Easy Family Get-Together: Food, Crafts & More

By Amanda Kingloff
Ring in the holiday season with a caroling party full of crafts, treats, and your favorite Christmas tunes!
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Christmas Carol Garland

Shelly Strazis

Spread some fa-la-la cheer around your home!

Make it! Cut letters out of bright index cards and punch two holes on the top of each letter. String a thin cord through each letter and hang over your mantel, on a wall, or in a window.

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Jolly Flower Wreaths

Shelly Strazis

Decorate indoors or out with these bright moss and felt wreaths!

Make it!
Flowers: Cut five 3-inch-diameter and one 1/2-inch-diameter circles from one color of felt. Fold each 3-inch circle in half to create a semicircle; hot-glue at seam and let glue dry. Fold each semicircle again to create a quarter-circle and hot-glue at seam. Press and hold until securely glued. Repeat for all five 3-inch circles. Hot-glue four folded circle points around the perimeter of the 1/2-inch circle, and then glue the fifth folded circle to the center of the 1/2-inch circle. Fluff to make a full flower. Cut simple leaf shapes from green felt and glue two to the bottom of the flower.
Wreath: Cover Styrofoam wreaths with sheet moss using greening pins, then spray a thin layer of spray snow on the top of each wreath. Using a hot-glue gun or long T-pins, attach flowers to wreath. Hang using ribbon on a door or above a mantel.

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Paper Christmas Trees

Shelly Strazis

Keep the kids busy while the adults mingle with this super-fun Christmas tree craft. See the next slide for instructions.

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Circle Christmas Tree

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Getting Christmas Crafty!

Shelly Strazis

Cover your dining room table with brown paper to keep the kids neat while crafting their very own Christmas tree.

Make It! Using different-size circle punches, have the kids punch circles from different shades of green cardstock or scrapbook paper. Using a standard hole punch, have them make the "ornaments" from various bright colors of paper. Use glue stick to glue green circles together in a triangular shape (to resemble a Christmas tree). Glue small colored dots all over green circles as ornaments. Punch stars using a star punch for the tree topper; glue to the top of tree. Clip a clothespin to the bottom as the trunk.

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Kiddy Christmas Tree

Shelly Strazis

Decorate your big tree at the start of the season, but save a small one for the kids to decorate before your holiday fete. Keep a box of non-breakable ornaments aside for them to use.

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Making Spirits Bright

Shelly Strazis

Gather the kids, family, and friends together and sing your hearts out to celebrate Christmas!

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Jingle Bracelets

Shelly Strazis

Keep track of your little carolers with these easy-to-make bell bracelets. Just glue bells to elastic -- you will definitely hear them jingle all the way!

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Christmas Crafts: Polar Bear Ornaments

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Christmas Lights

Shelly Strazis

When it's time to go caroling, make sure each kid has her own homemade lantern to carry.

Make It: Cut the top off of a plastic water bottle and wrap with vellum; secure with double-sided tape. Cut a piece of decorative scrapbook paper with a 1 inch taller and 1/2 inch wider than the diameter of the bottle. Fold the cardstock in half lengthwise and cut strips starting at the fold line, stopping approximate 1/2 inch from the edge. Adhere a strip of double-sided tape around the top and bottom edges of the bottle. Cut an 8 inch piece of ribbon and attach to either side of the top of the bottle as a handle. Unfold the decorative paper and secure to the bottle, adhering at the top and bottom edges. Insert a lightweight battery powered candle.

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Pathway Lanterns

Shelly Strazis

Light your front walkway with these beautiful lanterns. Make them the same way as you would the handheld ones, only bigger!

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Warm It Up!

Shelly Strazis

When you get home from caroling, mix up some hot chocolate with these clever chocolate-coated spoons.

Make it! Stamp words like Sweet and Delish on the ends of bamboo spoons. Heat up chocolate melts and dip spoons in to coat. Swirl spoon around until it's thickly coated with chocolate. Let dry on wax paper. Decorate with red, white, and green chocolate and sugar.

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Christmas Cocoa

Shelly Strazis

The kids will love stirring their chocolate spoon around in warm milk.

Originally published in the December 2010 issue of Parents magazine.

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Christmas Crafts: Clothespin Skier Ornaments

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