Let the Decorating Begin!!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, time to trim the tree and let the festivities begin! Here are a few ideas to keep the kiddos busy and help add some holiday spirit to your house:


1) Pull out the Scrapbooking Materials you have been stockpiling in the closet. Let the kiddos go through all the pretty paper, stickers, trimming and photos. Create wreath, tree, and stocking templates. (For younger children you may need to go ahead and cut the designs out for them.) Use all of those stockpiled supplies to create Holiday Works of Art! After the decorating is done, tape designs to inside windows, hang them from the tree or just add them to the refrigerator for a little holiday flair! I find that even the shortest attention span will work on these projects for 30 minutes to an hour.

2) Cookie Decorating: If you are more like Betty Burn than Betty Crocker try getting one of those quick sugar cookie kits at every grocery store this time of year. You can normally pick them up for under $5.00. I found mine at Trader Joes for $3.99. Start the day by baking the cookies, allow to dry. While you are adding pieces to the mantle have your little ones decorate cookies. It's a great way to keep them busy and everyone benefits when they are done!

3) Christmas Card Making: Back to the Scrapbooking material, left over construction paper, or even paper from your printer and some markers. Have kiddos design cards for Grandma, Grampa, Cousins and Friends..it's a great way to keep them busy and teach them about reaching out to the ones we love during the holidays.

4) Christmas Lists: The Black Friday Paper was FULL of ads. Spread them all out all over your dining room table and have kiddos spend their time getting the ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS LIST ready for Santa.

Whatever you do, make sure you save some time for yourself. The holidays are a stressful time. Check out my Centssavings blog (http://www.centssavings.blogspot.com/) for money saving ideas and take some time to pamper your self.

Happy Holidays!