Christmas Archives - Page 5 of 5

Snack for Kids- Christmas Tree Themed Bento

November 26, 2012 By Deirdre

I have been trying to give JDaniel more veggies and fruit as an afternoon snack. He loves to eat them at mealtime and has been sneaking them out of the fridge lately at other times during the day. I thought maybe he had a need for the vitamins and nutrients in them and by serving them as his afternoon snack he won’t sneak them.
JDaniel loves spinach. It is one of his favorite vegetables, but I discovered that he doesn’t like this spinach dip. He ate almost everything else. He loved the mini crackers! He ate a few cucumber shaped trees, and the tomatoes though.

He did try the dip which I was thrilled to see. The cracker did actually end up with a rather large glob on it. Once it made it to his mouth he announced that it was not good.

I grabbed one of the large grape tomatoes and tried the dip just to see what it tasted like. It tasted good to me. The flavor wasn’t too strong. There wasn’t a garlic or strong onion aftertaste.

Maybe he would have like it if I had added a little melted cheese on the top. He seems to love everything covered in melted cheese these days. I can’t blame him I love melted cheese too.I am thankful that he like the cucumbers and tomatoes. He didn’t eat all of them, but that just left something for me to scoop the remaining dip up with.

Bento Making Tip: A cookie cutter placed in the Bento box is a great area to hold a thick dip and it can help illustrate the theme of a snack or lunch time meal.

If you like this Christmas tree snack, here are some more snack for kids ideas:

Star Wars Food Creations for Kids

Bento Lunch with Cracker Sandwiches

Summer Sunshine Bento Lunch

Snack for Kids- Christmas Tree Themed Bento Idea

Cardboard Advent Candy Wreath for Kids

November 25, 2012 By Deirdre

Time to get this Holiday Hop of Goodies going! For the next 2 weeks I will be posting holiday skinny mini recipes, crafts, decorating ideas, giveaways and more! Today I am going to share with you a cardboard advent candy wreath. Kids will love taking one piece of candy off the cardboard Adventwreath each day during Advent. My son has enjoyed having this up at our house.

We made an Advent candy wreath out of an old cardboard box. A plastic lid was used to trace the circles that make up this wreath. We just overlapped the circles until we had connected the first to the last. Cutting out cardboard isn’t easy. I used an X-Acto knife to cut out the wreath and then scissors to trim off the rough edges. If you have access to thin cardboard , it would be much easier to cut out.

Holiday Hop for Goodies- Cardboard Advent Wreath

After the wreath was cut out, JDaniel sponge painted our advent wreath green with a leave shaped sponge. I know you can’t see the leaves shapes once the paint in on the advent candy wreath. I just thought paint with a leaf would be fun.

Then we threaded four ribbons through pre-made holes (scissor cuts) in the cardboard to represent the four Sundays of Advent. Finally, twenty-four small candy canes were taped onto the wreath with cellophane tape.

One candy cane will be removed each day until we get to Christmas. This cardboard advent wreath will help us count down to Christmas and be used as during our discussion of advent.

If you like this Advent candy wreath, here are some more Christmas crafts you will like:

Threaded Star Tree

Doily Painted Angel

Branch Bracelets

Paper Bag Gingerbread House

You will find even more craft ideas for kids on my Crafts for Kids Pinterest board.

Is it Santa’s birthday too?

December 21, 2011 By Deirdre

Christmas Activities- Christmas Treasure Tree

Is it Santa’s birthday too?(A pause was taken and he added.)If Christmas isn’t Santa’s birthday, why do we celebrate him?JDaniel age 3 1/2We had just stopped by a local hot dog restaurant to pick up lunch on Friday to take to my mom’s. (JDaniel and I always spend some time with my mom on Fridays and sometimes we surprise her with lunch.) The car hadn’t even made it out of the parking lot when he asked me the question above.

I was shocked that my not yet three years old had come up with the question. I really shouldn’t be. He comes up with questions like this a lot. He is just wired for them. Hearing how he processes and thinks through things is the best gift!

“No, it isn’t Santa’s birthday,” I replied. After a minute I added,” I am not sure when his birthday is.”

I don’t have anything against Santa. I really don’t. JDaniel told me what he wanted from Santa when it looked like he wasn’t going to get to have the next door neighbor’s four years old write it for him. He didn’t want me to send a letter to Santa.

We chat about him from time to time and JDaniel has seen Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on television. He gleaned a lot about Santa by watching that show, but it also filled him with many questions.

He doesn’t get why Santa wouldn’t want to live someplace warm like South Carolina or how everything fits in one sleigh. I have tried to briefly explain the reasons why.

One of the things he doesn’t know is that Santa comes into the house deliver gifts. I think he would be nervous about someone we don’t know coming into our house. He thinks that Santa just lands on your front lawn. My husband asked JDaniel what he should do if he sees a man and his sleigh on the front lawn. JDaniel said, “Check to see if he has a lightsaber in his sack and then send him away.”

I have had to make some Santa choices.

Will I wrap presents from Santa in a different paper? I don’t know.

Will we put out chocolate or cookies for Santa? I have heard from a reliable source that he really likes Reese’s Cups so, I will leave them out.

Will I clarify that Santa comes into the house to drop off presents and eat the snack? No, I will not! I want him to sleep in his own bed on Christmas Eve.

Did we have a picture with Santa at the mall? JDaniel said that he won’t do anything but wave as we walked by him at the mall.

Will the pumpkins JDaniel has held onto since Halloween been eaten by reindeer that are hungry? Yes, they will. Reindeer are big pumpkin eaters and will need a snack too.

We will be having a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas Day. If we find out when Santa’s birthday is, I will be very happy about eating a cupcake or slice of cake in his honor too.