We make several ornaments each year. One is for the school tree and we usually make a couple for parent gifts.
I saw these cute ornaments made from recycled cds on Monkey See, Monkey Do in the post "Decorating Our Tree With Handmade Ornaments" and knew I had to try them! We painted the cds with white paint, added some dots of black paint for a coal mouth, a pom pom for a nose and of course, some googly eyes. (Okay, I admit, we used a little iridescent glitter for added bling!)
We also added a little black fun foam for a top hat.
For our parent gifts, I decided to do the handprint snowmen ornament I've seen, but never tried. I've seen them featured everywhere, including The Crafty Crow and Little Giraffes.
We added the students' names and year to the back.
As another present to the parents, we used our fine motor skills to wrap small little pieces of foam (I didn't have any small boxes).
These may not be the most professionally wrapped, but they are certainly held together by love! We attached this poem to the package with ribbon:
I took an ordinary box
As empty as can be
I filled it with a special gift
And wrapped it carefully
But please don't ever open it
Just leave the ribbon tied
And hold it tightly near your heart
Because my love for you is inside!
It occurred to me as we were wrapping these parent gifts up, that I wouldn't get any new handmade ornaments under my tree this year. My youngest daughter is in middle school, and they are focused on midterm exams the final weeks before the holiday. It makes me a little sad. I hope the parents of my students will treasure these for many years, even after the kids grow too old to make Mom and Dad a little something with their own two hands. :)
Love the empty box idea with poem....it melts my heart!
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