Easy Popcorn Gift Idea

This cute idea dresses up an economical treat like microwave popcorn and makes it gift worthy!

There are so many people that make our lives extra special, from the volunteers at school to the bus driver; the delivery people to the trash company. There are so many great community helpers that we want to say thank you to around the holidays that fitting them all into our budget can be tricky.

This year we decided to dress up some everyday snacks and share them with our nice list, and we had a ton of fun creating these treats!

The first one we want to share with you came together so easily!

I cut a stack of simple tree shapes on green cardstock with my Silhouette portrait.

Next, I took a sharpie and included a handwritten message:

"Have a pop-sitively wonderful Christmas"

This post contains affiliate links.

I next punched a hole in the tree and threaded Christmas ribbon {about 18 inches worth} through the hole then tied the popcorn to the card.

We shared these with a handful of community helpers in our lives. We loved gifting this simple token because it cost less than 40 cents to make, and allowed us to show appreciation and spread holiday cheer on a budget.

As the holidays approach we will be sharing a few fun and affordable gift ideas with you! If you have ideas please be sure to share them in a comment, as we love to make cute and inexpensive gifts!

You might also like this DIY Christmas Ornament Collection.

Melted Snowman Bark

Melted Snowman Bark is an incredibly easy and adorable treat to make and share this holiday season! Perfect for sharing with friends and family, it comes together in a flash. This is a snack that melts the hearts of all who see and taste it!

This is such an easy recipe, you guys! It takes easy to find ingredients and creates an unforgettable treat with less than 10 minutes of prep!

Ingredients:
This post contains affiliate links or sponsored content.

1 lb package of candy quick coating, in white chocolate or vanilla flavor.

Pretzel Sticks

M&Ms

Orange Food Coloring

Edible Eye Decorations

Mini Reese's cups, cut in half

                       

Directions:

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil.

Melt your candy coating in the microwave. Stir every 30 seconds until it is smooth.

Take about 2 spoonfuls of the melted white coating and place it in a baggie with one drop of food coloring. Make a tiny cut in the corner of the baggie and make tiny little carrots for the noses.

Spread the melted white candy coating on the lined cookie sheet.

Add Reese's halves to make hats, adding eyes below them, an orange 'carrot' nose, stick pretzel arms, and add M&M's for buttons.

Keep spacing in mind as you make these, as after it hardens, you will break them into chunks.

This should set in the refrigerator for an hour to harden, maybe longer depending on how thick you spread the white candy base.

You might also like this 10+ Tasty Sheet Pan Meal ideas post.

Mini Mickey Mouse Jingle Bell Ornaments

As soon as a hint of winter is in the air the kids and I start to clamor for Christmas. We want to decorate, bake and shop! And we want to do it now! This year we started asking Adam about getting our tree ready in October. He knows us too well and he reminded me that we did this with Halloween and by the time it rolled around we were so over that holiday already.

This year we got our early Christmas fix by making a lot of fun ornaments! There is nothing like giving or receiving a kid made ornament, and these are especially fantastic because they are Mickey Mouse themed!

This post contains affiliate links or sponsored content.

 These are so easy and economical that you can make a dozen of these for $3. To make mini Mickey Mouse Jingle Bell Ornaments you will need:

2 sizes of jingle bells; You will need 2 smaller and one larger bell per ornament
Super Glue
Thin ribbon

Instructions:
Begin by threading a 6" section of thin ribbon thru the loop on the larger of your bells.
Tie a double knot in the end to keep it secure.
Next, glue one of the smaller jingle bells onto the side of the larger bell.

 Now glue the other bell onto the other side.
Allow to dry.

I loved these mini sized Mickey Mouse Jingle Bell Ornaments! They were really fun to make and display and we will absolutely be sharing these with friends this Christmas!

We used hot glue to begin this project because the kids can handle the glue gun, I added a bead of superglue to hold these securely. You can use school glue or hot glue, but I recommend the drop of superglue as a precaution. These are so cute that little hands are going to want to grab and shake them!

Green Button Tree Kid Made Ornaments

Making a handmade ornament with the kids can be a lot of fun for the holiday season! These button trees are so easy to make and adorable for gifting something handmade from the heart this Christmas. Everyone loves a kid made ornament to display on their tree! 

Last weekend I found a great deal on dyed craft sticks! 80 for $1. What a bargain! This inspired us to make a ton of fun craft stick ornaments to share this holiday season. I am going to be bringing them to you, so that you can make something cute with your kids to share with friends and family.

These kid made Christmas ornaments came together in just a few moments. We used hot glue for instant gratification, but you can use white or PVA glue if you have patience!

You will need:
4 craft sticks, I used green.
Buttons
4" of  thin ribbon
3" of thin ribbon
One small bell
Glue

 Make a triangle shape and glue it together.
With your remaining stick, cut it in half. This will be your tree base. Glue it on the bottom.

Glue buttons on to the tree in any pattern you prefer. We used blue and green for this ornament and loved the way it turned out!

Flip the tree over. Thread a small bell on the 4" section of thin ribbon. With the bell in the center, glue it on the tree so that it dangles to the middle section of the tree.

With the other 3" of thin ribbon make the loop for hanging from the tree!

Now your button tree ornament is finished. Hang it from your tree, attach it to a wrapped gift, or share with someone special!

This was a cute and fun project to make with Rolf. We love kid made ornaments and have several other variations of this to show you over the coming weeks. From my family to yours; Happy Holidays!

Easy Cookie Dough Truffles

There is nothing like a truffle to delight my taste buds! A few weeks ago the kids and I were craving something sweet and we decided to try our hand at making some really easy truffles!

These were so simple to make and so fun to share with my 2 little sweeties! I can't wait to share this idea with you so that you can whip up some decadent truffles to share this holiday season!

To make these easy truffles you will need:

 melting chocolate

Cake Mix in your favorite flavor

A stick of butter, melted

Mix your cake mix and melted butter until it is well combined.

Melt your chocolate and pour a touch into the bottom of a silicon mold.

Scoop the cake mixture into the molds then top with more chocolate.

Allow to cool and harden. Then share.

As you can see, we mixed things up a bit! We added chocolate chips to a vanilla cake, we also mixed up a red velvet truffle base and a chocolate fudge one too!

I couldn't give you an opinion on which one was the best, because they were all incredible and dreamy!!