New Year's Eve Family Interview

I never really enjoyed New Year's Eve as a younger person, but a few years ago we found a way to make it a fun family holiday, and since then I've enjoyed it much more! Every year we have our own special tradition on New Year's Eve involving a series of easy, at home activities and treats. Each activity or treat is hidden within a paper bag. You can read more about our New Year's Eve Bags for the Whole Family here.

Last year, one of our activities involved a quick family interview. It became an instant hit with everyone, even Daddy. We liked it enough that this year I've created a new, cuter printable version that we can use again and share with others!

Wrapping Paper Origami

Big Brother is in a phase where he loves paper folding crafts - paper airplanes, origami, and more. He got both an origami and a paper airplane kit from different relatives over the holiday weekend. He's been excited to dig into both - and while each kit came with paper, it won't be long until we run out.

Luckily I quickly realized that we have lots of colorful paper still on hand - used wrapping paper!

I always feel a little sad about how quickly the wrapping paper is unwrapped and then discarded by the kiddos on Christmas morning. And while I try to save some of the bigger pieces for another year, two eager unwrapping kiddos can make that tricky. Which means it's always great to find some easy crafts for the used paper instead. 

Christmas Tree Quesadilla

With just a few days to go until Christmas, the energy and anticipation are both on high at our house. I find during these times one of the best things to do is add quick, small bursts of fun into our day to help keep everyone distracted.

A few years ago I came up with these pretty simple Christmas Tree Quesadillas. They are perfect for a fast dinner or lunch in the lead up to Christmas. And they add just a small dose of fun to keep people positive.

Easy Button Tree Card

A few days ago I came up with this Easy Button Tree card for a quick evening project. And it just came out too cute not to officially share it.

It took just a few minutes to prepare, and the kids were able to put together a few cards pretty quickly. They'll use them later this month for teachers and other special friends.

Polar Bear Ornament

As a blogger, it's always so fun to participate in a blog series with other bloggers as you get so many new ideas! That's how I've felt checking out all of the posts in the 10 Days of Kid-Made Ornament series hosted by Mama Miss. Every day it's been running I've found another idea that I love. And even better, all the ornaments are based on books so I've also found several books I'm looking forward to reading too!

For our post in the series we were excited to create an ornament inspired by the book "Santa Claus and the Three Bears."

 Of course a polar ornament, or more specifically making sure we had at least three polar bears, seemed like a great ornament fit.

Host A Kid-Made Ornament Party

One of my favorite things about this time of year is all of the traditions we celebrate as a family. Some of the traditions my husband and I had as children and now share with the boys. Other traditions we've made as a young family together and they are something we can all look forward to.

But as we honor our old traditions, it's always fun to try something new too. And often that is what leads to a discovering something that will become a new tradition. This past weekend we hosted our first "Kid-Made Ornament Party" and it was so much fun - it might just become a new annual tradition.

On a chilly Sunday we invited a handful of young friends (ages 3 to 8) over along with their parents and we encouraged the kids to get crafty and creative with a table full of ornament making materials. For this post we were lucky enough to work with The Oriental Trading Company who sent most of the supplies for review.  However, the opinions and ideas in the post are all our own. We're excited to share some of the things the kids came up with when given a range of awesome project materials!