An Old-Fashioned Christmas Party: Crafts

We had six craft options: dried cranberry ornaments, embossed gift tags (set of 4), cider mix, bottle cap magnets, hankie dolls, and ribbon bookmarks. The last three were planned by me.  Parents were permitted to pay at the party. Each craft was on its own table and had a sign with directions and an envelope with the names of those signed up and how many of each craft they planned to do. We had extra supplies for last-minute folks, but having people sign up really helped with preparation!

You may recall that Greg is crazy about bottled Mexican Coke?  Scandalously, I don't like anything carbonated, but he and Kylen guzzle it regularly for dessert.  I've been saving the caps for quite some time in the hopes of eventually using them for something.  Last year, I fell in love with bottle cap crafts during my art class, so these came to mind pretty quickly for the party.  They're fast and easy, too.  You cut out an image printed on cardstock, glue it inside a cap, spread it over with glitter glue, and stick a magnet to the back.  The caps are magnetic, so no glue is needed for that last step.

Bottle Cap Magnet Craft Table

Hankie dolls or "pew babies" can be as elaborate or simple as you like.  I chose "simple" from the instructions here and gave the option of white or tan.  Requests for the two colors were about equal.  I prefer tan, because it has more of a vintage look (wrinkles and all!!), but it also requires dying the hankerchief with tea or coffee and letting it dry.  Thankfully, they dry extremely fast.  I used instant coffee stirred into hot water and soaked them two hours.  I tried soaking one all day, and it looked identical to those soaked two hours.  Not sure why?  Who knows, maybe they only needed 5 minutes - I should have tried that!  I'm guessing it was due to using instant, because the length of soaking time was supposed to affect the shade.  Anyway . . . Fold one side 1/3 of the way down, knot the right and left top corners to make the hands, place 3 cotton balls centered under the fold, tie and knot a 12" length of thin ribbon around the cotton balls to form the head.  For fancy, add lace around the head for a bonnet or at the bottom of the "dress," sew on eyes, or make pink circles for cheeks.  There are other variations, but I like this easy no-sew version!

My third craft was ribbon bookmarks, another idea adapted from my class last year.  I had grand plans for vintage buttons and lace  - until I went shopping for supplies!  Who knew, vintage buttons are expensive!  I was sad to let my original vision for this craft go, but in order to keep prices practical, I used mostly ribbon, bulk buttons for filler, and a few vintage style buttons for variety.  It's not that the ribbon bookmarks with regular buttons aren't lovely; they just didn't go as well with the theme.  These bookmarks have a nice feel and are fun to play with while reading.  For Christmas, I especially like the fabric poinsettia buttons.  They look wonderful when paired with a green button opposite them.

That wraps up my posts on our co-op's Christmas party!  Right now I'm getting much-needed relaxation with my family while recovering from a virus (sore throat, some coughing, much better today though).  Kylen and I have been alternating between playing Wii Animal Crossing City Folk and the new Wii U Scribblenauts Unlimited.  Oh, and Andy Griffith on Netflix.  I haven't played a video game through with him - just the two of us - in many years.  It's fun!!