Today is the last day of school for many kids in our area. Their Christmas break begins this afternoon and I’m sure they couldn’t be happier. Their parents, on the other hand, may not share the same feeling.
A week from now those same kids may be climbing the walls looking for ways to keep busy. If you fear boredom will get the best of your brood before Santa flies into town, consider putting your kids to work making these simple and inexpensive holiday decorations that you can use to brighten up your home or give as gifts:
Pretty Presents: Don’t spend wads of cash buying expensive holiday decorations when you can make pretty accents from materials you have sitting around your home. Have your kids cover toy blocks with scraps of festive fabric or holiday gift wrapping paper. Then, top each with leftover ribbons and bows. You can use the gifts to spice up room corners or stack them neatly on end tables. Another affordable idea is to mold colored clay into squares and rectangles, allow them to dry, and then embellish with real or clay ribbons.
Homemade Angels: Rescue a few plastic water, soda or yogurt drink bottles from your recycling bin (the curvier the bottle, the better). Next, paint or wrap the bottle in leftover cardstock to form the angel’s body. Then, cut a pair of wings from more cardstock and glue to the angel’s back. Use an old ping pong ball for the angel’s head. You can paint on eyes, nose and a mouth or use markers. Finally, glue on yarn for the hair and fashion a halo from a pipe cleaner.
Beaded Tree Ornaments: Add some sparkle to your Christmas tree without breaking the bank. All you need is an assortment of beads, headpins (the ones for beading and jewelry-making), pliers, ribbon and a pair of scissors. To make the ornaments, simply string the beads onto the headpins, use the pliers to loop the top of the pin and thread the ribbon through the loop to hang the finished product on the tree.