Letters To Santa & Christmas Ball Ornaments Crafts

Santa letters are a traditional Christmas activity. Writing these letters to Santa provides time for family fun and bonding. It’s a great way to spend time together during the holidays. Many families have found that craft projects are ideal for family time. A simple way to get started in Christmas crafts is with ball ornaments. Ball ornaments can be used to make several different ornaments. These crafts are inexpensive and great for parties or classroom projects.

One of the easiest ways to decorate ball ornaments is to use a permanent mark to draw designs or your name and the year. Permanent markers come in wide variety of colors. Silver, gold, and copper markers look spectacular on solid colored balls. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

You can make a cute Santa with cotton balls. Start of with a plain white ornament. Take two cotton balls and fluff them out with your hands. You may want to use an egg carton to hold your ornament in place while you work on it .Next put a line of glue on the top of the ornament. Place one of the cotton balls on the line of glue. Do the same along the bottom of the ornament. Next you will need to use paint or markers to make the face. Lastly make a hat out of construction paper the ball on the end can made from a small piece of cotton ball. These ornaments are almost as cute as the real Santa.

Using a marker you can write a letter to Santa around the ornament. I do this every year with my kids we have fun reading the ornaments we had made years ago. You may need to help younger child because you have to write pretty small. On the back I have the children write the year and there age. This way we know when each Santa letter was made.

For a baby’s first Christmas I used a pastel ball to record their birthday. For boys I use a pale blue ball and a silver marker. For girls I used pink and gold glitter. If you wanted you could include the birth weight and length

The outside isn’t the only part of these versatile ornaments that can be decorated. The inside can be filled with a number of things. The reindeer food ornament is fun to make. Take a clear ball and remove the top. Now take enough reindeer food to fill it half way. Put the top back on. With the color of your choice write magical reindeer food on the front and back. You fill the ornaments with glitter or crushed peppermint for a different look.

The inside of a ball ornament can be painted in swirls. All you need to do is pour a couple different colors of paint in the ball. Next slowly roll the ornament to achieve the effect you want. Be careful not to use too much paint. You can also glue small jewels or pieces of ribbon on the outside of the ornament.

Besides letters from Santa, the special ball ornaments will probably be your most treasured Christmas mementos. They will mark special years and remind you of cherished times you spent with family members creating the beautiful ornaments.

Thanks To The Kids, You No Longer Have To Spend A Lot On Holiday Decorations

As parents we all know what matters most about the holidays; it’s not how much you spend or what you get, it’s all about the kids. The holidays are the most stressful time of the year, trying to make ends meet and get everyone what they want is hard for most of us. Fortunately getting great decorations is not difficult, nor is it expensive. This year, don’t spend much at all on them, instead, help the kids to make some.

One of the greatest benefits to doing this is to see how proud the kids are when their Christmas craft projects are complete and you are displaying them around the house. It gives your child a chance to have some pride in something that he or she has done alone or taken a part in.

To begin, most families that celebrate Christmas have a Christmas tree. You can start by having the kids help you make decorations for the tree. Visit your local craft store or even the craft section of a department store like Wal-Mart. Use your imagination and let the kids use theirs. You should be able to find just about anything you need for projects you want to do. In fact, you will probably get some great ideas as you look around.

Christmas craft projects are fun for all ages. This means there is something for everyone, from young to old, to do and enjoy. Your kids will proudly point out their art work to visitors and family members that visit during the holiday season. Their pride and sense of accomplishment will show on their faces – a free gift for you to enjoy and cherish; isn’t their happiness what it’s all about anyway?

Okay I am not going to list a lot of ideas about how to make this or that. This is not about that, this is just trying to show you that you don’t have to spend much on Decorations and after your kids and you sit down to work on a craft project or two you won’t want to buy store decorations anymore. But I will tell you a couple of things that my kids and I have done over the years. This fist one is for younger children, and we call it “Pine Cone Christmas Trees”. All you’ll need are Pine Cones, Green and red Glitter, Glue and tinsel. The directions are simple; you just dip the pine cone in glue and before the glue dries, sprinkle the cone with glitter. Top with it with a pipe cleaner that is shaped into a star or other creative shape. When the pine cone is completely dry you can glue on some tinsel and hang the ornament on the tree.

Hope that your family likes it as much as mine has. The next one is always fun to make; it’s a Snowflake and it’s quick and easy. For each snowflake you will need 4 toothpicks cut in half, 9 small glittery white pompoms, white craft glue and white or gold ribbon. First you paint the toothpicks white and let them dry. Glue pompoms to each end of the toothpick. Next you position the toothpicks in the shape you want and glue them (hot glue guns work great – but use caution if your children are helping). The last pompom is saved to adorn the center of the snowflake. After all glue is dry you simply tie on your ribbon and hang the ornament on the tree.

I hope you find these ideas an inspiration to come up with some of your own. Doing Christmas craft projects is as much a Christmas tradition at my house as writing letters to Santa is. These family times create lasting memories that each family member appreciates.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!