Holiday projects for the whole family
Grateful gobblers
Gather up enough toilet paper rolls for each person in the family to have one. Grab construction paper or cardstock in a variety of fall colors, googly eyes, scissors and glue. Use your scissors to cut out turkey feet and beaks using yellow construction paper, then cut out feather shapes from the assortment of fall-colored paper – enough for five to eight feathers per person.
Have everyone create their own turkeys by gluing the googly eyes, beaks and feet to their toilet paper rolls. Then, ask everyone to write down one thing they are thankful for this year on each of their feathers and glue them to their turkeys, creating a colorful tail filled with gratitude. Place these out on display for the whole family to enjoy!
This idea came from www.goodhousekeeping.com.
Family trees
Family trees are a colorful and fun way to illustrate your growing family while creating a treasure you can update throughout the years.
All you need is a printout or drawing of a tree, a pen or fine-point marker and washable stamp pads in any assortment of colors. Have people use the stamp pads to place their thumb prints on the tree and write their names nearby.
If you have a larger family, it can be fun to keep each family’s prints together – labeling each grouping with the family name. If you are a smaller family, have everyone make many prints throughout the tree using their own unique color. See how the thumbprints grow and the tree changes over the years.
This idea came from www.goodhousekeeping.com.
New Year’s wish tree
Gather twigs and small branches and place them in a vase so they look like a small tree. Using paper of any kind or color, have everyone cut out stars, hearts or any other fun shapes they want to use for their wishes. Add a small hole to each shape and thread a piece of ribbon through each shape, tying it on the end to hang like an ornament. On one side of each shape, everyone should write “I wish …” and on the other, write a wish for the new year.
Decorate each of the wishes with glitter, markers, pom poms, etc., and throughout the night on New Year’s Eve, have each person hang a wish on the branches.
This idea came from www.notimeforflashcards.com.
New Year’s Eve countdown activities
Keep the kids engaged and entertained with these inexpensive countdown activities. Get some simple gift bags and write a time on each of the bags for each hour of the night, starting whenever your celebrations begin. If your kids are likely not going to make it to midnight, you can adjust your times and bag content accordingly.
Fill each bag with simple activities, games or treats. For the earlier bags, give the kids creative and engaging activities like cards, crayons, coloring pages or supplies to make their own party hats. Later in the evening, include decorations, snacks, balloons, noisemakers and milk and cookies for an end of the night toast.
This idea came from eastcoastmommyblog.blogspot.com.