My Son Wants to Make Christmas Gifts....

We go to familyfun.com they have all sorts of crafts for all ages. A fun craft that we make that is not that messy and that they can do mostly by themselves is to take a clear ornament spray hairspray into it one or two squirts then dump glitter inside the glitter sticks and it looks very pretty on anyones tree. tie a ribbon on the top and volia you are done>

I just got a perfect idea from another persons post on gifts for teachers. My daughter (27 months) and I just finished it a bit ago. We had a BLAST and made a nice gift in the process!

It is cookie cutters with ribbon on the top filled with peanut butter and bird seed. The reciever will hang it from a tree to feed the birds. Kind of like Suet.

We got lucky and found at the dollar store cookie cutter ornaments (2 pack) with the ribbon already attached. We then mixed the seed with about 2 cups of peanut butter- cheap is fine! Mix it until it is easy to ball up and not just gooey globs still! We did end up with a bit left over so you might want to start with just 1 cup peanut butter. I had my daughter add the seed to the bowl of PB and attempt to mix it. We then made small lumps of it and kept adding it until the cookie cutter was filled up and then packed it in, filled in where necessary and then cleaned off the edges. Was nice and easy although my daughter would not touch the mixture after the first time- she had a problem with the texture! lol

Let it sit out overnight to dry it out.

Also, for any parents who have children with Sensory Processing Disorder this is a great thing to do. Obviously it did not work completely to get my daughter to touch the soft but she did touch the seeds which is an accomplisment also! We are giving these to her Speech and Occupational Therapists.

*********************************************************

The other night we also made a wreath and a reindeer broom.

Wreaths...get one styrofoam or straw ring, shiny garland in the color of your choice and several oranments and bells, and springs of holly berries and absolutely anything you want to put on there to decorate! We bought everything except for the rings from the Dollar Store. We did also have to make a midnight trip to Walgreens for more garland... it takes about 5 packs of the 15 feet garland. Wrap the garland all the way around and then decorate to your liking!

Reindeer brooms.... Everything was bought from the Dollar Store. Get one of those decorative brooms, seperate the bristles at the top and put a bow on each "antler". Put a red fuzzy ball for the nose, some of those jiggly eyes and down the stick part wrap ribbon that matches the "antlers". Easy and fun!

We did need to use a hot glue gun for all of these and both my daughter and I ended up with a blister or two! Make sure you do not get the HIGH heat one... get one that has low or med heat.

Hope you guys have a blast making presents and memories! Many blessings to you and yours!

We them everyone this handprint calendar but changed a few things. We added pictures to it that go with the handprint of the month. We also made the calendar a full page and put to handprint on the sheet above it which is the back of the previous months calendar...pretty much how normal calendars are.

Buy little tiny boxes from the craft store, then have him paint them. Put a little note with it about how the box may look empty but it actually has his love inside, so if they are ever lonely or just need a hug they can open the box to feel his love.

N.

We just went to Jo Ann Fabrics over the weekend. They have tons of little wood boxes, picture frames, plaques, little drawers,and much more. Most things are uner $3. My kids are going to paint them and give them as presents.

craftbits.com is a great website for ideas. good luck and enjoy the holidays