Christmas Shoeboxes

We love making Christmas shoeboxes!  These shoeboxes are sent all around the world as Christmas presents for children.  The biggest program of this sort is Operation Christmas Child by Samaritan's Purse.  We have participated in this program before and love it!  The shoeboxes I made below are actually part of a program through our church for Bulgaria so please note that candy is allowed in these shoeboxes but that Operation Christmas Child does not allow candy.  Besides the candy, the rest of the items should work well for any Christmas shoebox program!  To find out more, visit Operation Christmas Child.  They also have some good tips on things to include/not include.

I made 3 Christmas shoeboxes and picked all girls around 4 years old.  Since I have boys, sometimes it's fun to buy girly stuff!  I like getting the same age and gender if I'm doing multiple shoeboxes so that I can buy multipacks of items and split them up.  When my children were younger, I would pick boys around their ages and involve them in picking out items for our shoeboxes.  It's such an easy way to involve our kids in giving to others!

I usually try not to get too many character items in case the child doesn't know the character or pick items with well known characters.  I also try to get dolls that may have the same skin coloring as the child.  Be sure to keep the age of the child in mind.  I didn't get any small items that might be a choking hazard since these girls were only 4 years old.

I like to do a plastic shoebox since it's sturdier and the child can use it for storage.  The shoeboxes have to be checked for items inside so I tie on a red and green tulle bow that can easily be slipped on and off.  It makes it a little more festive though!

Here are the items that I included to give you some ideas! (all of these items were purchased at Walmart)  To pack the shoebox, start with the coloring book then add items biggest to smallest.

• sunglasses
• small pouch with hair ties
• hair barrettes
• travel hairbrush with mirror
• toothbrush
• bracelets
• Band-Aids
• coloring book
• crayons
• small paper pads
• stickers
• socks and underwear
• My Little Pony
• stuffed animal
• light up ball
• small car
• playdoh and cookie cutters
• noise makers/kazoo
• small doll mermaid
• squishy unicorn
• flashlight
• smarties and ring pops (candy not allowed for Operation Christmas Child)

It's so fun to think of a child thousands of miles away opening a shoebox we made just for them to celebrate Christmas!  

Christmas Tree Brownies

These Christmas tree brownies were fun and easy to make for our 4th grade Christmas party!

I made a pan of brownies (I always make boxed brownies and they are always a hit - the trick is to not overcook them!)  Once the brownies were fully cooled, I used the technique from this PIN to cut the brownies into triangles.  Then, I broke the hook off of small candy canes and inserted the remaining straight peppermint stick into the bottom of the brownie.  I used a frosting bag with star tip to pipe on the green frosting and added sprinkles and a yellow candy star!  So cute!

Reindeer Food Tags

I've posted Reindeer Food tags before (see HERE), but I wanted some circle ones this year!  You can download them HERE if you like them too!

Christmas Light Thumbprint Plate

I LOVE how this Christmas light thumbprint plate turned out!!  I made this with the thumbprints of everyone in the class and gave it to the teacher for Christmas (plus a gift card of course).  It is a precious keepsake!

I found the white square plate at Wal-mart.  I used my Silhouette to cut red vinyl into "Merry & Bright" (Boingo font).  I added the string for the lights with a sharpie and made sure to have the perfect number of sockets where the thumbprints would go.

Next, I added the kids' thumbprints. To keep track of whose thumbprint was whose, I made a copy of the plate beforehand and wrote in each name at the spot they put their thumbprint.   I let them pick whatever color they wanted - red, green, blue or yellow.  Once the thumbprints were dry, I added the kids' names with a thin sharpie beside their thumbprint.  LOVE it!

Christmas Mazes for Classmates

This was a really easy Christmas gift for classmates.  I found these mazes at Wal-mart.  I made a tag that said "Hope you have an a-MAZE-ing Christmas!", printed them on sticker paper, cut them out with a 2" circle punch, and attached to the back of the maze.  You can download the tags HERE.  So simple, so fun!

Christmas Card Album

Wondering what to do with all those Christmas cards?  Want to keep them but don't know what to do with them?  I make a Christmas Card Album every year to easily keep and view our Christmas cards!  It's so simple to make and fun to look at throughout the year!  I also have an album of all of our personal Christmas cards that I love to flip through and see how our kids change on each card!

To make these, I bought a chipboard mixed media album set at Hobby Lobby.

I used the chipboard as a template to punch holes in each Christmas card.  First, I placed the chipboard against each card and marked where the holes need to go.  Then, I hole punched each card.  To decorate the chipboard on the front and back of the album, I traced the chipboard shape onto a piece of scrapbook paper, cut it out, and hole punched it.  Next, I simply glued the scrapbook paper to the chipboard and decorated with stickers and letters.  Lastly, thread your chipboard covers and Christmas cards onto the included binder rings.  If you need larger binder rings, you can find them in the office supplies section at Wal-mart.  Now we can easily flip through our Christmas cards to see all our friends and family!

Hot Chocolate Kits with Mugs

I am making Hot Chocolate Kits with Mugs for our cousins and friends this Christmas.  Here's how they turned out!

The hot chocolate kits contain a hot chocolate packet, candy cane, marshmallows, Hershey kisses, and caramel Hershey kisses.  I put all of these items in a clear bag and attached a tag with white tulle.  The tag says "Warmest Wishes for a Merry Christmas!" and can be downloaded HERE.

For the mugs, I followed all of the instructions from DON'T MIND IF I DO BLOG.  I used orange and black oil-based Sharpies to draw my design.  I let them sit overnight and then placed them in a cool oven.  I turned the oven on to 425 degrees and let them bake 30 minutes.  I let the oven cool completely before removing the mugs and inserting the hot chocolate kits.  The mugs are super cute!

Christmas Wreaths

This year, I made a new Christmas wreath for our house and Christmas wreaths for teacher gifts.  They are a little different but both so cute!

For our house wreath, I used a grapevine wreath with red floral stems, 2 red birds, a JOY sign, and a burlap ribbon bow.  The red floral stems and red birds are attached with hot glue while the JOY sign is tied on the wreath with twine.  I love it!

For the teacher's wreath, I used a grapevine wreath and spray painted it white.  I added shiny red berry stems, shiny red swirls, and a JOY sign that I attached with hot glue.  Then, I added a shiny red ribbon!  To give to the teacher, I added 2" circle pictures of all the kids attached to 2.5" white scallop circles that were secured to the wreath with tiny white clothespins.  I love to give the teacher a gift that has special meaning with the kids' pictures on it but also something that they can really use later by removing the pictures if they want!

Birch Christmas Ornaments

I made Birch Christmas Ornaments this year for all of our teachers, administrators, and special people at our schools, church, and activities!  These were super easy and I am so pleased with them!

I ordered 2"-2.5" birch tree slices with pre-drilled holes from Etsy.  I gathered a variety of Christmas stamps and used a brown ink pad to stamp the tree slices.  I stamped both sides of the ornament so that people could choose which side to display.  I personalized one side of the ornament with the name of our school, church, or activity.  Lastly, I used red baker's twine to attach a "Merry Christmas!" tag (you can download HERE) and form the ornament hanger.  So easy but so pretty!

Christmas Gifts for Classmates - Nose Pencil Sharpeners

I'm sure there was a time in my life - probably before kids - that I would have said "I'll never give disgusting presents to other people's kids".  But, here I am, 2 little boys later, giving away nose pencil sharpeners for classmate gifts this year!  I found them on Amazon for around 50 cents each and got Christmas pencils from the Dollar Tree to go with them.  I made a tag that says "Hope Santa 'picks' you a good present!" that you can download HERE.  Print these on white cardstock and cut out with a 2 inch circle punch.  Assemble the pencils and sharpener in a bag, attach tag with tulle, and you are ready for some laughs!

Grinch Party

Our 3rd Grade does a Grinch Christmas Party.  It was so fun to see all the kids dressed as Who's with crazy hair and bright colors!  We also had all-green Grinch food and Grinch crafts and games.  The kids even did an awesome reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the end of the party!  We had a great time!

Here is our set-up.  I made a banner with my Silhouette and the "Grinched" font.  We had green Grinch punch, green popcorn, green cookies, green grape Grinches, and Grinch cupcakes!  I used my present toss game chimney (details HERE) and a stuffed Grinch & Max as our centerpiece.

Here are the cupcake toppers I made using clip art and Excel:

We did 4 craft/game stations:

1) Decorate each other like a Christmas tree.  Wrap in tinsel, hang plastic ornaments, & put a star on top! (picture HERE)

2) The Jingle Bell Shake.  This is one of my favorite games just for the laughs and pictures!  Tie a small bucket around waist, fill bucket with jingle bells, and shake until they all fall out!

3) Grinch heart ornament.  I used THESE instructions from The Ornament Girl to make my lime green glitter ornaments - except I used plastic ornaments.  Then I tied a ribbon on top.  At the party, we wrote the kids' name and the year on each ornament and the kids used their thumbprints and red acrylic paint to make a Grinch heart on the ornament. (Or, you can have the kids draw on Grinch faces with paint pens).

4) Grinch Chimney Craft.  Print the brick pattern onto white cardstock and cut in half. (download HERE)

Cut black cardstock into 9.5 x 1" strips.  Get lime green pipe cleaners and cotton balls.  Print Grinch quote on white cardstock and cut out (from The Cooke Family blog HERE).  At the party, the kids colored the brick red, glued on the black strip and Grinch quote, folded pipe cleaners to look like feet and taped on the back, and then pulled cotton balls apart and glued on the black strip.

Merry Grinchmas!

Christmas Photo Booth

I made a Christmas Photo Booth at my kids' school for everyone to use during the last week of school.  I simply cut out the shapes, laminated them, then cut them out again.  I hot glued a skewer on the back of each shape.  I used red butcher paper for the backdrop and added some small snowflakes with double sided tape.  I also added 3 bigger snowflakes hung from the ceiling.  It turned out so cute and the teachers said they had a lot of fun using it!  The shapes came from: a kit I bought at Hobby Lobby, 2 sets from Chela Williams' Etsy shop (Grinch & Winter Wonderland) HERE, and 1 free set from Talk Crafty to Me HERE.  So fun!

Merry Movie Night Gift Bags

We have several kids that we need to get a small Christmas gift - a gesture of thoughtfulness without spending a lot of money.  This year, I decided to make them all Movie Night gift bags.  Each gift bag has a popcorn, movie-sized M&M box, mini sprite, & $2 to rent a Redbox game or movie.  I made a Redbox label to wrap around the $2 and put all of it in a small gift card box. You can download the Redbox wrap labels HERE.  I put everything in a plain white bag and added Christmas shapes cut with my Silhouette.  Then, I added a cute Merry Movie Night gift tag which you can download HERE.  I know my kids would LOVE to get this as a gift and I LOVE that it's a cheap, fun gift!

Christmas Stars for Teachers

I am making these beautiful Christmas stars as part of our teacher gifts this year.  Simply glue together 5 yard sticks in a star shape using E6000 glue.  Spray paint the star white.  Paint small clothespins with white acrylic paint.  Do 2-3 coats for both of these.  Glue the clothespins to the star.  I made the JOY banner using my Silhouette and strung it across the star.  I'm going to take individual pictures of the kids in the class and cut them out with my 2" circle punch.  Then, I'm going to mount each picture on a piece of scrapbook paper punched with my 2.5" scallop punch and put these on the star using the clothespins.  I think it will be so cute!  The teachers will be able to leave the star as is or put Christmas cards on it or string it with white lights to hang.  I hope they love it!

I put wax paper squares underneath the places I glued.  I had to use glasses as weights in a couple of places too until the glue dried.

Here is the star without the pictures on it.  I can't wait to see it all put together!

Christmas Cookie Decorating "Basket"

I made this Christmas Cookie Decorating "Basket" for our school's silent auction.  It turned out so cute!  The "basket" was actually a glass mixing bowl (from Walmart) and it contained:

• Better Homes & Gardens Very Merry Cookies cookbook (Amazon)
• Lots of cookie cutters (Amazon b/c Christmas stuff wasn't out when I made the basket) - I taped these all around the glass bowl
• 3 different spatulas, measuring cups, & measuring spoons (Dollar Tree)
• 2 sugar cookie mixes (Walmart)
• Green & red cookie icing plus white icing (Walmart)
• Christmas sprinkles (Amazon b/c Christmas stuff wasn't out when I made the basket)
• Cookies for Santa plate & Milk for Santa mug (plate & mug from Big Lots) - I cut white vinyl with my Silhouette using Jennifer Wambach's Cookies for Santa & Milk for Santa designs (I did replace the Santa in the center of the Cookies for Santa design with Sarah Hurley's Santa's sleigh silhouette instead).

Other ideas that I wasn't able to do were: cookie bags for individual packaging, a cookie press, & Christmas apron or pot holders.  I was really happy with how it all turned out!

Christmas Party

Here are the crafts & games I'm planning for my kids' school Christmas parties this year.  I'm so excited about them!

Crafts
1. Ornament Craft: I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut a bunch of ornament shapes out of different scrapbook papers.  I folded all of my ornament shapes in half (it needs to be folded pretty precisely to get all the edges to match up so I went ahead and did this step).  I also cut some thin ribbon into 8" lengths.  At the party, the kids will choose 4 different ornament shapes to glue together into 1 3D ornament.  Then they will thread the ribbon through the small hole that is at the top and tie it in a knot.  Everyone will have a unique ornament that they made!

2. Christmas Tree Lights Craft: This idea was adapted from HERE.  I bought foam Christmas trees and used an "anywhere" punch to punch small holes all over the tree.  I then cut different color tissue paper into small squares.  At the party, the kids will glue the tissue paper squares onto the back of the tree and add a star to the front.  This looks really neat when held up to the light or hung on a window - the tissue paper looks like twinkling lights on the tree!

3.  Wish List Craft: This would be a fun craft to do every year to remember what the kids wished for!  You can download this cute printable HERE (Or with a space to write year instead of a printed year HERE).  Print on white cardstock and cut in half.  Roll the top end and then the bottom end around a pencil to get the scroll effect.  I added some string to the back so that it could be an ornament on the tree.  At the party, the kids will write their names and wish list items on the ornament!

4. Christmas Tree Handprint Craft: This one takes more prep work than the others but I always love a handprint craft!  I went up to the school before the party and got everyone's handprint on an 8x10" thin canvas using green acrylic paint.  After the handprints dried, I used puffy paint to make the tree shape and to add a star, stump, and the child's name.  I let the puffy paint dry 24 hours.  Then I used hot glue to attach ribbon on the back.  At the party, the kids will add ornaments either by gluing on buttons (preschoolers) or by using q-tips to dot acrylic paint on (2nd graders).

Games
1. Christmas Light Limbo: This is a classic I do every year because the kids love it!  Simply wrap a flag pole or bamboo stick in Christmas lights, plug it in, play some fun Christmas music, & do the limbo!

2. Present Toss: I wrapped a tall box in red wrapping paper.  I hot glued on some snow tinsel and drew on bricks with a sharpie.  At the party, the kids will try to toss the presents down the chimney!


3. For the older kids, we are also going to play Christmas carol charades.  I made these cards with clipart from www.sweetclipart.com.  Download & print them HERE.

We'll be busy but it should be fun!!

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