Because Everything Takes MUCH Longer When You Involve Kids

Because Everything Takes MUCH Longer When You Involve Kids

The following is a guest post from momAgendaCOMM blogger Jill Krause.

The holiday season is quickly approaching. In just a week we’ll be decorating our house in ghastly décor and gearing up for a ghoulish Halloween. Then, just after that, we’ll be preparing our list for our Thanksgiving feast and before we know it, we’ll be decking the halls with garland and bells. Can you believe how fast this year has gone?

Now, while there’s just a touch of sanity left in the year, in this calm before the storm, is when we should start planning out holiday projects (especially ones that involve children). We all know the ones that involve the kids require an extra dose of patience that is sometimes hard to muster up by the end of October…

Here are a few that are on my list of things to accomplish in the coming weeks. Each will require the help of my kids and I’m sure each will leave us with great memories of getting ready for the holidays as a family (and possibly great messes, yes, but we’re ignoring that part right now).

Halloween:

Have you ever “Booed!” your neighbors? This will be our first year, and I can’t wait to see the look on my 3 year old’s face when we drop a “Boo!” bag of goodies on our friends’ doorsteps and run off. The idea is you put together a bag of treats and anonymously leave them at doorsteps. The bags include a sign to put up, alerting others that they’ve already been “Booed!” and instructions on how to pass the “Boo!” along.

If you’re looking for free, creative signs and “Boo!” instructions, you should check out these from The TomKat Studio.

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Thanksgiving:

For our Thanksgiving craft, I was inspired by this chalkboard “Runner of Thanks” from Finding Home.

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I think we’ll do something similar, either with chalkboard fabric or just by using up some leftover chalkboard paint on some craft paper. Our table is small so a runner won’t really fit. However, I think it would be a blast to cover our son’s kiddie table in chalkboard fabric or paper and help him write down everything he’s thankful this year! I think it could be a great teaching moment, explaining to a 3 year old (to the best of my ability) what “thankful” is all about.

Christmas:

I’m a sucker for a good handprint craft. Last year we made some snowman handprint ornaments with our then-2-year-old, like this:

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This year, I want to involve the hands of everyone in the family and create a Christmas tree canvas like this:

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Handprint crafts, for me, are the trickiest of them all when it comes to getting kids involved so I have to be sure to give myself plenty of time. I think I might have to start working on this one next week.

I hope you’re inspired by these ideas to break out your craft supplies and get your kids involved with holiday prep this year. I know, I know, sometimes (lots of times) it’s just easier to do it all yourself while you drink a bottle of wine, but think of the memories you’ll create (and not the mess) when you get the little ones involved this time.

Jill enjoys blogging on her personal site, Baby Rabies and you can also find her on Twitter and Facebook.