Yesterday I decided to invite a few friends over to make salt dough ornaments with us. We hadn't done this before, but it sounded like fun and I knew our friends would enjoy it.
I baked cookies last night so we'd have treats to snack on, and then scurried around this morning trying to make the Christmas decorations I'd scattered around last week look a little more intentional. (The smell of fresh cookies and the pretty knickknacks distract from dustbunnies and dirty diapers.)
Here's the recipe (if I stole this from your blog, let me know, I can't remember where I found it!):
Salt Dough Ornaments
4 Cups of Flour
1 Cup of Salt
1 1/2 Cups of Hot Water
Holiday Cookie Cutters
Paint, Glue, Glitter, Beads, Etc.
Knead the dough and roll it out to cut out shapes with cookie cutters (just like if you were making sugar cookies). Place them on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for about 2 minutes. Paint and decorate as desired. Most of all, be creative and have a lot of fun!
My kids love playdough, so the rolling and cutting out was fun. I made a second batch of dough, thinking we'd need more with nine kids making ornaments, but we ended up with a lot leftover for the mommies to play with. (Include mine, who was painting long after the kids got up to play.)
We took a break to eat chocolate crinkle cookies and wait for the nuked ornaments to cool. And then we decorated snowmen, angels, ice skates, stars, snowflakes, gingerbread men, stockings and Christmas trees with paint, glue, glitter and googly eyes -- until our hands were as sparkly and colorful as our creations.
After our friends left, there were still a few undecorated ornaments. The big boys were ready for something different to do, but my littlest and I spent another hour or two painting and glittering.
I think this will have to become a new Christmas tradition.
Most definitely, I want to be invited back next Christmas! It's lot's of fun to play with the kids. Mom
ReplyDeleteLooks like a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteoh man- i didn't know you could microwave salt clay! genius! those turned out great. it's nice to see another mom who's not afraid of glitter!
ReplyDeleteThose look so pretty, and easy too. I think we'll try some ourselves!!
ReplyDeletewe had so much fun!! Thanks for inviting us!!
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled across your blog....its so funny because we just finished making the same kind of ornaments. I just took them out of the oven and we just need to decorate them :-)
ReplyDeleteOh thanks for the recipe!! I've been wanting to do that with my boys too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visit as well - consider one can of food on the pile in your name.
Em
I love that the ornaments are "cooked" in the microwave- I've got to try them.
ReplyDeleteOh! That looks like such a great idea! And so fun =)
ReplyDeleteAs far as my homemade Christmas, I have a confession. It's not gonna happen this year! But fi you are rounding up links, here's the group I started with great ideas in it! http://www.themotherhood.com/circle.php?l=8137
I just stumbled upon your blog and I can't wait to make the salt dough ornaments with my 5 anxious kiddos during Christmas break. It will be a great way to spend a day! Can you bake the ornaments instead of microwaving them?
ReplyDeleteVicki
www.faithfullcircle.com
Vicki, yes, I would actually recommend baking over microwaving. Nuking was great for the party because it was fast, but I ended up putting the finished ornaments in the oven on 300 for about 20 minutes after that to stiffen them up better.
ReplyDeleteHave fun! Merry Christmas!