Holiday Crafts

When Evan was 4 and Amy was 2 they started the tradition of making Christmas presents for their relatives. Until last year that has consisted of 5 grandparents, and 12 aunts and uncles. Now we have 2 cousins with 2 more on the way. What began as a way to minimize cost for so many relatives, has now become a fun tradition.

The first craft we made were beeswax candles. I bought sheets of beeswax and candle wick at a hobby shop. To make the candle, you place a piece of wick 1/2 inch longer than the sheet of wax, on the edge of the wax. Then roll tightly, rolling the wick into the middle. When you are done rolling gently smooth the seam into your candle. You can cut the wax to different sizes to make different heights for your candles. You can also cut it into a triangle and roll from the widest end to the tip for a spiral candle. We used a maroon colored wax and didn't cut it. We rolled from the long side to make a tall candle, then grouped two candles together and tied with a black ribbon.

My kids had a lot of fun making and giving these as gifts. I'll try and post some of our other ideas. Sometimes it's helpful and fun to have some crafts for the kids to do over Thanksgiving weekend. If you have ideas for gifts that kids can make I'd love to hear them.