Recipe(tried): Christmas crafts for children

Here are a few ideas from my moms club. You didn't say how old your child and guests are, but these should be suitable for most ages. The kids who did these crafts with our club are ages 1-5:

1. CD ornaments: Cover the printed side with construction paper, wrapping paper remnants, or paint. Add sequins, glitter, mini-ornaments, etc.

2. Pine cones: Drizzle with glue or paint. Sprinkle with glitter. Glue on beads or other teeny ornaments.

3. Faux Gingerbread: Cut out Christmas shapes from corrugated cardboard, foamboard, or stiff paper stock. Use cookie cutters or biscuit cutters for templates. Set the kids loose with dimensional paint, regular paint, fabric or paper scraps, googly eyes, yarn, etc.

4. Salt dough ornaments:
1-1/2 cup salt
4 cups flour
1-1/2 cups water
1 tsp. alum (as a preservative if clay is not baked)

Mix the dry ingredients in a plastic bowl, then add water gradually. When the dough forms a ball around the spoon, knead well, adding water if it is too crumbly. Shape dough, or roll and use cookie cutters and bake at 350*. Bake small shapes for 30-45 minutes or until hard. Decorate with paint, markers, or glitter glue.

5. Seashell ornaments: Use a small drill bit to make a hole for hanging. Decorate with paint and glitter. (If you don't have a Dremel, you can hot glue a loop of ribbon for hanging.)

6. Gift bags: Buy plain white gift bags or lunch bags. Decorate with paint, glitter, sequins, stickers, yarn, ribbon, lace, etc.

7. Gift boxes: Recycle your gift boxes. Tear up wrapping paper remnants and decoupage the lids in a crazy quilt pattern. Plain boxes can be painted.