Tired of the same ole.

I am Pete's room mother extraordinaire for the 1st grade Christmas party this year.  Due to some budget cuts the amount of money we are allotted has been reduced from $50 to $25.  Luckily, we have a great group of parents who, even if they work, are always willing to pitch-in in any way they can.  (I love our school.)

Snacks, drinks, and paper goods have all been taken care of, and I even managed to get a couple of monatary donations.  One of which was $30.  How cool is that?

I, now, have $60 with no food or paper products to buy.  I am sittin' pretty.

I want to try and avoid that goody bag overload.  Full of junk and junk food alike that the kids get bombarded with at every festive gathering.   Not that there is anything wrong with a good ole fashion treat bag, but it just seems so wasteful to me. 

I'm thinking we are going to go with an unofficial 'handmade' party theme this year.  Sure, there will be a couple of traditional party games, maybe some carols, and a story, but I thought I'd show the kids that they can make some cool stuff with their own bare hands.  Stuff that they can be proud of, and hopefully gift to someone in their family.

I haven't decided on anything 'for sure', yet, but I found some great ideas.

 Home-made snow globes from here.

I've seen these lots of places, but I think it would be an easy and fun thing for them to make.  You can use super glue or a glue gun (adults only for that step), instead of silicone which will increase the assembly time by lots.  I could pick up lots of vintagey cake decor for the insides at our local bake supply shop.

Diorama ornaments from here.

I love when the kids bring home handmade ornaments.  Our tree is full of them, and every Christmas when we get them all out, it's so fun to see all of them from the last several years.  I thought these were fun, and each kid could really make theirs personal. 

Cookie mix in a jar from here.

The infamous 'cookie-mix-in-a-jar'.  I know it's an oldie, but I've never seen it done at a school party.  I thought this would be fun for them to measure and scoop, and, later, make at home. 

Home-made sugar scrub from here.

I, also, love the idea of this kind of a gift for a mom, grandma, aunt, step-mom, or sister.  I checked out soaps and lip balms, but they take much too long.  This sugar scrub from Crystal at Little Bit Funky is a quick & easy alternative.  I think the idea of pouring and mixing will be a hit.

So, what do you think?  Do you have any other ideas?  Fairly easy, fun, maybe a bit messy?  Let me know, I'd love to hear them!