I love decorating for Christmas. If I could, I’d have a tree in every room, wreaths on each window, real-live garland hanging over every doorpost. Christmas decorating is fun to me. I am, however, not usually the mom who decorates for every season. I have been perfectly content to let Valentines, Easter, Fourth of July and dare I say it …. even Halloween (GASP!) go by without much decorating. I think it’s the exhaustion factor. =)
This year I want to change that. I want my kids to begin having memories of a house filled with anticipation for lots of holidays and special events. So, I’m starting with Halloween. And —- I’m starting by including the kids in the process.
Owen, Ellie and myself spend a few hours together a few Saturdays ago to make this really fun and happy Halloween Banner (or bunting, for you official types).
It really was easy – Owen is 6, Ellie is 4 – and they will vouch for me – it was easy and fun. (Confession: the hardest part is for mom – it is very difficult to allow this to look like a kid project. I resisted the temptation to erase all child-like evidence … and I’m glad I did! Sometimes I have to remind myself of that, but mostly it’s true!)
Sorry for the blurry shot but kids are a little challenging to work with! ... Draw the 3 sections of a candy corn, and assign each child one to trace and cut out many times on felt pages. I think we cut out 22 of each.
Once you have all 3 sections cut out many times, begin placing them in order - this is the preparation for sewing. You could skip this step if you make this without kids ... but I liked letting the kids see what they had been making.
While it's true that working with kids can be a little, shall we say ... free form...
... a little snip with some scissors cleans it up a bit. (I simply sewed each layer onto the next. Then I trimmed the sides.)
Once again we laid them all out to admire our work. Then, I chose some black and white ribbon and attached the candy corns with my machine.
I didn't measure the distance between each candy corn - but I suppose, if you're crazy, you could. Regardless, you'll end up with something like this.
And then you'll hang the banner in a prominent spot for all to see and admire. I chose to hang our banner so that the "front" / more polished side is facing the door.
You can see here the other side - and all it's lovely and perfect imperfections - I chose to not erase or cover up all the ink marks, etc. I am, however, considering turning the banner around so that it does look more perfect to passers by ... who knows.
Regardless what side is facing where, I just love this project because I love the memories we made. I can’t wait to do it again for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, Easter, blah blah blah.
Cost: About $4 – felt is so cheap. I bought the ribbon on sale for $2.
Time: without kids – about an hour. WITH KIDS – an eternity…I kid. about 2 hours.
If you make your own – please do send photos – I’d love to see your little ones’ at work!!!
