It’s the most wonderful time of the year for crafters! Mini makers (and their parents) can get in on DIY holiday fun with these at-home projects. From embroidering a Christmas ornament to assembling the perfect gingerbread house, these take-and-make kits are a quick cure for cabin fever or the perfect boredom buster on a cold day or. The best thing about these crafts? Once you pick up a few simple supplies, you can spend quality fam time creating at home – no masks or distancing required!
Build a Gingerbread House
Who doesn’t love a beautiful gingerbread house at Christmas? But baking and building one from scratch can be frustrating. So save yourself the stress and buy this kit from the Gingerbread House Queen herself, Randi Brecher of Creative Cakes, and use her tips for building a classic (and sturdy!) house out of gingerbread. The kit is $65 and comes complete with all the gingerbread pieces, icing mix, an icing bag, and a bag each of sugar decorations, candy, and plastic decorations. This craft is best for kids who have a lot of patience because you do need to allow plenty of time between steps to ensure the house stands up to the chilly winds of winter.
Creative Cakes
8814 Brookville Road
Silver Spring, MD 20910
(301) 587-1599
Online: creativecakes.com
Decorate Christmas Cookies (or Cakes!)
Holiday baking and decorating is a time-honored tradition. But who has time for all that baking? Save some time and get straight to the fun part – decorating – by ordering these cookie decorating kits from Cake Time. You can order a kit with a dozen cookies, three colors of Royal icing, sprinkles and instructions for $25. Prefer cake over cookies? They have Christmas cake decorating kits for $45! You can place your order online and pick it up or have it delivered. Outside the DC area? They ship too!
Cake Time
4300 Chantilly Shopping Center, Ste #1H
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 657-0999
Online: caketimediy.com (local orders)
Make Your Own Christmas Village
Love the cozy feel of a Christmas Village decoration but no time to put it out (and keep little hands from grabbing it?). Get the same feel with this easy-to-make, kid-friendly Holiday Houses craft kit. All you need is the kit and a glue stick or some double-sided tape. Each kit contains eight houses, so you can get one kit for the whole family or let each kid make their own kit. Perfect for kids ages 6+, this is super easy to assemble and doubles as adorable and cozy Christmas décor.
Paper Source
3019 M Street Northwest
Washington DC 20007
(888) 727-3711
Online: papersource.com
Winter Wonderland Water Sensory Bottle
Got a little one who loves Frozen and Elsa? Then they’ll love this water sensory bottle that’s reminiscent of Elsa’s frozen castle with silver and blue glitter! The instructions are super simple and it uses materials you can get anywhere – and you might even have some of them in the house already. And you can make this water sensory bottle with anything you want, so if your kiddo’s not a fan of silver and blue or you want to skip the glitter, there are plenty of other options. Check out the video for complete instructions.
Online: nationalchildrensmuseum.org
—Wendy Miller
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