and to keep your little elves busy all month long! I will have some more ideas coming out soon. We just don’t stop over here. I wish you a lovely holiday season, appreciate the ways in which you are blessed, and remember to give to those in need. Happy crafting!
Mini & me Fairy Tale 