Page 28 - Boardwalk Meander Issue 5 2022

FESTIVE CRAFTS

DIY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
D IY CHRIST MAS D ECORA TIONS

WITH THE KIDS
WITH THE KIDS

With the kids at home for the long school break, why not keep them busy by crafting some
DIY Christmas decorations?

hristmas crackers can be quite costly, especially if you buy the
ones with small gifts inside. Why not make your own? They
Care easy to do, and you can get the kids involved by having
them decorate the Christmas crackers.

You will need:
Empty toilet paper rolls
Cracker snaps (not necessary unless you
want a loud bang when you pull the cracker)
Christmas wrapping paper
Sticky tape
Florist ribbon or thin silk ribbon Christmas Trees
Decorative bits and bobs These Christmas trees are not only gorgeous,
Little gifts, sweets or chocolates they are also lots of fun to make. The kids will
be busy for hours decorating their own little
To make: Christmas tree – and so will the adults!
Take an empty toilet paper roll and measure the correct length of
festive wrapping paper (for how many crackers you wish to make). You will need:
Make sure you leave about 6cm of extra paper at each end. The • Green paint
paper will be about 22cm in length and 12cm wide for each cracker. • White paint (optional)
• Pine cones
When buying gifts make sure they are tiny. Sweets and chocolates • Decorations
are great for children’s crackers. For adults you can go to a thrift • Jar lids
shop and find tiny plastic whistles, lip gloss or lipstick for women or • Cottonwool
a small tube of hand cream, chocolate balls or Lindor chocolates. • Glue
For men, you can buy a miniature bottle of liquor or biltong (put
into a small sandwich packet and tie) before putting in the cracker. To make:
You can even include a small handwritten note or joke. 1. Paint the pine cones green. Alternatively, for
a snowy Christmas tree, blotch white paint on
Cracker snaps can usually be found at a China mall store or a the outer edges of the cone tips.
party store. Insert in the filled cracker. 2. Glue the pine cones onto the lids, wide side
down.
Place the filled toilet roll on the paper and wrap, 3. Glue cottonwool balls around the pine cone,
sealing with sticky tape. Take both ends and covering the lid.
scrunch up the paper, tying with the ribbon. 4. Glue decorations
You can use name tags to personalise the onto the ‘tree’.
crackers, so you know which one is for Use anything
who – and these then also serve as you like, such as
place names for the table. buttons, sequins
and beads.
Once made, place them all under 5. Add some glitter
the Christmas tree as décor until for extra sparkle,
Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, or you can even
when you’ll place them on the dining add battery-
table. Enjoy! operated LED
fairy lights to your
Source: Pretoria Rekord newspaper ‘tree’.

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Boardwalk Meander Estate Issue 5 · 2022