A Great Homemade Gift for Your Kid’s Teacher this Holiday Season!

Christmas vacation is quickly approaching and its usually customary for parents to send their kids with gifts for their teachers (it never hurts right?). I remember bringing See’s candy as a child to my teachers with a nice holiday card, but why not make your own homemade candy jar – its personal, cute and very festive! Plus your kids will enjoy putting it together! Here is how to do it (it is also cheap!)!

For teachers, neighbors, and baby-sitters, label jars of candy with a sweet illustration. Have your kids draw directly onto individual labels…

Materials Needed:

–        Mason Jars
–        Any kind of candy you want
–        White labels (you can get these at a local art store or even staples.com)
–        Red and Green markers
–        Glue and glitter (optional)

How to:

1. Fill the jar with candy
2. Take a white label and have your child address the teachers name (or you if your child is starting to write) and also color or put glitter on the label to make for a festive gift
3. Close the candy jar
4. Deliver to teacher!

CHECK LE TOP CHILDREN’S CLOTHING AT WWW.LETOP-USA.COM 

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A Treat a Day for the 12 Days of Christmas with Baby Socks!

Make this craft and begin on December 14^th for a countdown of 12 days ‘til Christmas for your little ones! This craft is almost like an Advent calendar, but only for 12 days and made of baby or kid socks.  What you do is take 12 stray socks (all moms know you have them stuffed in your drawers) or a mix of new ones in festive colors and take a long ribbon along a mantle or railing and hang them with clothes pins.  Stuff each mini “sock” aka stocking with a small toy or candy. Make sure the toy is age-appropriate in case of choking hazards. Then, starting on December 14^th countdown 12 days ‘til Christmas and take down one sock a day, and let your child pull out the surprise. Make sure to clip the socks back up on the ribbon after the gift has been removed. This makes the countdown ‘til Christmas fun!

What You Need:

• 12 socks
• Ribbon
• Number stickers
• Round stickers
• Pushpins
• Mini clothespins or regular clothespins work too

How-To

1. Gather 12 single socks — in colors that go well together (vary the sizes, if you like). Lay them out in the order you want to hang them, leaving spaces in between.
2. Cut the ribbon to the desired length; to find how long it should be, measure across the row of socks and add 12 inches (ours was 72 inches).
3. Use number stickers to label each sock. If one has a busy pattern, place the number on top of a solid round sticker so that it’s easier to read.
4. Tack the ends of the ribbon to a railing or mantle; if you like, you can fasten the ribbon in several places to make a few swags.
5. Use mini clothespins to clip the socks to the ribbon; overlap them if you need to save space.
6. Tuck a gift inside each. If the item is heavy, use a larger clothespin to secure the sock.

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No-Bake Gingerbread Cookie Cottage House

This winter, I don’t even have time to bake gingerbread, much less Christmas shop, but I love the idea of a cute little gingerbread house at the doorway when people come over my house.  I was trying to find a fun recipe and activity that is good for kids and easy on time for parents. See below this easy-breezy activity, and super festive too!

TIP: Use royal icing -- piped from a resealable plastic bag with a corner snipped off -- to hold houses together and "glue on" decorations. When adhering pieces, hold in place one minute to set.

Top right picture includes below ingredients:
To make your own little guy, slice off the top and bottom of a white gumdrop, and press it onto a soft swirl candy; use a piece of red gumdrop for a hat and two nonpareils for eyes. The cottage, which is studded with cinnamon candies, has a sour-belt roof, a heart-shape candy-cane window, and a graham cracker door. Letters destined for the North Pole are hidden inside a mailbox created with a swirl candy, a piece of a candy cane, and a gumdrop; the flag is cut from a stick of gum.

Cookie Cottage How-To
1. With a serrated knife, saw a graham cracker into 2 squares. Saw off top corners of another cracker to create a peaked roof; make 2.

2. Pipe icing onto bottom and straight edges of a peaked piece. Place on an upside-down paper plate; use a small object, such as a spice jar, to prop it up. Repeat to pipe icing onto edges of a square piece, and adhere it to peaked cracker. Remove spice jar, and adhere other pieces with icing.

3. Saw a cracker into 2 squares for the roof. If desired, spread icing onto roof pieces and decorate with candy; let dry. Pipe icing onto top edges of house, and adhere roof pieces. To display, place plates on a tray and cover with shredded coconut snow.

No time to go to the mall for that perfect outfit for your little one.

Shop Le Top’s holiday collection here 

 

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