Playdate: Reindeer Games

Last week, I hosted a festive playdate featuring Santa's antler-adorned friends, the Magic Reindeer. I had big plans for this playdate, but it was scaled down due to the fact that I was being overly ambitious. With Christmas less than two weeks away, and another themed birthday party on the horizon I just didn't have the time (or energy!) Still, I think the Reindeer Games playdate was super cute and all who attended had a great time.

The inspiration for this playdate came from my desire to make "Magic Reindeer Food" with my son. Back in my days as an elementary teacher, a fellow teacher had her students create little bags of oats mixed with glitter with a tag that told the student to sprinkle the magic mixture on their lawn on Christmas Eve to attract Santa's Reindeer. Everyone knows that Reindeer love oats (and glitter!) so they are bound to spot the sparkles and smell the oats from high up in the air and lead Santa's sleigh straight to the source, your house!

I placed some instant oats, some honey bunches of oats cereal (for variety),and a few small canisters of glitter into a serving dish. I added some clear plastic ribbon tie bags (which are actually Wilton lollipop bags) for the kids to use to hold their finished product. These were all items I already had in my pantry and in my craft bins!

In addition to their Magic Reindeer Food, each little one was given a glittery antler visor, a reindeer rubber ducky (both from Oriental Trading), and an adorable felt reindeer pull string bag (found in the Target Dollar Spot) as their favors. 

I had planned on making a few reindeer themed games to go along with my theme, but after looking at the attendee list, I realized that several of the kiddos were two and under and some of my ideas might be best used next year when they have another year under their belts. I opted instead to use a simple inflatable reindeer antler toss game (purchased from Oriental Trading.)

To add an additional activity and create a fun take home item, I set up a reindeer thumbprint ornament making station. These turned out to be adorable and super easy to make. Each ornament kit came individually packaged with clear directions (from Oriental Trading.) The only thing that wasn't included in the kits were some sort of adhesive to attach the reindeer google eyes. Luckily, I had some glue dots on hand from another project, so the problem was solved.

I brought our green playroom table and chairs up from the basement playroom and set up a Play-Doh station with Christmas shaped cookie cutters, rollers and other tools. I decided to use only white Play-Doh from our stash since it was kind of wintery (snowy) looking and we were having the playdate in our main living room. While we have hardwood floors throughout the area, we also have a light beige area rug and wasn't in the mood to pick smashed brightly colored Play-Doh pieces out of the fibers over the weekend. Luckily, things didn't get too out of hand and the mess stayed on or near the table.

 

Check out these cuties in their reindeer antlers. So cute!

 

 

 May the your Magic Reindeer Food attract Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and of course, Rudolph. Happy Holidays!

 

Holiday Inspiration: Top 5 Christmas Packages

It is no secret that I don't like wrapping gifts. Each year, I wait until a few days before Christmas and then hold a marathon wrapping session. It is in no way enjoyable. By the end of my wrapping session, my back hurts from hunching over packages on the floor and chances are I've endured no less than three paper cuts.

This year, in an attempt to convince myself to get an earlier start to wrapping our Christmas gifts, I've compiled a list of my Top 5 beautiful wrapping examples:

1. I love that these packages use things that I already have around the house: mailing paper, baker's twine, and Christmas stamps. These would be so cute piled into a bag to take to a family Christmas party!

lmnop wrapping: http://www.lmnop.com.au/2010/12/parcel-pressies/



2. This monochromatic sheet music wrapping paper tied with black and white ribbon and topped with jingle bells is terrific. You could purchase a roll similar to this on Amazon, or if you had some unused sheet music stashed away somewhere, this would be a great way to repurpose it.


Just Imagine: http://justimagine-ddoc.com/crafts/gift-wrapping-ideas/?pid=4988

 



3.  I'm always trying to find fun little crafts to do around the holidays with my son. I like this idea because the end product can actually be used and enjoyed instead of winding up in a drawer somewhere.


Splash of Something: http://splashofsomething.com/2013/12/09/wrapping-week-2013-holly-jolly-reindeer-prints/
 

4. This would be perfect for someone who enjoys traveling.



http://limedoodledesign.com/2013/10/adventure-awaits/

5. Here's another simple option, but you could easily add some more color with store bought paper. Adding a lollipop or candy cane to the package is such a cute idea and adds an extra "gift" to the package.

 

Good Housekeeping

My packages will undoubtedly be wrapped in store bought paper and I may get "fancy" by adding some grosgrain ribbon and some little extras. Maybe next year I can turn it up a notch and compete with these lovely examples. Happy wrapping!



Why I Don't Do Elf on the Shelf

We've spent the last few weeks in a whirlwind of holiday awesomeness at our house. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the first time, decorated for Christmas, almost finished up our Christmas shopping, and have fully embraced the Holiday Season.

 One thing that is noticeably missing from our home is The Elf on the Shelf. My Facebook feed is filled with friends and neighbors who have already introduced the Elf into their home for his yearly mischievous antics. They gleefully dump rice on their floors, slather their vanities with shaving cream, and set up elaborate displays with the Elf front and center for their children to find each morning.

 

According to the marketing geniuses tradition, The Elf on the Shelf has to have a different adventure each night leading up to Christmas, so for those parents at a loss on how to create unnecessary chaos in their homes, or have thirty extra minutes to fill after your little goes off to bed (is this a real thing?!), there are thousands of Pins on Pinterest dedicated to ideas for Elf on the Shelf mischief. Thousands. I don't know about you, but I don't need an Elf on the Shelf to create chaos in my home. We do just fine on our own.

In addition to creating more work for yourself (who wants to sweep up rice or scrub off dried shaving cream?!) the Elf of the Shelf is just plain creepy looking. Seriously, couldn't the marketing machine produce something a little more cuddly and sweet looking? I wouldn't want to think about a creepy little Elf sneaking around my house at night while I'm in bed. That's nightmare fuel right there.

I did see that they are attempting the "tradition" to include a Reindeer Elf Pet, but it is associated with the Elf and so it still registers on my creepy scale.

 

 

If you happen to be one of the parents who just can't get their fill of their creeptastic Elf and his antics in December, worry not, you can purchase a special birthday outfit and bring him back out to taunt your child their entire birth month.

 



 

To those who welcome the Elf on the Shelf into their home, good for you. I lift my hot tea mug to you in admiration of your ability to willingly clean the chocolate syrup, marshmallow fluff, and dog kibble from your home's surfaces with a smile.