Holiday Treats the Kids can make!

This time of year is so busy!  Parties to attend, cookies to bake, presents to buy and wrap...the list never ends.  Plus with school letting out soon, you might have little ones at home that claim to be bored.



So let's tackle two problems at the same time and put your kids to work making fun and festive Holiday Treats!  You can then use these treats as neighbor/friend gifts or take then to that cookie exchange party you RSVP'd yes to!

Snowman Cupcakes

Peppermint Stick Marshmallows

Oreo Snowman Pops

Push-Pop Treats

Chocolate Dipped Candy Canes

Snowman Rice Crispy Treats

Christmas Popcorn

Enjoy baking!



Happy Holidays!

Ashley Phipps is an Interior Designer, NCIDQ #25242,

living in the Indianapolis area, and author of the blog Simply Designing.  You can follow Ashley at her blog Simply Designing, Facebook and Twitter.

Holiday Push-Up Pops

Hello Design Dazzle readers, I'm excited to be back here to participate in the 100 Ideas of Christmas Wonderful!! I'm Holly from Paisley Petal Events, where I share unique inspiration for all of life's special occasions..



This time of year IS wonderful because there are so many opportunities to plan some really fun parties or get-togethers with family and friends. Today I'd like to share with you a fun treat you can make and bring to one of your holiday parties, or make and serve at a party you're hosting...Holiday Push-up Pops!

You may have seen these around the web lately, as they are becoming more and more popular to serve all sorts of desserts and other fun things in, including cake, cookies, mousse, frozen desserts, candy, etc. Today I'm showing you some cake and candy push-up pops I made.

To make the cake push-ups, I used 1 box of white cake mix (made according to the package directions), divided it equally into 3 bowls and added food coloring to create the red, green and aqua cake layers. I baked the cake in 3 separate 8" cake pans at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. This will make your cake layers the correct size.















After your cakes have cooled, use a small round cookie cutter, or just use the base of one of your push-up containers to cut out the small, round pieces of cake. Then just layer the cake and frosting colors of your choice. Top with sprinkles, candy, cookies, peeps...anything you can think of!







To display your push-up pops, simply buy some square or round foam blocks from the dollar store and poke the push-up pops into the foam. Place the foam into a cute container and cover with paper shred or candies.









I'm planning a few parties with the red and aqua colors because I LOVE these colors for Christmas!! So I decided to make some push-up pops using these colors as well.

And here are a few with candy in them and a 2" party circle added to the container to dress it up just a little. There are so many fun Christmas candies you can buy now to fill up your containers...go to the grocery store and pick out some of your favorites!

These Holiday Push-up Pops are guaranteed to be a hit with the kids at your next party, but I'm sure the adults will love them too! Show me the fun creations you come up with for your containers!







You can buy the containers from various shops on Etsy, Shop Sweet Lulu, or CupKate's (to name a few) for about $1.00 to $1.50 each or in bulk quantities of 100 from places like Pastry Chef Central or Laguna Wholesale for about $50.00.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Season!!

 Push Pop Containers with Lid 100 Ct. Clear Plastic Push up Pops

Plastic Push up pop containers 50 ct clear push pops

Push Pop Containers 24ct. Clear Plastic Push up Pops

 

Push up Pop Container Acrylic Stand - Holds 12 Containers

Children Designed Gift Tags

Hello friends! I'm Kierste, the girl behind {brown paper packages}, and I'm delighted to be here and a part of the Christmas Wonderful series!

I love doing projects with my kids, and this not only includes them, but highlights their creations. Yesterday afternoon I asked my kids to draw me some Christmas pictures--anything they wanted. We brought out the markers and the white paper, and they went to town. I took their artwork, and made them into absolutely adorable gift tags. The colors are so fun in the unconventional look of the pink tree--it's a true representation of my 4 year old, and I love it!





I love the idea of designing a gift tag for each child, so they can put it on the presents they're giving. Or, just using them on any gifts you're giving! I know my parents would love getting gifts featuring a tag with my children's drawings. How fun for your child's teacher, too!



I made my tags in photoshop, but if you don't have it, don't worry! You can still make them--I'll tell you how!



Children Designed Gift Tags





ITEMS YOU NEED:

• your children's artwork! (on white paper, with marker, any size will work!)


• scanner


• cardstock


• paper trimmer


• distress ink


• ribbon
  
  

DIRECTIONS:



1. Once the art is ready, scan it with your scanner, and save it as a file. My son had quite a few drawings on one paper, so I cropped each picture and saved it as it's own file.



Photoshop/Gimp: I created a file that was 5 inches wide, and 3 inches high. I inserted the picture I wanted, then added text and saved it as a jpg file. I opened a new Word document, inserted the jpg file, and adjusted the size. I was able to fit 6 tags on one page. You can also insert your file into a mailing label document, then print onto labels.



Without Photoshop: You have a couple of different options!



The first is to open a Word (or even Power Point) document, insert your picture, and the create a text box for your text. This isn't hard, you will just need to play around with the formatting/sizing until it's how you want it to be. Then you can copy and paste to fit more on the page--I was able to get 6 larger tags.



The second option is to create mailing labels--I suggest the 2x4 inch size, or larger. Open a new label document, then insert your picture and add your text.



2. Print your tags! You can either print them on cardstock as I did, or create mailing labels so they are sticky!







3. If you print on cardstock, cut them to size, distress the edges, and then mat onto coordinating cardstock. You can either punch a hole in the corner to add ribbon, or tape the label flat onto a package. If you print onto label, you can just stick your label on as is, or mat the label as indicated above.







They are just so fun! I can't wait for Christmas Eve, which is the night that my husband and I sit down together and wrap all our kids' gifts together. We've done it since we've been married, and it's one of our favorite traditions. Once the kids are in bed, we pop in a Christmas movie, grab some yummy Christmas treats, and get to work.



.....



Thank you so much for having me!  I hope you'll stop by {brown paper packages} and say hello...I'd love to have you!



   









Specialty Cardstock White

 Small Brown Paper Gift Bag

Candyland Dessert Table Ideas

 Hi there,



Kiki here from A Little Polkadot in Sydney Australia! we are so thrilled to be sharing with you a little bit of Christmas Wonderful with our Christmas Candyland dessert table.

Christmas is a magical time of year - it's a time to be with family, to take a break from work, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and little ones wait excitedly to see what Santa will bring.



We celebrate Christmas in Australia a little differently it's usually REALLY hot - it's the middle of Summer! and a typical Christmas day in Sydney involves a feast of Lobster, Prawns (Shrimp) and Smoked Salmon, Oysters, freshly carved Ham and an array of yummy salads with pavlova and fresh berries for dessert! Once all that has settled it's pool time, swimming and having fun well into the evening. A little different from how our Northern Hemisphere friends celebrate - but this Christmas Candyland Dessert table that we created works fabulously WHEREVER you are!



Little ones will have so much fun helping to bring this table together from gingerbread men to snowmen meringues and north pole cupcakes it's a feast for the eyes and so much fun!

The kids will love helping to decorate these Gingerbread Men and they fill the the house with the most wonderfully heady scent of honey when they are baking you'll just love making them and here's the recipe...

Honey Gingerbread Men

(recipe by Kim Coverdale)

150g butter, chopped

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, sifted

1 egg lightly beaten

1 tbls ground ginger, sifted

1 tsp mixed spice, sifted

1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted

3 cups plain flour, sifted

Royal icing to decorate.

METHOD



1. Place butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Stir in bicarbonate of soda. Transfer to a large, heatproof bowl. Cool.



2. Stir in egg, ginger, mixed spice, baking powder and flour until combined. Divide dough in half. Shape into discs. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.



3. Preheat oven to 350degrees/320degrees fan-forced. Grease 3 baking trays. Line with baking paper. Roll 1 dough disc between 2 sheets of baking paper until 1/8 inch thick. Using a 3 inch gingerbread man cutter, cut shapes from dough, re-rolling dough scraps. Place, 1 inch apart, on prepared trays. Repeat with remaining pastry disc.



4. Bake, 1 tray at a time, for 8 minutes or until just firm to touch. Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.



5. Once cooled decorate with royal icing. You can buy pre-mixed royal icing from cake decorating suppliers - you just add water and beat the mixture.



Another super fun treat that we featured on our table is the adorable Meringue Snowmen.

These are a little trickier to make but they are just so cute - you must give them a try!

Basic Meringue Recipe

6 egg whites (at room temperature)

pinch of salt

1.5 cups castor sugar

METHOD:



Beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form, add castor sugar a spoonful at a time and beat until the mixture becomes thick and glossy.



Pipe the mixture into "snowmen" using a 3/4 inch tip by piping a mound for the body, "C" shapes for the arms and a smaller mound for the head.



Colour a little left over meringue orange and pipe a "carrot" nose onto the snowmen with a #2 tip.



Bake the Snowmen in a low temperature oven 195 degrees for 2- 2.5 hours, turn the oven off and leave meringues inside to cool.



TIP: If your meringue has a beige tinge once cooked, your oven was too hot, make a new batch and cook on a lower temperature.



Once your snowmen are done decorate them with a little hat made from chocolate fondant using mini round cookie cutters and a strawberry sour strap as a scarf.  Lastly, pipe on little eyes using melted dark chocolate.

We also created a white chocolate truffle tree as our centerpiece to the table - really simple to do, simply paint a cardboard cone the size you want your tree to be in melted white chocolate then using a little melted white chocolate "glue" white chocolate truffles onto the cone....and voila! a gorgeous edible tree!

We thought little "North Pole" cupcakes were just too cute not to have on our table.

The canopy backdrop that we used is quite elaborate, but you can create an equally striking backdrop by simply hanging a panel of fabric on a wall behind your table using 3M hooks or covering pre-stretched art canvasses with fabric - you just need a little imagination.



We shot this table back in May this year and only had a week to prepare for it!  You can seen a feature on our Christmas Candyland Table in the current Holiday Issue of Romantic Homes magazine.



Our very best wishes for a happy and safe holiday season.



Kiki &  Di

                                                  

Old Fashioned Peppermint Stick Candy 

 Make Your Own Truffle Tree - White Chocolate Truffles













Stripe Red White Michael Miller One Yard

Candy Cane Stripe Cupcake Wrappers

                 ******************************************************

A few years ago we celebrated Christmas in Australia. It was a huge highlight and memory my family will never forget. And yes, lobster, ham and shrimp were the delicious main course. It was a wonderful time to celebrate Christmas Down Under with our loved ones.



Thanks girls for sharing this beautiful Candyland Dessert table! It is so adorable. You girls ROCK!

Toni xo