Christmas Crafting

Every year at Christmas, the boys' elementary school has a "Holiday Shoppe." They sell some craft items (which were made by some of the students) and other little trinkets. Each year I fork out money for the kids to "shop" for each other. After many painted-tongue-depressors-with-foam-cut-out magnets, I decided that I just couldn't do it again this year. After all, with four in the same school this year, how many painted-tongue-depressors-with-foam-cut-out magnets can one refrigerator handle? (Especially since my kids weren't the creator of most of these items, just the customer. There's a big difference.)

This year I decided they would pick names and get a gift for only one person. Handmade or store-bought. I was really pushing for handmade, but I knew the bulk would fall upon me, and I was afraid I wouldn't have time for all of their grand schemes (t-shirts, pillows, etc.).

A few days before Christmas, I was in Michaels and raided their dollar section for kid-friendly items. I found a small paint-by-number kit, a velvet drawing (with markers to color), a puzzle, a felt key chain maker, pompom animals, etc. I bought enough that the kids could "shop" from my bag of goodies for their gift.

So the boys "shopped" secretly and we wrapped. One by one. And then I had the idea to make some ornament blanks for the kids to decorate as part of their gift. I sewed several Christmas trees, stars, round ornaments, poinsettias, etc., and let the kids loose with sparkly pom-poms, rick rack, and buttons.

Here is a sampling:

It kept them occupied on Christmas Eve for a bit after we decorated the gingerbread house.

And because I didn't think any of the dollar items were appropriate for Sawyer, I decided to sew him a couple of fabric snowballs from some white fleece I had hanging around. Mason helped to make them as part of his gift. Mason loved the idea of snowballs so much, he asked for a green one. (Green is his favorite color and everything is always green for him.) I joked that a yellow snowball is gross and he should never, ever make a snowball from yellow snow. He laughed so hard and begged for a yellow snowball.

Christmas morning, Mason got his yellow snowball.

Comments

Lora said…
LMAO!! We've been discussing Yellow snow with our boys and how NOT to play in it when they go out to play in the snow!! LOL I'm just laughing about that yellow snowball. Boys are so funny and gross sometimes! tee hee.
Karyn said…
The yellow snowball makes me laugh. What a super idea for the kids to have special gifts for each other!
Sonja said…
Our school had a Holiday Boutique (their words, not mine!) and it sent shivers down my spine... The idea is good, but it actually worked out to be mostly garage sale-ish. A garage sale you wouldn't pull over for, to be precise. *sigh*
Anonymous said…
ha!
we did a 'mom's store' this year, too - i just got about 3 little gifts (target dollar section or what i had around) for each kid, so that the other two had something to choose from for the others. they LOVED it and helped wrap and everything.
nikko said…
What a great idea. The "Holiday Shoppe" at my son's school sells nothing but landfill-fodder. I'll have to remember this for next year.

P.S. I had to make my blog invite-only. There's an invite for you in your inbox.
Anonymous said…
Oh, that yellow snowball is wonderful. If it was green it would be the little pea. :)
And a great idea to let the kids "shop" for their sibling from your stash of crafts. Eliot decided he wanted to keep what he gave to Aidin (magnetic paper dolls) and I ended up making Aidin's gift to Eliot (a tied fleece pillow) that was supposed to be HER project. That's how it goes, eh?
atet said…
Ok -- LOVE the yellow snowball. It looks like you had a wonderful Christmas season (and I am seriously impressed with all of the teacher/friend gifts -- LOVE the idea!). Hoping that your new year is filled with love, laughter and joy.
Amanda Jean said…
ha ha...the yellow snowball is so funny!
Me and Him said…
Love the yellow snowball!

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