Table of
Contents Decorative ways to
recycle Christmas Cards
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3D Christmas Ornament
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Christmas Games for
Added Fun!
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Fun Coloring for the Kids!
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Family Holiday Movie
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Holiday Cocktail Ideas
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Pumpkin Gingerbread
Hot Cocoa Mix
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Decorative ways to recycle Christmas Cards Christmas Card Projects: Decorative ways to recycle Christmas Cards
Christmas Card Trees These free-standing paper Christmas Trees add colorful, country charm to your Christmas decor. Cut various size circles out of Christmas Cards, scalloping the edges of some. From the center of each circle cut out a 3/16-inch pie-shaped wedge. Curl the circle into a cone shape (pattern side up), overlap the ends, and tape the back. To make the base, cut a 2-inch foam ball in half and a 1/8-inch dowel to desired height. Place the foam ball flat side down, add a drop of hot glue to an end of the dowel, and push the dowel through the foam ball until it stops. Slide the largest cone shape down the dowel, and then twist a small rubber band around the dowel; continue alternating progressively smaller cone shapes with rubber bands. Top the paper Christmas tree with the smallest cone shape and a ribbon.
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other 3 to 4 shapes. Place the sewn halves together with the halves facing in opposite directions, and hand-sew together. Thread a ribbon through the hole at the top of the ornament for hanging.a drop of hot glue to an end of the dowel, and
push the dowel through the foam ball until it stops. Slide the largest cone shape down the dowel, and then twist a small rubber band around the dowel; continue alternating progressively smaller cone shapes with rubber bands. Top the paper Christmas tree with the smallest cone shape and a ribbon.
3D Christmas Card Ornament Holiday greetings gain new life when you turn old Christmas Cards into 3-D Ornaments. Choose several coordinating Christmas cards, vellums, and cardstock or scrapbook papers. Make a simple, symmetrical stencil by folding a piece of cardstock in half and drawing one side of what you want your ornament to look like; unfold. Find the area on each Christmas card where you want to place your stencil, lightly score the area in half, and fold. Lay your folded stencil so both sets of folded edges match up; trace. Cut out 5 to 6 shapes. Arrange cutouts in the order you want them to appear, and punch a small hole at the top of the cutout you plan to have in the middle. Line up 2 cutout shapes at the fold, and machine-stitch up the middle; repeat for the H O L I D AY R E V I E W 2 0 1 5
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Christmas Games for Added Fun! 1. Fill the Christmas stocking. Divide into teams and have the participants race to fill their team’s hanging stocking with a spoonful of wrapped candy. 2. Christmas gift wrap relay. Set up assembly lines of gifts, boxes, scissors, wrapping paper, ribbon, and tape for each team. Either have each player wrap one gift or make an assembly line of workers. Then race to wrap! 3. Word Find. Using Christmas words—Christmas, Poinsettia, Candy cane, etc.—have each person make as many smaller words from it as possible before the timer runs out. 4. Christmas Carol Charades. Get dramatic! You can’t beat this crowd pleaser, as it is sure to bring the laughs. 5. Photo booth. Provide silly props and backdrops for guests to use to get silly in front of a photographer (keep in mind it doesn’t have to be a professional). 6. Two truths and a lie. This is a great ice breaker! Each person tells two stories about themselves, two of which are true and one that is not. A great Christmas twist is to name their three worst Christmas gifts; two would be true and one would be false. 7. Snowman building contest. Judge on speed or originality. 8. Snowman wrapping contest. Wrap a person as a snowman in toilet paper and decorate. First or best one wins.
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9. Snowball throwing contest. Make a large bulls-eye in the snow with food coloring from spray bottles. Indicate points for each circle of the
18. Name that carol. Make a list of lyrics from songs that only target, like in darts or shuffleboard. Everyone makes the same provides 3-4 words from each song (not the title). The person amount of snowballs and throws for points. who names all - or the most - songs in a certain amount of time wins. 10. Decorate a person as a Christmas tree. Using green crepe paper, ornaments, tinsel—whatever you can find—deco- 19. Christmas dice gift exchange. Have everyone sit in a cirrate your “tree”. First or best one wins.$ cle and start with a gift. Play a Christmas carol while 1-3 dice are being passed around (space them out). Each person rolls 11. Pin the red nose on Rudolph. The Christmas version of and passes the dice. If they roll a six, they can trade packages Pin the Tail on the Donkey. with whomever they want. At the end of the song, everyone keeps the package in front of him or her. 12. Build an ice sculpture. Freeze colored water ahead of time in ice-cube trays, jello molds and yogurt containers. Place all materials on outdoor tables and have participants build sculptures or totem poles or whatever else you designate. 13. Ornament guess. Have guests guess the total number of ornaments on the tree as they come into the party. The closest guess wins. 14. Christmas stocking guessing game. Fill a large stocking with items around the house and let the kids guess what items are in the stocking. 15. Christmas memory game. Put Christmas items on a tray and give people one minute to memorize the items. Take the tray away and have them write as many down as they can remember in 30 seconds. 16. Holiday ABC’s. Give each child or team a piece of paper with the alphabet written vertically from A to Z. Have them write a holiday word that starts with each letter. The first one to complete the list wins. 17. The night before Christmas. Give each person the name of some part of Santa Claus’ outfit—sleigh, reindeer, belly, etc. As the host reads “The Night Before Christmas”, each participant listens for his word and when he hears it, he stands up, turns around and sits down. When the host mentions Santa Claus, everyone changes places and participants try to get a seat. The one left out continues the story until it is complete.
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22. Themed gift exchange. Pick a theme for gifts to be exchanged. Everyone brings a $25 gift with that theme in mind. (example: gifts that begin with M, gifts that are red, etc). Then play the traditional take a number, steal the present game. 23. Get what you really want gift game. Have each person bring a wrapped gift for himself. Gifts are all mixed up and passed out. Everyone opens one gift, then must guess who bought it. Have a list of everyone at the party so people can write down their guesses. Whoever has the most correct guesses wins. To spice it up, have everyone donate $1 to the pot. The winner gets the pot. 20. Christmas gift fact exchange. Number each gift as it arrives. Give the person who brought the gift a corresponding number. Have them write a little known fact about themselves and throw it into a bowl. When gift exchange starts, the host draws a fact and reads it without mentioning the package number. The person who guesses who it is first is given the package with the corresponding number. Once someone guesses correctly, they are out of the game. The game ends when there is one gift left for the host.
24. Birth year gifts. Before drawing names, have everyone write down the year they were born. When you buy for that person you drew, buy a gift relating to the year they were born. Be creative! 25. Christmas tie game. Use those old Christmas or ugly ties to have some fun. Give each team of two a tie. Using only one hand one person must tie his partner’s tie. First one done wins.
No matter what holiday games your group decides to play, remember the point is to let go and have fun. Strive for good 21. Gift hot potato. Pass around one unwrapped gift at a time. sportsmanship and have a sense of humor! After all, embracing When the music stops, whoever holds it is out of the game, the holiday spirit is the true name of the game. keeping the gift they are holding.
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Fun Coloring for the Kids!
Walking through a Winter FUNderland From Christmas lights to ornaments, adding color to your Christmas is a MUST! Besides, you don’t just want to leave your winter a stark white, do you? So pop off those marker caps and open your crayon boxes and get ready to deck your halls with a blast of color and imagination. Make your holiday season especially Bright!
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Family Holiday Movie Great way to start the 2015 holiday season This is a great feel good movie like many before that deals with our anxieties around the holiday season. Trust me many humorous and loving scenes. Heck, the dog steals many scenes. Everyone can identify with something about each subplot of this story. Great performances from leading actors and those you may have never seen before. Steve Martin’s narrative is perfect finishing touch.
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Holiday Cocktail Ideas
Candy Cane Cocktail Ingredients: • 1 shot vanilla rum • 1 shot white chocolate liqueur (recommended: Godiva) • 1 shot peppermint schnapps • Candy cane, garnish • Add Checked Items To Grocery List
Directions: Add all liquid ingredients to cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into martini glass. Garnish with candy cane.cocktail shaker. Add ice cubes; cover with lid, and shake vigorously until thoroughly chilled (about 30 seconds). Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish, if desired.
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Chai Toddy Ingredients: • 1 One part chai tea concentrate • One part whole milk • 1 star anise • 1 oz. cognac/brandy •1 oz. DeKuyper Buttershots liqueur or butterscotch schnapps •1/2 graham cracker, crushed and powdered •Add Checked Items To Grocery List Directions: Add all liquid ingredients to cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into martini glass. Garnish with candy cane.cocktail shaker. Add ice cubes; cover with lid, and shake vigorously until thoroughly chilled (about 30 seconds). Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish, if desired.
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Pumpkin Gingerbread Ingredients
3 cups sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 2/3 cup water 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground allspice 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cloves 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice cinnamon, and clove. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour.
Hot Cocoa Mix... Makes a great gift! The se-
cret ingredient in this mix is the mini chocolate chips, which melt when combined with the boiling water and give the cocoa an extra-rich flavor. The recipe makes enough for four gift-size portions, each of which can be measured into a small plastic bag and tucked into a cup or mug filled with mini marshmallows, candy stick stirrers, and a spoon. Wrap each filled gift cup in cellophane. Ingredients 2 cups nonfat dry milk powder 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa 1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup powdered nondairy creamer 1/8 teaspoon salt Instructions Measure all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk them until they are evenly blended.
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Store the mix in a tightly covered container at room temperature until you’re ready to package it. Makes about 4 cups of mix.
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