Day 3: If you need a fun activity to do with your kids while they’re out of school for Christmas break, decorate gingerbread houses. You can see the simple instructions and ideas in our Gingerbread Party blog post. All you need are some graham crackers, royal icing, and a few candies.
Photo by Sara Westbrook.
Day 4: Make some Holiday Potpourri today. My house always smells like Christmas when I simmer a pan of this on the stove. It’s so easy to make with items that I usually have on hand: orange peels, cinnamon sticks, and whole cloves. Cover all ingredients with a few inches of water and simmer during the day, checking and adding water as needed. This can be re-simmered the next day as well.
Photo by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
Day 5: My kids are just as excited about what’s in their stocking as the presents under the tree. Santa always does a great job with the stocking stuffers, putting an extra, unexpected surprise in there like a small toy or a gift card. My husband always got a banana or an orange and a big candy cane in his stocking when he was growing up so we like to carry on that tradition. I always had candy and usually a small piece of jewelry that my mom had picked out for me. What does Santa leave in your kids’ stockings?
Photo by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
Day 6: A great way to make room for the new toys your children will get on Christmas Day is to go through their toy box and donate toys that no longer hold their interest. Not all thrift stores accept used toys (so check first), but churches and recycling groups like Freecycle often will.
Photo by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
Episode 10 of The One Charming Party Show is up on My Craft Channel. The fabulous Heather Smith from Gygi’s is back, and she’s here to show you how to make Sugar Cookie Truffles. These are an fun twist on the ever popular cake bites. They taste delicious and are soooo easy to make–check out the quick shortcut she uses to make these even easier. If you still need a Christmas gift for neighbors or teachers, you won’t want to miss this cute idea.
Thanks again to Gygi’s for sponsoring this episode and donating so many of the supplies we used. It’s not too late to order your holiday baking ingredients. They have a fantastic selection of everything you need. And if you’re local and live near Salt Lake City, Gygi’s has some awesome holiday cooking and baking classes going on right now.
(There are only 2 more episodes of season 1 left–so if you like the show leave a comment and tell me what you’d like to see in season 2.)
Have a great weekend!
Day 7: A fun way to pass the holidays is a Christmas countdown with books. For this countdown you can use old or new books, Christmas or everyday books. Wrap up 12 books (or as many days as you would like to count down) like a present. Your kids can take turns unwrapping one book each night. It’s a fantastic way to read them their bedtime story and let them open some early Christmas presents.
Styling by Aimee Error. Photo by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
Day 8: It’s time to get all of those presents wrapped (actually, wrapping presents is one of my favorite parts of the holidays and I often leave it to the last minute). For easy and inexpensive present wrapping ideas look around your house for buttons, paper bags, leftover scraps of fabric and paper, and unused paper doilies.
1. with a sharpie marker and your best handwriting, write festive Christmas and holiday words onto a paper sack; wrap the present in the paper sack and tie with a black ribbon
2. tear strips of leftover fabric scraps into long pieces; scrunch up and sew the fabric in a straight line then tie around a present
3. fold a simple doily over the top of a bag; trim the sides
4. accordion fold a piece of colored paper and glue the inside edges together to form half a circle; repeat with another piece of paper to form a circle; glue the two halves together at the ends and embellish the center with a button
We’ve posted about how to wrap a present and how to wrap a present with ribbon. And we’ve posted lots of other present wrapping ideas, more present wrapping ideas, and even more present wrapping ideas. So take a look if you need some inspiration.
Styling by Aimee Error. Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
Day 9: Another tradition that I grew up with is giving the 12 days of Christmas to a neighbor or friend. It’s basically 12 gifts delivered anonymously each night starting on December 13th and ending on Christmas Eve.
My new favorite way to do this is to buy 12 matching glasses and fill a different glass for each day with a treat or small present and attach a special note or quote.
A little trick that I’ve learned over the years is to leave a letter on the first night explaining that you will be leaving a present each day for the next 12 days and that from now on they’ll only receive a phone call that will ring once. That’s the signal that you’ve left something on their porch. In the United States, you can block your phone number from a land line by dialing *67 before you dial, when you hear the dial tone again start dialing the phone number. From a cell phone, just type in *67 and the phone number with area code. You might want to try it out on a few different people before calling the real person. After you’ve delivered the gift to their front porch, drive back home, place your call, let it ring once or twice and then hang up.
Or you can have your kids run the gift up to the porch, knock quickly, and then run and hide. You can be waiting in your car a little ways away. When the coast is clear they can run to your car and you can drive away unseen.
Have we ever gotten caught? We did get caught one year on the very last night–my daughter slipped on some ice while running away and the family opened the door and saw her. They called to her and she walked back to the door–they had a present to give us. I watched the whole thing from my car. But it’s a story we’ll never forget.
Photo by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
Day 10: If you have little children and you want to make your Christmas tree more kid friendly, here are a few easy garland ideas. But don’t be surprised if bits of your garland get nibbled on or if the entire garland goes missing. These are pretty easy for children to make and string, but I would recommend adult supervision.
1. crochet a single chain with a large hook and thick yarn
2. wrap festive or vintage ribbon around your tree
3. thread fluffy white pom pom balls together using a big needle and thick thread
4. string marshmallows and popcorn together using a big needle and baker’s twine (I found colored popcorn at a popcorn store at the mall)
Photo by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
Episode 9 of The One Charming Party Show is up on My Craft Channel. I’m sure you all know my guest this week, I have Kara Allen from Kara’s Party Ideas joining me to talk about party decorations. Kara shows us some of her cute decorations from a recent party and we demonstrate how to make the ever popular tissue pom poms. It’s a pretty funny episode and Kara and I always have fun together (we had to do several takes to get this episode right).
Thanks again to Zurcher’s Party Store for sponsoring this episode and donating so many of the supplies we used. You can find many of the decorations that we demonstrated in their online store. And check out their great selection of Christmas and New Year’s party supplies.
Have a great weekend!
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