Christmas

Holiday Classroom Treats for School Parties

November 6, 2015 By Terri Thompson

Are you a room mom?

I’m not this year, but I have been in the past. (It’s quite the sought-after job in my girls’ school!)

One the the biggest jobs of the room mom is the classroom party.

I’ve worked with teachers that have definite ideas about the party, but sometimes it’s left completely up to the room mom.

Planning the party can be hard, especially planning the food! Your school may have rules about what food you can bring. In addition, there may be allergies to accommodate.

Luckily, I’ve got you covered.

Here is a roundup of holiday classroom treats that all the kids will love and will work with all of the rules that are in place.

If you're planning a classroom party, you and the kids will love these 10 fun school-approved holiday classroom treats for Christmas parties.

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Prepackaged Holiday Classroom Treats:

Many schools have rules that you can only bring store-bought treats. That doesn’t mean you can’t make the store-bought treat special. Here are some fun ideas:

(Pictured above from left to right.)

Make Polar Express Treat Bags from East Coast Mommy. Package up a jingle bell and small packages of candy along with the free printable gift tag. Easy and fun.

Simple As That has a fun tutorial to turn paper cups into a snowman, Santa, or a reindeer. Fill these with store-bought treats for a simple holiday treat.

You can also turn mini Styrofoam cups into reindeer to fill with store-bought treats. Check out MollyMoo for the tutorial.

Do you want something that’s not full of sugar? Check out this idea from No Biggie to turn string cheese into cute snowman treats.

It’s a quick transformation to turn apple sauce cups into reindeer. Check out this healthy holiday snack idea from The Melrose Family.

You can make any treat festive when you use one of these fun sets of Christmas Paper Plates that would be fun for kids.

Holiday Treats to Make In the Classroom:

By far, one of the most popular activities during either of my daughters’ classroom parties is making their own holiday treat. The kids have a blast constructing all the bits and pieces to make their own special treat. Any of these would be perfect to make in the classroom.

Special Note: Many of these ideas can still work if your school has a store-bought treats only policy. Most local bakeries will be willing to sell you a batch of undecorated cookies or cupcakes. All you have to do is ask! Then bring along unopened packages of the embellishments.

(Pictured above from left to right.)

Rudolph’s Snack Mix from Sunshine and Hurricanes is a simple no-cook treat that the kids can construct in the classroom. It only takes a few packages of store-bought treats.

Bring along undecorated cupcakes and a few supplies and let the kids make these cute Santa cupcakes from The Joy of Boys.

You could also bring the undecorated cupcakes and the kids can turn them into reindeer. Check out Life at the Zoo for the instructions.

Buy some undecorated cookies and let the kids turn them into snowman faces. I love this idea from The Joy of Boys.

Start with a base of Oreo Cookies, add some embellishments and turn them into reindeer. The kids will love making this Simple Reindeer Snack from Childhood 101.

For even more ideas and advice, you can download the Classroom Christmas Party Guide from Pre-K Pages. It’s a great resource.

These classroom treats make the job of room mom easy. Which one of these holiday classroom treats are you going to bring along to the Christmas party?

Please check out the other posts about classroom holiday parties from the Public Education Blogging crew:

Santa Says Game for Christmas Parties from The Resourceful Mama
How to Host a Children’s Book Exchange Party from Books and Giggles
Holiday Celebrations in Schools from 3 Dinosaurs

Paper Plate Christmas Tree Kids Craft

December 8, 2014 By Terri Thompson

Sometimes I find that we are doing a lot of “flat” projects – cards, paintings, etc.

And while there are plenty of amazing and fun projects that are flat, it’s can be fun to take things up a notch.

Enter this 3-D paper plate Christmas tree. This Christmas craft is easy to make and you probably already have all the supplies you need.

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Make this fun and colorful Paper Plate Christmas Tree craft for kids or make several for a perfect kid-made Christmas decoration.

Supplies Needed

Paper plate (1 per tree)
Clear tape
Green paint
Glue (either school glue, pva glue, or Tacky Glue)
Multicolored pom poms*

*Note: While I love the look of the pom poms, don’t let a lack of these stop you from doing this project. Stickers, beads, gems, buttons, or sequins also work. Use what you have on hand.

How to Make a Paper Plate Christmas Tree

In order to make the cone shape, you will need to cut a chunk out of your paper plate.

Find the center and cut out a wedge. We cut out an entire quarter of our plate.

Roll the plate into a cone shape and seal with tape.

Since you will be painting the cones, keep all the tape on the inside. I made little rolls of tape and used that to hold down the outer flap down.

If you find you need tape on the outside, wait until your paint is dry before taping it down.

Paint your cone green. While it will work to paint your plate before making the cone, I’ve always found that my girls loved the idea of painting on the cone shape. Sometimes it’s fun to mix things up and paint on a different shaped object.

After the paint dries, glue on all your pom poms. We had a bag full of pom poms and thought they were a fun addition. We also thought our trees looked a lot like party hats!

Special note about the glue: We had great success with regular school glue (pva glue), but if it doesn’t work for you, use Tacky Glue or a low-heat glue gun.

Have fun decorating and don’t hold tight to the pom pom suggestion. If your kids have another suggestion, let them go for it. It’s all in the process and not the finished product.

When you’re done, find a fun place to display your cute mini paper plate Christmas tree. Our kid-made decorations are some of my favorites.

If you enjoyed this Paper Plate Christmas Tree craft, the above photo is perfect for sharing on Facebook or you can save the photo below on Pinterest.

Christmas Scented Gingerbread Man Ornament

December 3, 2014 By Terri Thompson

Every year, without fail, we make a few homemade ornaments for our tree. (And some years, we make a lot!)

This year, we added a sweet Gingerbread Man Ornament to the Christmas tree. For a fun twist, we added spices to our paint so that they not only look like gingerbread men, but they smell like them too.

Make a fun Christmas-scented paint to use when you create a Scented Gingerbread Man Ornament. They're a great addition to your Christmas tree.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details. CraftProjectIdeas.com provided some of the materials for this post. All ideas are my own.

Supplies Needed:

Thick cardboard (We used a shipping box)
Gingerbread man cookie cutter (optional)
Brown paint
Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger
Assorted beads, sequins, buttons, and other baubles
White glue
String

How to make your Christmas Scented Gingerbread Man Ornament

Start by tracing your cookie cutter on your cardboard. If you don’t have a cookie cutter, you can freehand a simple gingerbread man shape or find a simple coloring page to trace.

Cut out your gingerbread man shapes. This is not a very kid-friendly step in the process. My cardboard was thick and my scissors were dull, so I had to get out a box cutter. You may want to prep ahead if you’re planning on making quite a few of these.

Also, do yourself a favor and punch a hole in the top for your string. I didn’t do this until the end and wished I would have done this step earlier.

Mix your brown paint together with a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. About a 1/4 teaspoon of each spice would do the trick. Your paint will be thick and goopy; make it thinner by adding more paint.

Let the kids do the mixing. It’s fun to see it all come together.

Once the paint is mixed, paint the entire surface of the gingerbread man. Try for an even coverage. The goopier it is, the longer it will take to dry. Once the paint dries, you’ll be able to smell the spices without the added paint scent.

Once the paint is dry, it’s time to decorate your gingerbread men.

We had an assortment of beads and buttons. The girls searched and sorted to find the perfect embellishments for their gingerbread men. Use white glue (or hot glue) to add them to the ornaments.

Once the glue is dry, you can add your string and hang them up on the tree.

I just love homemade ornaments and this Gingerbread Man Ornament is the perfect fit for our eclectic tree.

Recycled Kid’s Art Gift Tags

December 2, 2014 By Terri Thompson

I’m a kid’s art hoarder. I just can’t help it. I take pictures of all my girls’ arts and crafts, but I still have a very hard time throwing any of it away. Please tell me I’m not alone! This year, instead of throwing it away, I am reusing it. These recycled kid’s art gift tags will look great on all your Christmas presents. The relatives will adore it and the kids will love seeing their artwork under the tree. It’s the perfect solution for that hoarding problem.

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Supplies Needed:

Old artwork

Card stock

Mod Podge

Circle punch

Hole punch

Baker’s twine (or string)

Sort through that pile of old artwork and find some stuff you want to try use for gift tags. I found some cute old paintings, including this fun piece of marble painting. Try not to use anything with a 3-D element, since you’ll be cutting it into pieces. Use the Mod Podge to glue your artwork to a sheet of card stock. Spread a thin layer over the entire piece of card stock. Work fast; it starts drying quickly. Place your artwork on top and press down, smoothing out all the wrinkles. Let it dry for at least a half hour. I left mine under a heavy cookbook to flatten while drying.

After everything is dry, grab your circle punch and start punching. I punched as many circles as I could from my artwork. If you don’t have a circle punch, you can cut small squares or rectangles. They would all look great on your packages. Use your small hole punch to punch a hole in the top of each gift tag and tie string through the hole to attaching to your Christmas gifts. The card stock on the back of each tag will give you a great surface for writing.

What are you waiting for? Recycle your kid’s art and make some simple and unique gift tags for all your packages.

24 Ideas to Fill Your Advent Calendar

November 17, 2014 By Terri Thompson

Do you make an advent calendar? It’s a fun way to fit in a little bit of extra fun and family time over the holiday season. I’ve seen calendars filled with candy or little toys. We have one that tells the Christmas story over the course of 24 tiny books. Other advent calendars are filled with fun little activities. If that’s the kind of advent calendar you’re looking for, then you’re in luck. Here are 24 activities to add to your calendar. Click the links provided for more details.

Day 1: Decorate your Christmas tree

Day 2: Shop for toys to donate to Toys for Tots.

Day 3: Read a new Christmas book. Here are some greats ideas at this book list from Modern Parents Messy Kids.

Day 4: Make personalized Christmas cards for your faraway friends and family.

Day 5: Put on the Christmas tunes and have a dance party!

Day 6: Make stained glass ornaments to hang on the tree.

Day 7: Play in the snow! If you don’t have any, you can make some snow dough like this from Buggy and Buddy.

Day 8: Make gifts for neighbors, co-workers, and friends. Try these hot chocolate spoons from The Nerd’s Wife or this gift of dishes from Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke.

Day 9: Make a sparkly Christmas tree bunting to brighten up your windows.

Day 10: Use footprints to decorate your own wrapping paper. Check out this fun idea at Skip to My Lou.

Day 11: Make hot chocolate and watch a favorite Christmas movie.

Day 12: Use your old Christmas cards to make decorative paper chains.