On a Saturday in December, we host a Christmas Children's Craft Party. This has become an annual event for years and changes as the kids grow older. For teens and tweens-- food, a craft and holiday movie. For "little elves"-- crafts, games and treats. This year our party goers were ages 8 to 11. Our crafts included: peppermint heart lollipops, tree ornaments and mini nativity scenes.
Peppermint Heart Lollipops
Visions of sugar plums will dance your head after you make these easy suckers. You'll need:
mini candy canes
peppermints
lollipop sticks
parchment paper, mini cellophane bags, ribbon
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Unwrap your candy and lay it out on the paper. Peppermint on top of the stick and the candy canes forming a heart around it.
Write the name or initials of your guest by their lollipop so you know "who's is who's".
Bake in a hot 350 oven for 6 minutes or until the candy has melted. Let cool completely. You'll be able to easily pick up your lollipop off the paper. Place your cellophane bag around it and tie with a ribbon.
Tree Ornament
You'll need:
thin ribbon for hanging loop
punched out paper stars
colored popsicle sticks
hot glue gun, Takcy or Elmers glue
sequins, mini pop-poms, ribbon
Cut a few of the sticks in half for the tree trunk. Help kids glue the sticks together in a tree shape with the glue gun. Hot glue the ribbon loop on the top to hang. Using the Elmers, have the kids decorate their tree with all your other shimmering trimmings.
Mini Nativity Scene
The kids got really excited about this craft. You'll need:
nativity background (free download here) The manger was a little hard to put together and small, so I used another paper manger that looks like a box, will add link when I find it!
wood peg dolls (here)
smaller size peg doll for baby (also sold at Hobby Lobby)
When I went to Hobby Lobby to get the wood people, they were sold out!! Moment of panic because it was 2 days before the party. I just ended up buying thick dowels, cutting them to 1 1/2" tall and gluing a wood ball with flat side on top. For the baby, I cut down a round head clothes pin.
The picture below shows the pieces I used to make our own wood people.
paint
markers, scissors
rectangles pieces of fabric and 1/4" fabric strip 5" long
cut raffia for manger straw
bag, box or jar to hold pieces
glue gun
We just used a brown paper lunch sack, that we cut across the top with pinking sheers and glued on the nativity logo to use to hold all the pieces. Cut and color your stable and animals. This nativity set includes crowns for kings, staffs for shepherds and wings for an angel. We had the kids take these pieces home to add to their nativity later. With all the paper pieces in their bags, they painted Mary, Joseph and the babe. When paint was dry, hot glue Mary's veil and wrap the fabric strip around the baby for swaddling clothes, hot gluing the end of strip.
These nativities turned out sooo cute and the kids loved making them!
Here's the link for the {Party Food} we served.
I love this idea and the tree ornaments!
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