Have someone on your list who could use a “Happy” gift; a gift that will bring a smile to the grouchiest of grinches!
I have one for you!
An Elf movie basket with free printable gift tags!
In our household, the go to happy movie is Elf! It doesn’t matter what time of the year it is, watching the movie Elf is guaranteed to put a smile on your face!
If you have never seen it, you really must watch it sometime! The movie stars Will Ferrell as Elf, it has a delightful message, wonderful characters and is fun, fun, fun! The movie also stars Zooey Deschanel (you get to hear her fabulous voice) James Caan and Bob Newhart, need I say more?
I am not one to watch movies repeatedly, but this one I have seen too many times to count!
What do you need?
An Elf Movie
The four main food groups for Elves – candy, candy canes, candy corn, & syrup
Give a Happy Christmas Gift – The Elf Movie!
Don’t forget to include my favorite Elf quote -“I just like to smile. Smilings my favorite!”
Everyone loves an advent calendar to help count down the days before Christmas! Last year, in the last days of November, my 17 year old son said to me, “you are putting up the advent calendar, aren’t you?” I was actually considering not doing it, he was getting pretty old for such a thing. Next thing I know, my 20 year old daughter is asking me if I was planning on sending an advent calendar to her college apartment!
What did I tell you? Everyone loves an advent calendar!
Years ago, when my children were tiny, I began this tradition. The socks I hung were all sewn together from fabrics that I had used on projects for the kids. The fabrics ranged from curtain fabrics and costume materials to pajama flannel. Some of the stockings had pointy toes, round toes, but my proudest was the cowboy boot from fake leather – so cool!
So – if you are a seamstress. Going this route would be very special for your kids! Pull out all your fabric scraps and get sewing.
If you are not a seamstress – no worries. Here is an idea that is cute, inexpensive and easy! Does anything get better than that?
What do you need?
Socks!
I used tiny socks because they are so darn cute! The sizes ranged from 3 months to 2 years! Pick an assortment of colors, stripes, whatever you can find!
Ribbon
Clothes Pins
Good Stuff to fill the socks with!
Along with candy, I like to add things like sticky notes, hand sanitizer, markers, and automatic pencils with accessories. In one sock they may get the pencil; the next day they receive the lead that goes with the pencil and then the eraser…
Other ideas: small toys, nail polish, money, lip balm, hair clips, a harmonica, fun paper clips…
Years ago, I put together an advent calendar for a beloved & wonderful niece ( She reads my blog!) The first year, I sent the socks fully stuffed with goodies so it was ready to hang up on the first day of advent. Each year after that, I would just send the stuffing and her mother crammed it in the socks for me. Because the advent calendar was also her Christmas gift, she had a 25th day and into that stocking she would find her Christmas gift – usually a gift card!
Just one more idea for those of you with a beloved and wonderful niece, nephew, blogger…
The final items to include in the advent stockings are jokes and riddles. Sometimes I will give the riddle one day and the answer the next. You will find tons of them on the web, but this year I found something special!
These are lunch box jokes from a fellow blogger and these are perfect for an advent calendar! Here is the link to so you can print up some of your very own – Christmas Jokes!
Now that you have gathered your supplies, the rest is easy.
The socks will need to be numbered from 1 to 24. I punched out circles of card stock, numbered them and hot glued them to the socks. Let me tell you, those numbers aren’t going anywhere!
Using clothes pins, hang the stockings on a ribbon, leaving plenty of ribbon on either end for tying up the calendar!
Years ago a niece was graduating from high school and I felt bad that we were unable to attend her celebration. Wanting to do something special for her; to send her more than just a gift; I came up with the party in a box. Inside the party box was a mini celebration that began as soon as the package was unwrapped. It was so well received that I replicated the same idea for a group of my daughters close friends when they graduated from high school.
What you need for a Mini-Party Box
Balloons and Streamers- This made the filling for my package. After lining my box with tissue paper, I used curling ribbon for streamers. The curling ribbon works well since it will remain in excellent twirled form even after bouncing around the mail truck!
I also added small blown up balloons. Because I didn’t fill the balloons with too much air they were unlikely to pop and made for a festive package filling!
Gifts- Wrap your gifts or cards and include them in the box. I usually send cards with money for graduations and the party box makes getting a card all the more special!
A banner- Every congratulatory party needs a banner and the party box is no exception. I taped together long narrow strips of colored paper. After writing out Congratulations, I used my favorite scrap-booking accessory and punched out colored circles for each girl’s name. I than rolled it, tied it up with curling ribbon and placed it in the box along with the gifts.
Cake- Since sending a cake was not an option, I sent this wonderful box of chocolate Lindt Petits Desserts. It was perfect! They looked like petit fours and are quite delicious! You can locate them by checking the Lindt website.
There are lots of wonderful options available!
Guests Lastly, every party has to have guests. So I created a tri-fold, stand on it’s own, guest card made with cardstock and filled with pictures of my family. I even included a picture of the dog! I folded it up, labeled the outside and tied it with ribbon.
Party in a box gift
The party box idea can be used for any celebrations. Send me ideas on how you have used the Party in a Box idea for your out-of-reach celebrations!
