making christmas cards with children PART ONE
Almost every year I try to get our kids involved in the making of our Christmas cards. It's a HUGE job, but it ends up being less stressful when we all work on them together. Does that make sense at all? How can it be less stressful with young hands assisting? Well it is. And here is why, for one thing, making the cards keeps them occupied for long stretches of time. Also, the more work they do the less there is for me to do. We are all pitching in together and it just seems more like fun and less like work. As an added bonus, you get to encourage their creativity and their confidence. The kids are always so proud of their work, and excited to mail their art to all of our loved ones. There are so many different approaches you can take to having your kids be involved. The way I go about it is to think of a simple design that they can all contribute to in a fun way.
One year (see pictures) I cut out a bunch of snowman shapes, then Ella glued them to the cards and decorated them. Last year I cut out Christmas trees and the kids went to town with glue, glitter and sequins. Oh the mess, but they had so much fun, and the cards were adorable! This year we are doing kind of the same thing, one design that they can all decorate, but we are branching out and letting them decorate however they would like...markers, paint, glue/glitter, etc. Could be very very interesting. I will share pictures after we mail them out (it's top secret stuff right now). Another approach you could take is to have your child draw a picture and then print it on to cards. Or design each card seperately, and as creatively as they would like (this hasn't happened in our house yet because we send so many cards, I think they would get bored with it). There are so many ways you can involve kids, even though it can be messy it is fun in the end.
Do you have a holiday card tradition with your kids? Or other traditions you'd like to share? Tell me!
Almost every year I try to get our kids involved in the making of our Christmas cards. It's a HUGE job, but it ends up being less stressful when we all work on them together. Does that make sense at all? How can it be less stressful with young hands assisting? Well it is. And here is why, for one thing, making the cards keeps them occupied for long stretches of time. Also, the more work they do the less there is for me to do. We are all pitching in together and it just seems more like fun and less like work. As an added bonus, you get to encourage their creativity and their confidence. The kids are always so proud of their work, and excited to mail their art to all of our loved ones. There are so many different approaches you can take to having your kids be involved. The way I go about it is to think of a simple design that they can all contribute to in a fun way. 
One year (see pictures) I cut out a bunch of snowman shapes, then Ella glued them to the cards and decorated them. Last year I cut out Christmas trees and the kids went to town with glue, glitter and sequins. Oh the mess, but they had so much fun, and the cards were adorable! This year we are doing kind of the same thing, one design that they can all decorate, but we are branching out and letting them decorate however they would like...markers, paint, glue/glitter, etc. Could be very very interesting. I will share pictures after we mail them out (it's top secret stuff right now). Another approach you could take is to have your child draw a picture and then print it on to cards. Or design each card seperately, and as creatively as they would like (this hasn't happened in our house yet because we send so many cards, I think they would get bored with it). There are so many ways you can involve kids, even though it can be messy it is fun in the end. 
1 comment:
We only this year branched into making cards but we've always made ornaments for the tree and for our Nana and Googy's trees as well. Last year it was craft stick Christmas trees and picture frame ornaments, the year before that was basic foam ornaments. This year we are doing felt ornaments and while I am doing alot of the work the boys still love pitching in :)
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