Making Memories and Cementing Community: Easier and More Budget Friendly Than You Thought

Oh, the weather outside is frightful but the activities are delightful! There is something about this season that brings out the nostalgia in us. What are some of your favorite traditions? Everyone comes from different backgrounds with rich heritage and culture. What are some of the things unique to how you celebrate? Are there activities that you look forward to doing this time of year? We’ve found ourselves thinking fondly of fun activities we’ve enjoyed over the years as well as new, creative ideas. We want to share this list with you so you can pick and choose to add to your festive schedule. Maybe this article will spark your creativity to make a sensational season.

Recipe Exchange

The holiday season seems to be the perfect time to try new treats or break out the favorite recipes. Perhaps you remember exchanging cookies, popcorn balls, or hors d’oeuvres with family, friends, or neighbors in the past. For a new spin on an old favorite, consider doing a recipe exchange with your contacts and communities.

Find fancy cards or paper online or at the Dollar Store to copy your favorite recipe on. When you receive other’s recipes, plan a grocery trip, and then get cooking. There’s something extra sweet about creating something new in your own kitchen. One thing to remember, carefully consider all ingredients in new recipes to make sure you and those at your table don’t have allergies.

We’re always looking for exciting new recipes. This sweet and tangy treat uses seasonal fruit, cranberries. Check out this baker’s blog, Jill Mills, to get the recipe and instructions to bake a Cranberry Christmas Cake. (Remember to check the ingredient list carefully to ensure no allergens for you or those at your table.) 

One more thought before we leave the kitchen. The popularity of Charcuterie boards has skyrocketed lately. This may be because it is one of the easiest treats to prepare. Plus it dresses up any table with beautiful, edible color and texture. If you haven’t heard, a charcuterie board is an appetizer served on a wooden board or stone slab. The French word charcuterie originally refers to processed or cured meats but you can cover your board with anything. See how inviting our board turned out? Pictured above is an arrangement of different cheeses, fruits, and olives. For more ideas you could add assorted nuts, dried fruits, crackers, and breads. Some people add a dish of mustard for their meats or jams for bread. We’ve even seen charcuterie boards arranged into beautiful wreaths. Consider making your own combination and arrangement and enjoy the elegant simplicity of the charcuterie board.

Get Crafty

As the forecast whispers snow and we spend more time in doors, crafting can be a great hobby to make rich memories and mementos. Consider what tools and supplies you will need. Do you like to work with paint or colored pencils? Do you like to scrapbook or make cards? Do you like to sew? Crafting can be a fun and also a destressing activity for all winter long. Scan the internet where other crafters share their project ideas or visit a local craft store to get inspired. Michaels Craft store offers classes, project ideas, and videos at Michaels.com/projects.  

Try making homemade ornaments to hang about the house or tree. Add a magnet to the back to hang on the fridge. Whether you trace festive cookie cutters, cut out snowflakes, print photos, add glitter, or paste cotton for faux snow, you can make a unique work of art that is all your own.

For now we’d like to share this easy and budget-friendly project to get you started.

To make these adorable, festive gift tags/ornaments you will need these materials:

• Paper/pre-cut gift tags
• String/ribbon
• Buttons
• Glue
• Scissors
• Fine-tip black marker

This craft can be completed fairly quickly and doesn’t pinch the budget. Now, you know what to do with those extra buttons. The first tag pictured is a nod at Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and is perhaps the quickest. Using the fine-tip black marker draw two little dots for eyes and little lines for antlers. Glue on a simple red button and voila! You now have a reindeer tag to make you smile. You can make any arrangement and design with whatever buttons you have. Pictured in the middle is a wreath from green buttons. A bit of ribbon added a festive red bow to the bottom. The third tag pictured shows one option of dressing up a pre-printed gift tag. Multi-colored buttons became ornaments on the plain white pine tree with just a little glue. Cut enough string to tie little loops onto your gift tags and you’re ready to dress up any package or hang them about as home-made decorations. Get creative to make your own designs, you’re only limited by your imagination!

Deck the Halls

One of our favorite traditions is decorating our spaces to make them extra festive this time of year. Do you have favorite decorations you bring out of storage? Some people have favorite ornaments with sentimental meaning while others like to make new paper chains and popcorn strings every year. For something classic or traditional, you can add natural elements like cinnamon sticks, pinecones, holly, sprigs, fresh pine, nuts, and oranges to your table arrangements. To add a touch of sparkle to your arrangement, you can buy plastic gems or silver jingle bells at the Dollar store or maybe the holiday section of other stores.

Sing the Chorus! (and the rest of the song too)

Do you remember the nostalgia of carols? We need to bring back this rich community activity. Gather friends and family and sing together. Ask establishments for permission to sing outside a local favorite coffee shop or store and serenade customers coming and going. Check to see if your neighborhood has interest to start a group. Do you play an instrument or know someone who does? Spice up your caroling with live music.  Libraries and churches are some community staples that may have activities and volunteer opportunities, not just singing but a variety of events. Rock out to music around home whether you’re cleaning, cooking, decorating, or just want to dance. Music and movement are great mood boosters.

Wrap it Up

If your traditions include gift giving, wrapping the present can be part of the season’s sweet details. There are thousands of printed options at the store to match your taste and mood, or as read in a copy of Mary Jane’s Farm magazine, you can use old newspapers for a unique recycling option. Be careful that the item isn’t one that the print will rub off on. Maybe you want to try craft paper, like Julie Andrews sings in My Favorite Things “brown paper packages tied up with string.” Simplicity can be elegant, or you can go wild with decorative tape, stickers, ribbon, or sprigs of holly.

Want to wrap more? Wrap empty boxes as an easy but cheerful decoration to add to any corner. Don’t have any empty boxes from recent orders? Try calling or asking around grocery stores at stocking time, or local bookstores, pharmacies, craft stores, or maybe your library. These places receive shipments of varying sizes and may be willing to let you take the box instead of taking it to their dumpster service.

Opportunities for festivities abound! We could sit around the table with hot cocoa and chat ideas with you all month long, but we know you have much to do. So whatever you bake, mix, make, deck, sing, or wrap, we hope you exercise your creativity, stretch your fun factor, and have a very special season.