I am so excited to be apart of the Christmas Advent Calendar on Chicken Scratch N Sniff! What a fun idea!! As you see from the image above I am Day 15. Please take a moment and view some of the fun ideas I have below of Homemade Christmas Ideas, then click over to Chicken Scratch N Sniff to view the rest of the Advent Calendar, link will be at the bottom of the page.
Ever since I was a little girl with Christmas always came at least one homemade gift if not more. Homemade gifts come with so much more than the gift. They come with the thought, effort, time and love that it took to put the gift together. I can remember sitting in my grandma's kitchen making candies and decorating sweatshirts, I remember the homemade stockings that hung in our home, and the gift opened on Christmas Day that made me emotional to think how much time and care went into making it. I have tried to incorporate some of these traditions into my own little family. Much joy is found when you can create something for someone and so many memories are made as families can gather together and make an item together. Here are some fun ideas of how to create a Homemade Christmas:
Treat inside Gifts:
Thin Mint Snowmen
These are one of my favorite things to make to give to neighbors and teachers. First you will need to purchase a box of thin mints. Then you wrap it in white paper just like a present. Next cut a rectangle of fleece long enough to wrap around the box and tall enough that you can tie a piece of string around the top. Hot glue the hat into place and tie either twine, yarn, or ribbon a couple inches down from the top of the hat. Draw the face on with a Sharpie. Fill the nose in with a yellow marker and give the cheeks a blushy look with a q-tip and some blush. Tie some scrap fabric around for the scarf. You can add any other embellishments at the time, such as a cute flower on the hat, or write a little message. You could also add buttons. See snowman gift tags below.
Can of Pop Snowmen
I made these last year for the kids teachers and they were a hit! First, purchase a can of pop next, wrap some white paper around it, securing it in place with clear tape. Next, you will need a cute sock. I purchase mine at the dollar store. Cut right above the heel of the sock, to make the sweater part and then cut right below the heel of the sock to make the hat. Place both of these parts onto the pop can. You can glue them down in a few paces with a hot glue gun so they don't move. With some twine or string tie a bow toward the top of the hat. Next, hot glue on some black buttons for the eyes. The nose is an orange pipe cleaner. You can also add some blush to the cheeks. Tie some string or twine around the top part of the sweater, into a bow. Attach a gift tag.
Little Soda Pop Snowmen
For tutorial click here: Soda Pop Snowmen
Cherry Chocolate Snowmen
These cute cherry chocolate snowman are another one I love to give as neighbor gifts! They are made the same way the thin mint snowman are above. I did use 8 1/2 by 14 size white paper.
Nutty Snowmen
Yes, I love making snowmen things, because they are so fun and easy to make. These snowmen I made years ago with my children. As you can see I let them draw on the faces. Start with a can of nuts. Wrap some white paper around the can, secure in place with clear tape. Glue the fleece around the top of the lid. Overlapping ends of fleece in the back. Glue the fleece together with hot glue. Place some batting on top of the lid, inside of the hat. This gives it the poofy look. Then tie some yarn, ribbon or twine around the top part of the lid. Then cut down the top part of the hat, so it is strips. I have this white yearn that is perfect to add some accent to the hat. I hot glued it around the bottom of the hat. Last add the faces. We drew these on with a permanent marker. The nose was filled in with an orange marker. For the blushy cheeks, you can either dip a q-tip onto an ink pad or some blush. My boys had fun drawing the faces on!
Holiday Treat Container
Super Easy and Cute! This is an empty container that has been cleaned out and filled with treats, but can also be done with a container already full of treats. Using card stock and a stencil, cut the paper to the size of the can. Do this for both the body of the can and the inner part of the lid. Next us a stencil and stencil on a design. I distressed the edges using some distressing ink and a facial sponge. Next tape it onto the container with some clear tape. For the lid you can use modge podge glue and glue it into place. Using some Jute secure it around the lid with some hot glue and then tie into a bow.
2X4 Picture Frame
We did this for Primary teacher gifts last year. We took pictures of the kids in their class, placed them in the picture holder and gave them to their teachers. Click here for instructions: 2x4 Picture Frame
Craft Stick Snowman Ornament
I made these with my son's kindergarten class a couple years ago. So easy and fun to make. First, you will need to paint the craft sticks, this can either be done by painting by hand with a paint brush and white paint, or you can spray paint them white. For the hat I used scraps from some socks I had used on a previous craft. You could use any scrap fabric or even better use the finger portion of some gloves. With the scrap fabric I just mad a tub shape by wrapping it around a craft stick, overlapped the ends and glued them together. The scarfs were just done by finger crocheting a with a piece of yarn. You could also just use some ribbon or scrap fabric here for the scarf. For the eyes I used a 1/8 of an inch hole punch and punched out a bunch of black circles out of card stock. I used the same hole punch and punched out a bunch of circles out of orange card stock for the nose. For the buttons I used a standard hole punch and punched out a bunch of circles out of colored card stock. That was all prep-work I did before hand. Now it is time for assembly. We hot glued on the hats, this part I had to do for the kiddos. Everything else they were able to pretty much do themselves. Using some white glue and a toothpick they glued on the black eyes, orange nose and the colored buttons. Then with a permanent marker they made dots for the mouth. Then we tied on their scarf. Last, we tied some ribbon around the top of the hat so they could hang this cute ornament on their Christmas Tree.
Mary, Joseph & Baby Jesus Ornament
These cute ornaments are made out of card stock and cereal boxes. They are easy enough for kids to each make one for their tree. Click here for free printables and tutorial: Paper Nativity Ornament
Christmas Go Fish
For all printables click this link: Christmas Go Fish
This was a fun game that I did last year in one of my son's classes. We divided the class into two groups. We had two sets of cards and we had two sets of white boards and markers. Each group chose one person to come up. That person chose a card and had to draw on the white board, a picture that the group could try to guess what the Christmas song is. There could be no words written and the person drawing could not speak. After the song is guessed another person from the group would come up and choose a new card and draw, you would continue this until all cards are used. First group done with all of the cards wins the game. The kids had a blast!
Penguin Christmas Card Printable
Reindeer Christmas Card Printable
Christmas Gift Tags
I attached these onto my Thin Mint Snowmen & Cherry Chocolate Snowmen
Decorate the Snowman Color Page
Kids can use their creativity and color, paint or paste on this snowman.
Fabric:
Build a Snowman Kit
Each year on my husbands side of the family we do a Christmas Eve gift for each family. This cute Snowman Kit is what I did last year. They were so fun to make & the families loved them!! For my container, I used an empty protein shake container. It was perfect because it was already white and it was the perfect size to fit everything in. I painted the face on with craft paint and a paint brush. Then I sprayed it with some clear coat so it wouldn't flake off. On the hat I wrapped ribbon around it, securing it in a few places with some hot glue. Then I made these really simple flowers! For the tutorial on how to make the flower, click here: Felt Flower Tutorial (FYI the tutorial adds a button and clip, on this one I did not add either. I left the flower fluffy and did not flatten out, I also used pinking sheers instead of normal scissors when rounding.). For the tutorial that I used for the hat click here Snowman Hat Tutorial. For all the goodies to decorate your snowman: We used large googly eyes and glued cut skewers onto the back with hot glue. Same with the buttons. We purchased black rocks from the dollar store for the mouth. Then for the carrot nose, we used some orange fleece, made a carrot shape and stuffed it with batting, inserted the skewer and secured the top shut around the skewer. Then added some felt greenery. My mom made the carrots, so I don't have a pattern for it. The scarf is just a long strip of fleece. Attach the "Just Add Snow" Printable and you'll be ready for some snowman building!
Cozy Sock Snowmen
These are a little twist on the traditional Tube Sock Snowman. These snowmen are little bit squattier and oh so cozy looking. Here is the tutorial I used to make these snowmen: Then She Made Sock Snowmen . I used a little bit bigger buttons for eyes and an orange pipe cleaner for the nose. I crocheted the little flowers for the embellishments.
Here is the link to some more amazing Christmas ideas, just click the image:
What darling ideas!! I love them. Thank you for posting. Pinned!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Elizabeth! It was a fun post to do!
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