Inexpensive Homemade Christmas Gifts
Reindeer Noses

Inexpensive homemade Christmas gifts can be really cute and clever. One Christmas I received an adorable Christmas gift from one of my students that I just loved.

I have a feeling you're going to love it too! What is it? Reindeer noses!

I've had great fun over the last couple of years helping out at one of our local public schools where I teach Religious Education on a weekly basis.

The principal asked if I could help with a playgroup or pre-prep mornings (what Americans would call pre-kindergarten).

What fun! The kids are so cute, and I have a great time working with them.  We create areas for various sensory activities, crafts, story time, songs, etc.

At the end of a session, one of the little girls, Alexia, presented me with a jar full of reindeer noses as a thank you gift for my efforts. It was really precious.

I have to admit, I had never seen this idea before and I thought it was a simple and delightful way to give someone an inexpensive homemade Christmas gift that was both clever and would be sure to bring a smile.

In fact, I ended up sharing them with three of my little friends - Abigail, Ruby, and Annabelle.

During our Christmas holiday breaks, we spent a lot of time together, and as you can see, they really loved munching on the reindeer noses!

Reindeer Noses
An Inexpensive Homemade Christmas Gift Idea

So, let me tell you a little bit more about reindeer noses, this sweet Christmas gift idea. As you can see from the photo, in its simplest form, reindeer noses is basically a jar of candy with a few clever decorations that bring it to life.

Here's what you'll need:

• clean, dry jars
• brown pipe cleaners
• red pom poms
• googly eyes
• chocolate candy balls (malted milk balls e.g.)
• red candy balls (jaffas, red jaw breakers, etc)
• red ribbon
• gift tag (can be handmade or printed from online)

This particular jar has a nice red and white decorated lid, which really adds to the festive look. It appears that Alexia's mum purchased these Christmas themed jars for this project special.

My suggestion... Watch for the after Christmas sales and snap up some of these jars cheap for next year's gift giving. ;)

Anyway, if you don't have any of these jars available, you can make do with plain lids or perhaps paint the outside of the lid if necessary. One caution - If you are recycling a jar from something you have consumed, definitely don't use a lid that is retaining the odor of the previous contents or your chocolate candy will absorb that smell. (Garlic chocolate is not a great idea!) :)

Fill each jar with your choice of chocolate balls and red candy balls. You can use whatever options are local to your area. Obviously, the red balls are to remind us of good old Rudolph. We wouldn't want to leave him out.

To decorate the jar, I would personally use a hot glue gun, but if you have little fingers helping you with this task, you need to be extremely careful as that glue gets really hot and can burn their fingers. You could use another type of glue, but it won't dry as quickly, so keep that in mind if you are in a rush.

Don't forget to make a little tag to announce your gift of Reindeer noses. You can design your own and print them out, but there are also a few templates on line that you can simply use to save time.

You could even just use colored markers and let the kids design their own for a more unique inexpensive homemade Christmas gift. It may even make them more special to your friends and loved ones.

Merry Christmas!

Blessings,
         Angie