I wanted to make these snowglobes. I found pictures of the boys in the snow and laminated them. I was so excited to put these together but they were duds. My problem was that I did not leave enough space around the inner edge of the lid, and the jars would not close. On one of the three, I could get the lid on, but it wouldn't seal, and so it leaked. I think I used the wrong kind of glue, for starters, and I may have been trying to cram too much stuff into each snowglobe. I was focused mainly on the look and how cute they would be with sprigs of this and that.... I should have been primarily concerned with whether the darn things would close. So, these potentially adorable snowglobes were a bust for us. Maybe we will try again next year.
Incidentally, one of the other moms in S's class wanted to to do snowglobes as the craft for the whole class during the winter party. So I was able to experience all the same technical difficulties, times twenty. I felt so bad as each kid walked away from the sink, which was my station, with either a leaky snowglobe or with one that wouldn't close at all. That was quite an afternoon.
These next ornaments we tried were these little wintery scenes. I think these turned out okay, even though some of our trees and deer dried at a crooked angle. The tricky part of these was not getting glue all over the stuffing that we used for the snow. And also keeping the stuffing inside the cup as you put it over the top of the scene. So these took a bit of dexterity and patience. Because of that they weren't very kid-friendly. I had to do most of the work myself, which isn't the idea. But they made cute gifts for teachers and grandparents. I love the one we kept for our tree.
Lastly, we made these sparkly snowflakes. These were super easy for the boys, but it took a surprisingly long time to do 5 beads per pipecleaner. Turning on some tv as a distraction helped us get through it. We made most according to the directions, but I also tried one version where I kept the pipecleaners longer and then I curled them to make a more flowery look.
Next year I'm going to try to limit myself to one or two ornaments, and I'll try to pick ones that will be a little easier for the boys. The whole point is to do these WITH them, not for me to slave away after they've gone to bed.
One more thing I did this year. I used our box advent calendar again, but this year I put magnets on the backs of the boxes. In the past I had hung them on a door or wall using poster putty. But it never worked very well. We would often have boxes falling down and their contents spilling out. The magnets worked much better. I put them all on a cookie sheet from IKEA. Voila. No more falling boxes.
Just for fun, a few pictures of our decorations this year. I love the mantle in our apartment.
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