Decorating for the holidays can take several different kinds of approaches. It can be traditional, themed, crafty, or whatever approach captures your family’s mojo best.
We usually start by digging out the boxes of ornaments and decor that we’ve collected throughout our life together and that we’ve been given from our parents and grandparents. Each contains so many special memories, and every year they gather new ones.
But then I like to add something new each year that we create together.
This year we made a ’12 Days of Christmas’ decoration to help extend the fun of the holidays from the evening of December 25th to the New Year.
Here’s how we made the 12 Days project:
Supplies. I purchased a dozen mini buckets from Amazon.com for less than $10. And then I gathered up craft supplies that were essentially the leftovers of past projects this year.
How-to. Since we are working with one set of toddler hands, we covered the table in paper before we set out the supplies. Using glue, ribbons, glitter, and paint, we created a unique look for each of the 12 buckets.
And although 4-year-old Jack‘s plan included painting the inside of the buckets and his hands, he still decorated one. The plan that worked? I handed him a bucket while his hands were wet with paint to capture his handprint and contribute a personal touch to one of the outside of the buckets.
We’ll put a little present for both Jack and Lexi inside each bucket, so the buckets are purposefully celebratory.
And now we can add these buckets to our holiday traditions.
