Handmade Christmas Gifts – Candy Terrariums

I wish I could say I thought this idea up, because it’s SO cute, but I didn’t. I adapted this Easter idea into handmade Christmas gifts for my kids to pass along to someone special. These candy terrariums also make fun Christmas decorations or centerpieces! They are quick and easy to make which means they are perfect Christmas crafts to make at a party! Here is how we made them and as a side note all this Christmas candy is seriously testing my resolve with my Whole30 challenge. If these are still around on Christmas day I think I may have a nibble or two! Here is how we made these candy terrariums.

 

Gather your materials. You will need some green and white candies, a foil Santa or snowman, and foil Christmas tree. I got all of our stuff at Target but you can find them on Amazon here: Santa, Snowman (affiliate links). You will also need some double stick tape, a mason jar, and some baker’s twine (dollar spot at Target… go now! No they didn’t pay me to say that I just love Target something fierce).

Start by putting double stick tape on the bottom of your Santa and tree. I had to put a few pieces.

Hold it down for a minute.

Add the green “grass” we used holiday M&Ms that come in red, green, and white

And the light dusting of snow!

Pop the lid on and tie some baker’s twine around the top. Seriously these are so easy and so cute! Also in the days since my kids have made these and they haven’t asked once for a candy. I think that the lid is a deterrent. Their gingerbread houses they made at the gym didn’t last nearly that long. Maybe they are sneaking them when I am not looking but I don’t think so.

 

Books About Santa

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Christmas Morning by Cheryl Ryan Harshman wasn’t what I expected, it was more. It’s written in the spirit of “The House That Jack Built” and the text builds and builds starting with snow falling on a house as children sleep and ending with Christmas morning. What I wasn’t expecting is that the author tells the story of The Nutcracker, albeit a very simplistic version, in the rhyming text as well.  The illustrations of the Rat King are a little frightening but nothing that will prevent you from reading it.

How Santa Got His Job by Stephen Krensky is a fun and surprisingly practical story about Santa and how he developed the skills needed for his one of a kind job.  It starts with Santa as a young man and as he keeps bouncing from job to job. He acquires skills like going in and out of chimneys as a chimney sweep with ease and without getting dirty, develops a relationship with reindeer as a zoo worker and gets chubby eating all the food at an all-night diner gig!  There are more but I don’t want to spoil the story.

My son loved it, especially once the elves showed up, which was when the toys did too! I know when I was a kid I wanted to know how Santa got his job, and there are movies dedicated to this, so this book jumped on the bandwagon and did a great job. It’s very cute!

How Santa Lost His Job by Stephen Krensky is the second book by this author all about Santa. This time it’s about how he lost his job because of an over zealous elf intent on innovation. The elf is sure that he can invent a machine that can be more efficient than Jolly old St. Nick or can he? I love the commentary about how machines can’t really ever replace people and that being Santa is about much more than just delivering gifts.