Holiday Archives – Page 3 of 3

The best gift!! Make an Ice Cream Sundae Gift Basket

Collecting Materials for the Gift Box

First, I collected the materials that I needed for DIY ice cream sundae gift box. I went to Michael’s and they were having an awesome summer blowout sale on gift boxes.

I got this gift box for just three dollars! Of course, I bought a few of them for later projects.

Next, on my weekly trip to the grocery store, I purchased a few of the ice cream box necessities – chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, cherries, and cones.

I also bought a few boxes of candy that could be used as toppings. The boxes were on sale for .99 cents.

As for other toppings, I already had tons of sprinkles and a box of walnuts at home.

My final trip was to Walmart for a cheap but cute ice cream scoop. I found one for .88 cents! (Side note – if you are looking to get a better scoop, there’s an awesome scoop on Amazon that uses the heat from your body to heat up the ice cream!)

Also at Walmart, I found polka dot napkins and turquoise spoons for a dollar per pack. I also found ice cream cups there for $3 per pack.

If you are looking to buy a kit, there’s a great ice cream sundae kit on Amazon, which has the cups, spoons, straws, and little umbrellas in bright and cheery colors.

Last, I purchased the condiment cups on Amazon. Love Amazon! I also needed the condiment cups for my son’s Sesame Street themed birthday party, so I bought a big bag.

I already had scrapbook paper and ribbon in my craft collection, so I didn’t need to buy those things 🙂

Putting the Ice Cream Sundae Box Together

The next step was the fun part – putting everything together into a cute ice cream sundae gift basket.

I poured the boxes of candy into the condiment cups. The boxes were a perfect fit because I had little to none leftover.

I also filled condiment cups with rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, and crushed walnuts.

I unwrapped two different kinds of cones (I bought a variety pack) and wrapped a stack of them in cellophane for freshness.

Then I took a piece of ribbon and tied a few spoons to the ice cream scoop with a sign that read, “Just add ice cream.”

I took scrapbook paper and cut pieces to cover the store labels – to make them prettier 🙂

Then I printed my own labels that read “chocolate syrup, cherries, etc” (see download below) on regular white printer paper.

I glued the labels to the scrapbook paper and then taped them to the jars, for a cute, uniform look.

I didn’t love the design on the ice cream cups, so I wrapped a polka-dotted napkins around the cup, to match the napkins and make for a brighter box.

Last, I added a sign to the top of the box, covering up the bicycle design.

I love the way the box turned out! My sister-in-law and her family loved it too. We had a great time creating ice cream sundaes at home 🙂

As far as cost, I saved a lot of money with the discounted box, grocery store sales, and good finds at Walmart.

Altogether, I spent just less than $35 dollars (with the condiment cups being $10.50 and tons of these leftover for other projects) on the this DIY ice cream sundae gift basket.

Considering we had ice cream sundaes for seven people and tons of leftovers, I still think that’s a great deal!

It’s a great summer gift basket, housewarming gift, a sunshine gift for someone who needs some positivity – the list is endless, and everyone always loves it!

I’m always looking for cute greeting card ideas for my kids to make. There are so many fun cards out there that creatively use kids’ hand and footprints. Although cute, I always had trouble getting one decent hand or footprint for a greeting card. Not to mention the mess it makes.

As soon as my son was old enough to paint, I had him “paint” with cotton swabs, instead of paint brushes, so he could easily dab the paint onto the paper. This kept the paint really confined but still allowed him to create artwork. (Sponge brushes and foam stampers are great for making cards with toddlers too.)

As any toddler’s paintings would be, my little guy’s artwork was very abstract.

I was having him make birthday cards for all of the August birthdays in my family. Yet, rather than give messy toddler paint prints, I thought of a great way to showcase his art but to also turn it into a nice-looking greeting card.

So after my son did a little painting, I did a little cutting and gluing – and voila! Don’t the birthday cards look nice?!

Materials for Making Greeting Cards from Toddlers

Making these greeting cards is so simple. The materials are so easy too. Most likely, you will even already have all of these things.

Card stock – I like having toddlers make artwork on card stock because it is so thick. When they layer paint on paint on paint, the card stock works really well. I mostly used this bright color pack. The brighter the colors, the better the cards turned out. (Looking at the purple card (below), I wished I used a brighter color for the actual card.)
Kids paint – I love this washable Crayola paint. Lots of color choices keep my son very interested in painting!
Paintbrushes – sponge brushes, cotton swabs or stampers work too! My son loves making greeting cards with these foam painting stampers. He has this farm set, but they have transportation ones, animal ones, sea-life ones, and even holiday sets too! He only uses the paintbrush for so long, but the foam stampers keep him interested for longer
Scissors – just the regular ole pair you have laying around the house 🙂
Glue – or even tape 🙂
Sharpie/Marker (if needed) – I used a sharpie to add the balloon strings. You could use ribbon too!
Stickers or embellishments (if desired)

Making Cards with Toddlers

After my toddler painted on the card stock papers, I let them dry for a few hours or so. Then, I cut his paintings into shapes – cupcakes, presents, balloons, and layered cake for the birthday cards.

I then took a new piece of card stock (a contrasting color), folded it in half, and trimmed off the top (unless I was going for a tall card – like the balloons and train). After, I took the birthday items that I cut and glued them down to the card.

I even did a train cut-out for my train-loving dad. I used a nearby water bottle cap to trace those perfect circles 🙂

Using Patterned Scrapbook Paper for Toddler Cards

After making cards for all the August birthdays, I was running low on paintings, so I substituted printed scrapbook paper (here is a similar one) that looked like a cupcake wrapper.

The greeting card turned out so cute that I wished I thought of it sooner 🙂

Birthday Shapes

As far as the shapes, I free-handed them as I cut. You could certainly draw on the paper and then cut.

Adding Embellishments

While making cards with toddlers, you can dress up the cards by adding some embellishments to the front of the card. I added the word happy with letter stickers because the present birthday card looked a little plain.

A Personal Touch

Last, to give the greeting cards just a little more of a personal touch, I had my son decorate the inside. He colored with his crayons and picked out stickers. This gave him another opportunity to be creative making birthday cards.

I just love how the birthday cards turned out! My son got to be as creative as he wanted with no restrictions (like finger prints or footprints), and I got to help my toddler create something to give to others that was refrigerator-worthy.

Even though I used birthday shapes for this batch of greeting cards, you could easily alter the shapes for holidays too.

Making cards with toddlers is a win-win for everyone involved. Your child gets to do a fun activity, you get to save some money with homemade cards, and your family members/friends get a creative, cute card, showcasing your child’s work.

And, the best part is that there is no need for hand or footprints. Now that’s a win right there 😉

Holiday

Making a Simple Ice Cream Sundae Gift Basket

Collecting Materials for the Gift Box

Putting the Ice Cream Sundae Box Together

Making Adorable Cards from Toddler Art