When holidays like Christmas and Easter roll
around, it can be tough to know what to get for your kids. It’s especially tough when holidays can hit
back to back to back within a matter of months, and that’s not all taking into
consideration your child’s birthday being just around the corner.
Rather than find yourself cherry picking odd
gifts from shelf after shelf at your local store, take into account some of the
ideas on this list to help you seem like a thoughtful and cool parent. Your
kids will remember this Easter more than any others if you capitalize.
Candy
boxes.
Alright, so candy is essential to Easter gifts
no matter how old your kids get. I’m 27 and my mom still puts in plenty of
Reese’s and other chocolates. Make sure to include some more unique candy boxes
if your kids are still young enough to be enamored by new and cool treats. As
they get older, though, opt to go for more simple chocolates like Hershey’s and
Reese’s, as the colorful sour stuff may not be as appealing.
At
least one stuffed animal.
Yep, you read that right. I’m always a huge
fan of stuffed animals showing their fuzzy little faces around Easter. Don’t go
for the huge, $40 plushes that take up too much space and are tacky. Rather,
opt to pick out a smaller $10 plush that may be of a more unique animal than
just a bunny. Even if your kids are older, the stuffed animal serves as more of
a memory of their childhood than anything.
A cheap
video game
f your
kids are into gaming, think about doing a small amount of research of a new
game coming out or something that’s within the genre they like and surprise
them with it. If you’re really dedicated, ask their friends what game is the
most popular right now and see if your kid owns it; if not, get it for them as
a big surprise!
Something
handmade.
Easter has turned into a shopping fest for
most parents, where loading a basket is as simple as swiping a handful of items
off the shelves. Instead, think about making a little craft or at least
something handwritten for your child’s Easter basket this year. Rather than
teach them to expect store bought goods, you’ll be instilling an appreciation
for thoughtful and personal gifts instead.
Christmas is coming up in about about a month and
a half and though some people have already found and wrapped their gifts,
others are still "on the fence" about what they should get and for
whom. More and more people are reverting to homemade gifts in order to add a
flair of creativity and customization, but quite frankly, unless you're reading
an article like this, with step by step professional instructions, it's best to
buy a brand new gift. For this reason, in this article we will be discussing
some of the best gifts to give; assorted candy boxes.
Making Your Own Assorted Candy Box
Making your own assorted candy box is not as hard
as it may seem. If you walk into any See's Candy store, or certain malls, you
will see hundreds of these boxes laid out for people too lazy to make their
own. If you're not one of these people, then keep reading because now we will
show you how to make your own candy box, which will literally delight whoever
you give it to.
Step 1: The Box- You can either purchase a
regular box or make your own. If you can't find one that you like, then making
your own is simply a matter of cutting, stapling, or taping to make it more
professional. You will also want to wrap the box completely, and wrap any
corners or flaps.
Step 2: Glue the candy wrappers down onto the box
so that the candies don't move around when the box is moved around.
Step 3: Make the candies (optional). Some of you
may just want to buy different types of chocolates, but if you want to make
everything yourself, then you will have to learn how to make some chocolates by
researching more in-depth and following these recipes.
Pecan Caramels
Candied Orange
Peels
Almond Joy
Peanut Clusters
Caramel
Marshmallow
Peanut Butter
Cups
Butter Toffee
Chocolate Coffee
Caramels
Chocolate
Pistachio Truffles
Coffee Chocolate
Truffles
Cookie Dough
Truffles
Chocolate Dipped
Bacon
Once you have made all of these candies and
chocolates, you will proceed to the last step.
Step 4: Assembling the Chocolates- This step is
all up to your imagination. Since you already have all the wrappers in place,
all you have to do is put each piece of candy or chocolate where you think it
will be more attractive. Finally, you can add a ribbon or a message tag on the
exterior of the box for whoever you're going to be gifting it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, in this article we discussed how
you can create your own assorted candy box for Christmas or any other special
occasion. It's a fairly easy process, and all it takes is a bit of time,
patience, and some ingenuity to get the shape of box you like, wrap it in foil
that will make an impact, make the candies and chocolates, and finally set them
in the right place. We hope you have fun making and eating your candy creation;
the recipients of your assorted candy box will be delighted, and more so when
they find out you made them yourself.
Homemade gifts are great and deserve to be treasured. You
can use various containers to store various sweets and other contents, and
people will love them. One way to even
package some gifts are in a box and have various drawings done on the
service. They look great, and even when
the sweets are long gone, you can use this to store various other timeless
items. Decoupage is a great sort of
thing, and while it is a French word that does mean cut out, it means in this
case creating a surface with various other things applied to it.
Any sort of craft can use inexpensive boxes, which is why
these homemade candy boxes are great for anyone. To start, you can go to a craft
store that gives you inexpensive boxes of lightweight wood or heavy cardboard
that fit your needs. Decoupage is
adaptable to any container really, even metal.
You can create various illustrations on it, or any others of artwork, including
pictures you get from magazines, catalogs, various cards, even photographs and
swatches of fabric. Literally, anything can be applied to this, and if you work
with this, you’ll start to discover new sorts of materials that can be applied
to this. You can use black and white
illustrations as well and color them with colored pencils as well.
It is easier to come up with a pleasing design to a
decoupage when the background color is white, off-white, or even a light shade
that doesn’t make the design an exact thing.
You can use gesso onto this to create a good surface for acrylic
paint. You should also put on a
decoupage finish that adheres the design to the surface. The nice thing is
about this is that all of this is soluble in water, which makes cleanup a
breeze. You can even age the boxes to make them compatible with the wooden
design, and you can even use this to antique a box. If you are going to antique
something though, it is best to use a pale, muted background.
You can position the cutouts to overlap one another on the
box so that you can wrap it around, but in essence, the design is up to you.
With decoupage, you could decorate all of this, or a part of it. Some people
like to decoupage the top of the box, and then the bottom separately with
related images. You could even paint the
box a different color on the top and then the bottom, or even the inside one
color, the bottom a contrasting color.
You can put some felt on the bottom of it, line it with fabric that is
satiny, or even put a butterfly that is on the inside to create almost a jewel
to this.
With decoupage, it is actually a type of action that does
involve a lot of time of creating an image because you have to wait for a coat
of gesso to dry each time you use it.
You can work on several boxes in the meantime at once. Once you get the decoupage materials, you can
use them to create additional boxes, and you can use these for various
holidays. The best part about this is that the cost of this is nearly nothing,
so you won’t have to spend a whole lot.
The process is simple, in that you paint the edge of the gesso,
let it sit untouched for 20 minutes, and then sand it with sandpaper to a small
degree to get rid of any of the residue and roughness. Once the box is completely dry, you can paint
the outside with acrylic paint, and then let it seal. You can then put on an antiquing finish to
this with a damp sponge if you want, wiping off the residue with a paper towel
or rage. It’s important to know that the less you take off, the darker the
final color.
Once you’re ready, you can then get the illustrations ready.
If the painting is a drawing, you can color it with pencils or crayons if you
want. This is a tedious step, but you
can work at this to create a good appearance of the box, so do give it time. You can create various images, color them,
and make them look good before you put it on the box.
You can then use a finish to put the design onto the
box. You can put the design on the box,
holding onto the bottom half of the box until it holds. You can hold it, and if there is any that
squirts out, you can then smooth it out.
You can repeat these steps with the bottom half of the box. If your design somehow overlaps both parts of
the box, you can leave a part unglued, and when it’s dried out, you cut that
with a razor blade, and then glue it down the edges with more finish. Once
that’s done, you can then add more finish to this, and once it’s dried, you can
then have a fully decoupage box.
You can do the inside and bottom of the box at this
point. The best way to do this is to
paint the acrylic over the gesso and then seal, but it is your choice if you
want to put anything in there. Once it’s dried, the box is yours to choose
from, and you’ll then be able to have a nice, pretty box that works for you.
With a decoupage box, you’ll be able to create a box that
works well, is pretty, and one that is perfect for you. Decoupage is a great
art form, and these little candy tins can really make a big difference the next
time you’re toting some great things around. This handy little DIY project is
both simple and fun, and with this, you’re able to see the power of decoupage
for yourself, and for others as well.
