Every year we try to make our decorations for the tree and house different. This year we blew out eggs,painted and put on glitter for the tree. They turned out lovely! We also dried apple rings and orange rings to hang. We still have suckers from Halloween that we will cover with scraps of bright material and tie onto the tree also.

Does anyone have any ideas for us that would be using food or dried natural material for more decorations? They have to be easy since my daughter is only 4.

-- miller (smillers@snowcrest.net), December 06, 2001

Answers

Response to Christmass Decorations?

You do know about stringing popcorn or cranberries don't you? Or do you mean that you want your daughter to be able to do the making? You would have to decide if she could be trusted with a needle. Some four year olds would do fine -- some 14 year olds (or even 40 year olds) shouldn't have a needle! :-)

-- Joy F (S.Central Wisc) (CatFlunky@excite.com), December 06, 2001.

Response to Christmass Decorations?

Have you any sweetgum, alder or pine cones? Alder has miniture cones that can be spray painted and look real pretty. Also poppy pods can look nice. Look around your garden for plant ideas. If you have a Craft World, Ben Franklin Crafts, or Michaels Crafts, take a look at what they have and see if you have some of the same things at home. Another place to check for craft supplies is Goodwill, or similar type of store. Try fabric pom-poms made from strips of scrap fabric. Good luck, and Merry Christmas. Jacki

-- Jackie Goss (jgossspecialtees@msn.com.), December 06, 2001.

Response to Christmass Decorations?

Corn husks can be dried and then dipped in colored water (just like Easter eggs (dry them again before using). Save and color a lot. Make into figures, sew, tape or glue into rings for a chain (remember the chains made out of colored paper rings?) tye into bows, make into flowers, etc.

And of course, don't forget pine cones. Pine cones with "dollops" of spackle or drywall "mud" on the edges of the pine cone (to look like snow) with a little glitter added on, make real pretty decorations. You can stand them up to look like small pine trees, or tie a string/ ribbon (etc) on the "bottom" of the pine cone and hang them from the tree, drape them over a wall hung light fixture, or even on a door knob. Spray paint the pine cones with gold or silver paint and sprinkle on glitter.

If you use a lot of garlic, beautiful garlic roses can be made if you carefully remove the cloves of garlic from the bulb, and leave the "paper" these in turn of course can be spray painted.

queen anne's lace (wild carrot) can be hung upside down to dry, then spray painted festive colors.

MissJudi (also known as Martha Stuart on the cheap)

-- MissJudi (jselig@clemson.edu), December 06, 2001.

My daughters one year when they were young made little wreaths out of long burmuda runners and put babys breath and other small flowers on it, still have one they made.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), December 06, 2001.

Not my style, but Despicable Bill and Hillary thought condoms were cool! I actually think pine (or hemlock, or swamp willow, or any "seed pod") of trees are nice, and the Christmas tree will bond with them! Try teasel "flowers", dried. And sachets of many herbs will make your home smell very, very nice. Crush them first though. GL, and Merry Christmas!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), December 06, 2001.

Hi; A tip for blowing eggs out. We use a syringe (cheap). Poke a small hole in the egg and hold it with the hole down and inject air(in the top of the egg) with the syringe.The air pressure inside will force the yoke and egg white out the hole when you remove the syringe.Do it several times and then inject soap and water inside to wash it out. Works great without a headache from blowing. Tradesman

-- Tradesman (tradesman@noaddr.com), December 06, 2001.

Bittersweet, the invasive nasty vine that it is, makes a lovely wreath, and is beautiful draped on the tree.

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), December 06, 2001.

Kathy........where do you live??? Bittersweet, invasive and nasty?? Here in Michigan it is endangered and protected and very hard to find. I am jealous!!! Yes, it is lovely and makes wonderful, colorful decorations if you can find them.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), December 06, 2001.

I also use an old syringe to blow eggs, but I suck out the contents with the syringe so the shell has only 1 hole. One decoration my kids did when they were little was to cut out same size ovals or circles from old Xmas cards, glue them back to back, & edge them with yarn, glitter (dh hates that mess), dried peas & beans, or whatever is handy. If your library has old craft books or Pack of Fun magazines, you can get lots of cheap ideas. There used to be a magazine (back in the 50s) called Scrap Craft. You can also color macaroni with rubbing alcohol & food coloring. Use a plastic needle for stringing or tip the string or yarn with wax to stiffen it.

Have fun!

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), December 06, 2001.

Hi; I know that it doesn't really matter but I only use 1 hole also to blow the eggs. regards tradesman

-- tradesman (tradesman@noaddr.com), December 07, 2001.

Thanks everyone for the ideas!

-- miller (smillers@snowcrest.net), December 07, 2001.

If you just string cranberries, your daughter can use a blunt-pointed needle ~ maybe even plastic. You can use dried fruit for garlands and ornaments as well. How about painting dried okra pods like Santa and Rudolph?

-- Wingnut (wingnut@moment.net), December 12, 2001.

Cookies. Gingerbread cut out as men, reindeer, horses, stars, hearts (a Scandinavian favorite) or anything else you fancy. Lay down a loop of lightweight string on the pan and position the unbaked cookie over it to form a hanging loop off the top, bake it, and it will be permanently attached. You can decorate them with plain white frosting piped on, or leave plain. Make a pastry bag by putting white frosting into a plain plastic sandwich bag, roll the top down, cut off a corner, and use as you would any other pastry bag.

Paintbrush sugar cookies were a christmas 'must' at our house. Roll- out sugar cookie dough that were painted before baking using egg yolk (with about a teaspoon of water) colored with food coloring. (Blue is hard to do, mix it with egg white instead, no water, but it is still very pale. If you have cake coloring, the tint may be more intense) You can also combine dragees and decorative candies on them, bake with the loop on the back (watch carefully so they don't over brown), and hang on the tree. Personalized ornaments that the kids can eat later on.

A friend of mine crocheted snowflakes that were stiffened with clothes starch and hung on the tree, very neat. For a little child to help you out, try folding paper and cutting out paper snow flakes. They are very easy to put on the tree, you can just sort of prop them on with little trouble, or you could tape a hanging loop on the back.

Dried heads of hydrangeas have turned brown by now, but with a little gold spray paint, they too are quite attractive. Tie the stem with some inexpensive satin ribbon that you can buy at yard good/hobby stores in whatever color you like.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), December 12, 2001.

I just saw another one good for small ones. Cut the egg part of cardboard egg cartons and make bells. A nut or washer can be the ding, and they can be decorated many ways. Jacki

-- Jackie Goss (jgossspecialtees@msn.com.), December 12, 2001.