Stocking Stuffers

Stocking stuffers are so much fun. I always looked forward to seeing what St. Nick put in my stocking. Without fail I remember always having an orange at the bottom (It fits perfect in the toe). I don't believe stocking stuffers need to be anything expensive or elaborate. That is what is so much fun about stuffing stockings... being creative to fill it without breaking the bank with things that will fit inside. The possibilities are endless.

Some of my favorite places to find things are:

• Target dollar spot
• Michaels Craft Store has dollar bins as well
• Dollar Store
• Joannes Craft Store- I love getting craft items there that can't be found in the dollar bins and better quality than the Dollar Store because they have an awesome coupon policy that allows you to use competitors coupons. You can use several coupons in the same transaction as long as they have different barcodes. With 40%-50% off coupons you can get fun craft items for just a few dollars.
• Be aware and on the look out that Children's Place has $1 doorbusters on their hats, gloves and scarves usually sometime after Thanksgiving. 

Practical Parenting  has put together an awesome list of 50 stocking stuffer ideas. Some of these items are a little pricey for stocking stuffers in my opinion (you wouldn't find many of them on my above mentioned list of places to find stuffers), but it is worth checking out! 

Clarks Condensed also has put together a fabulous list on inexpensive stocking stuffers for toddlers.

Mother's Niche also has one of my favorite stocking stuffer lists that I personally referred to as well.


Here is my 5 favorite stocking stuffers for my little ones this year:

1.  Melissa and Doug On the Go Water Wow! I did a review on these here. Buy them at Michaels or Joanne's Craft store and use a %40 coupon!

2.  Hot Wheels Cars

3. Scarves, hats and gloves- remember this for next year! 

4. Frozen Watch

5.  fun socks

Gingerbread Playdough Friend Gift

My girls love playing with playdough. This year they decided to make playdough for a few friends in the neighborhood. Gingerbread Playdough smells delicious and my girls love using our gingerbread cookie cutters to make little gingerbread families. 

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cinnamon 

1/2 cup salt

2 Tbs cream of tarter

2 Tbs oil

2 cups water

Mix dry ingredients then add wet ingredients. Stir and cook over medium heat until dough sticks together in a ball. Store in an airtight container. 

We bought plastic tupperware with the red tops to store the playdough in,  printed the "Wishing you a very merry Christmas" printable we created, that you are welcome to use, added a cute little gingerbread cookie cutter bought at Michaels Craft Store and some red tulle and we have a cute little gift my girls cannot wait to deliver!

Teacher Christmas Gift Ideas

Are you in need of a teacher gift? Here are a few of my favorite ideas. 

I think this is the cutest idea! An App(le) for my teacher!

I would love this gift! A movie and popcorn! Maybe throw in a some chocolate too! 

Warm cozy socks, nail polish & lotion. I couldn't find a link to this "warm & cozy mistle toes" idea, but think it is adorable. I created the printable below to go along with the idea. You'll want to right click and save the image and then print. 

Or if your budget is a little less than the above idea this is cute with just the nail polish. 

Isn't this idea amaz'on! :)

We never have enough cozy blankets in our home. I love the cute printable for it. Check it out here.

Polar Express Hot Chocolate "as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars"

Tonight we made the most amazing hot chocolate to drink as we read The Polar Express. Not only was it thick and rich and taste like melted chocolate bars, just like is described in the book, it was super easy and only uses 3 ingredients. 

ingredients:

1 package of mini 3 musketeers

2 cups mini marshmallows

3 cups milk

( I don't think you can really go wrong with the measurements. Use as many candy bars and marshmallows to taste and as much milk to make it the consistency you prefer. )

Melt 3 Musketeers in a microwave safe bowl. Melt in 30 second increments, stir and heat. 

Once melted add in milk and marshmallows. Heat for 1 minute at a time until marshmallows are melted.  Wisk until smooth. Enjoy!

Makes about 3-4 servings. 

recipe adapted from this Candy Bar Hot Chocolate on food.com

Christmas Story Lesson & Game

It is important to us that we take time to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Our family is doing this lesson and activity for a family night. We were gifted the Fisher Price Little People Nativity Playset and it has been the greatest gift. We bring it out with our Christmas decor and always tell the story of Christ's birth with it. 

This year we wanted to make it even more interactive for our little ones, so we created a little game to go along with telling the story. We use the book My First Story of the First Christmas, which features New Testament as well as Book of Mormon stories. You can find the book on Amazon here. There are so many books, so find one that you like! 

Ahead of time you will want to write out clues describing Jesus, Mary, the Angel Gabriel, the shepherds and the wise men. Here are the clues that I made for ours. Feel free to copy and paste them or write your own! Here are the clues we wrote and used:

• I am the Son of God and Savior of the World. I was born in a manger. Who am I?

• I came to Mary and told her that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Savior. Who am I?

• I am a young woman who lived in the small town of Nazareth. Heavenly Father sent an angel named Gabriel to visit me. I am the mother of the Savior. Who am I?

• We were watching our sheep on the hillside when an angel appeared to us. We were afraid, but the angel told us to fear not. We hurried to Bethlehem to see the baby and worship him. Who are we?

• It took us a long time to travel to Bethlehem. When we found Jesus, we knelt down and  worshiped Him. We gave him gifts of gold, frankinscense and myrrh. Who are we?

I typed mine out and mounted them on red cardstock, but you can simply write each clue out on a piece of paper. 

After telling the story we sent our little ones on a hunt for the pieces to the nativity. After they returned with all the pieces we read each clue and had them pick out who we were describing. Afterwards, have them retell the story of Christmas using the playset and enjoy playing together! 

From the desk of Santa Claus

Do you do Elf on the Shelf at your home? Last year was our first year and it was so much fun. My girls named our Elf "Ruby". Let me just say that Ruby is sweet and not naughty. She brings the Christmas magic alive in our home and brings laughs and fun activities for us to do together as a family.

In our family we have made it a tradition to decorate the Sunday after Thanksgiving because my husband usually always works Friday and use to work Saturdays. This year because he doesn't work Saturdays we are planning on decorating then. With Thanksgiving just a few days away and December 1st just around the corner I have started preparing our activities.

Check out this cute Santa letterhead! Ruby is returning with a letter from Santa letting our girls know that Ruby will be watching and reporting each night! You can find the Santa letter head here.

Elf on the Shelf Ideas

Christmas is magical with kids. This was the first year our family has done the Elf on the Shelf and boy am I glad we jumped on the elf bandwagon. I have read several articles and blogs about why some are against the elf and for the reasons I have heard, I can agree. However, Christmas is about Christ and that will always be the center of our celebrations and secondly, our elf that we named Ruby, is not naughty. She does not toilet paper or play dirty little tricks, which if you search for elf on the shelf ideas there are plenty of... Our Ruby is sweet. She brought us treats and activities, she made us laugh at the innocent and fun things she got into like eating a bowl of cereal or reading our books or playing a game. With all honesty,  I was really sad to say goodbye to Ruby on Christmas Eve. She has added a fun spark of magic to our home. I already miss waking up and hearing, "Let's go find Ruby!!"Below you will find several ideas that I hope will be a help. We will miss our Ruby. She just may need to pay a couple surprise visits through the year! We love our Ruby. 

Ruby's grand arrival!

coloring

sleeping under the tree with baby doll bed, blanket & pillow.

Ruby helped herself to some cereal and wrote the girls' names.

fishing for goldfish.

watching a Christmas movie and having a little snack.

cooking in the girls' kitchen. 

Ruby brought us donuts one morning complete with green milk. 

Ruby likes playing Candy Land. 

And she is quite the architect! 

She also brought us all that we needed to decorate christmas trees!

She followed us to grandma's house. 

Poor Ruby caught a cold, but she got well quick. 

She left us some hot chocolate to drink.

Ruby wanted to make a reindeer footprint also. 

One morning she left us chocolate coins in the cash register. 

And she wanted us to play a game of Holiday Matching.

She made us some beautiful snowflakes.

Ruby left us a message from Santa.

Ruby's goodbye letter on Christmas Eve, 

Santa lifted her magic for a few minutes so the girls could say goodbye.