When “it’s the thought that counts” meets “times are tough,” a natural result is the homemade gift. Personally, I sincerely enjoy a thoughtful, homemade gift and am eager to make thoughtful, homemade gifts for others. As we are well into another gift-giving season, it seems appropriate to include some fun crafts along the way.

At a recent party (in lieu of community tree lighting), I gathered our littles together for crafting time. I’ve never undertaken a large-scale craft task like this before, especially not in my own home and where one of our supplies was glitter. Really, is that not the most obnoxious crafting supply of all?

With 7 kids and their mother-parents bustling around and the lure of the train table being more than most of the kids could handle, we were able to pull off only two of the planned crafts, a puzzle piece snowflake and magical reindeer food, both of which I found on Pinterest.

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Ours turned out more like a "white puzzle piece blob" than "snowflake."

Lessons learned:
1.When kids make the crafts, the result will look nothing like the “sample” you found.
2.Glitter is prolific; it will magically expand beyond what could have been thought possible and then will stick, without adhesive, to your face… for days.

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Check out the super festive and ever-so-classy zippy bag. It's the glitter that makes it magical, not the baggie.

Only half of the kids had attention spans strong enough to endure taking turns scooping oatmeal and shaking glitter into the bowl, which I may never be able to use for food again. But, they were good friends and scooped out bags of magic for each of their buddies to take home, too.

What gifts are you crafting this year? You can find more wintery crafts online at PBS Parents.

Read more from this series:
Holiday Traditions: Community
Holiday Traditions: Charity
Holiday Traditions: The Tree