Crafts for Every Holiday

What follows is a calendar of holidays, month by month, for you and your family to use to celebrate and find themes (and an excuse, if you really need one) for crafts. Some of the special days listed here may be obvious and familiar, but you may never have heard of some others. More adventures to embark on with your children!

New Year's: December 31-January 1

New Year's as it's celebrated today tends to be a distinctly adult holiday, but it needn't be. You can certainly include children in the symbolism of ringing out the old year and ringing in the new. Here area few ways to meaningfully welcome the New Year:

Shift the emphasis from New Year's Eve to New Year's Day and host a dinner or brunch with other families. You might want to make the traditional New Year's food called Hoppin' John, a mix of black-eyed peas (symbolizing luck), rice(health), and collard greens (prosperity). Everyone's required to have at least a taste.

Make it a day to reflect on the year passed and the one ahead. Kids can write their New Year's resolutions out on paper and tuck them away to read the following year. They can roll them up into little scrolls, tie them with a ribbon, and decorate with small flowers or charms.

New Year's can also become a celebration of winter: When the Christmas decorations come down, decorate for a Winter Festival. This is the time for sledding, ice skating, making snowmen, sipping hot cocoa, and creating paper snowflakes.

This is also a good time to start window-sill gardens or small pots of herbs, force bulbs, pour through seed catalogs, and plan a spring garden. Make calendars for each member of the family using family photographs, paper scraps, stickers, and other crafts materials.

If you and your children are into miniatures, celebrate the changes in season in miniature. You can do this with a dollhouse, but even a simple box turned on its side (which can become a room), can be furnished and decorated with images of the passing holidays and seasons. The furniture and accessories need not be expensive (although you may want to begin collecting some special ones). Many can be made from small found objects. A lamp, for example, can be a small round bead with a toothpaste cap on top for a shade. The possibilities are endless.

Instead of just a Christmas tree, make a seasonal tree.

Project: Seasonal Tree

Level: Medium

Age: 5 and up with adult help

Materials needed: Small tree limb with lots of branches, spray paint (any color), heavy decorative pot, sand, stones, moss

Directions:

1. Spray paint the limb (or you can leave it natural, if you prefer) and let dry.

2. Block off the hole in the bottom of the pot (if there is one) and fill with a mixture of sand and stones. Make sure the limb is firmly planted and won't fall over. Making the sand damp might help.

3. Cover the top of the sand with stones or moss.

4. Decorate. Change decorations with each season, holiday, or special occasion.

Twelfth Night (Epiphany): January 6

Traditionally, this is the day the Three Kings from the Orient came to Bethlehem bearing gifts for baby Jesus. It's called Twelfth Night because it's the twelfth night after Christ's birth.

Get some incense made from frankincense and myrrh. Check in religious shops, health food stores with larger herb departments, and herb specialty shops. Learn what frankincense and myrrh look and smell like. Find out where they come from and how they were used.

Another nice idea is to make a treasure cake, which is a cake with charms, coins, or small rings hidden inside. A plum cake is traditional, but a pound cake works just as well. You can even use a store-bought cake and insert the objects, then cover the cake with icing. This is a fun holiday to counteract the letdown of Christmas past and prolong the Christmas spirit.

Candlemas or Groundhog Day: February 2

On Candlemas, churches all over the world bless the candles that they will use throughout the coming year.

Celebrate Candlemas by gathering lots of candles and lighting them all. That night, do everything by candlelight, including eating dinner and reading your child's bedtime story. Put burning candles in front of mirrors for even more reflective light.

Look for tiny white flowers called snowdrops — also known as Candlemas Bells or Mary's tapers — peeking up through the snow. (Plant some bulbs next fall if you don't have any.)

Americans also celebrate February 2 as Groundhog Day. In times past, it was believed that hibernating animals (such as groundhogs) wake up on Candlemas Day and check to see if it's still winter. If it's a sunny day and the groundhog sees his shadow, he gets frightened and goes back to hibernate for 40 more days. It it's cloudy and he doesn't see his shadow, he stays above ground. So, if it's cloudy on February 2, that means an early spring.

Lincoln and Washington's Birthdays: February

I know, we're supposed to celebrate both Lincoln's and Washington's birthday on President's Day (February 19). Well, hogwash, I say! Instead, celebrate these events on their actual dates and give each president his due.

Make Lincoln's birthday, February 12, the day you and your children learn about Lincoln and his place in history. Bring out the Lincoln Logs building toys and make a log cabin. You can also make a Lincoln Log with your children for dessert. This is essentially the same as a Yule Log or Bûche de Noël, a traditional European holiday cake made to look like a log.

Consult your favorite cookbook or use the recipe below:

Lincoln Log Cake

Cake:

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting:

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream or two (2 1/8-ounce) packages whipped topping mix
• 1/4 cup instant powdered chocolate drink
• 1/4 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Grease a 15 1/2 × 10 1/2 × 1-inch jelly roll pan and line it with waxed paper. Grease the paper and set aside the pan.

2. In a large bowl, beat the four eggs until foamy. Gradually add 3/4 cup of sugar and continue beating five minutes more. Sift together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the egg mixture and blend at low speed until well mixed. Stir in the vanilla and pour the batter into the jelly roll pan.

3. Bake 15 to 18 minutes at 350 degrees or until the cake surface springs back when lightly touched. Invert the pan onto a clean towel dusted with confectioners' sugar and peel off the waxed paper. Trim away the edges so they're uniform. Roll up the cake and towel and let cool for 30 minutes on a wire rack.

4. Unroll the cake and remove the towel. Press the cake gently to flatten it. Spread a thin layer of jelly, fruit filling, softened cream cheese, chocolate or vanilla pudding, or any other desired filling over the cake. Re-roll, using the towel to coax it along. Place the cake seam-side down on a serving plate and chill for at least 2 hours.

5. Make the frosting by beating the heavy cream until it's stiff and foldingin the instant chocolate drink and unsweetened cocoa. Frost the chilled cake and use the tines of a fork to give it the look of bark.

Celebrate Washington's real birthday on February 22. Make a cherry pie and read why it's associated with Washington's birthday. What is all that stuff about Washington crossing the Delaware, anyway? Couldn't explain it to your kids? Don't know why he's called The Father of Our Country? Then you have some boning up to do. Why not do it together?

St. Patrick's Day: March 17

This is the day to learn about Ireland, Irish music, and Irish culture. Here are several ways:

• Go out to hear Irish music played live, or listen to it on a tape or CD.

• Rent the video "Riverdance." Learn to do the Irish reel or jig (there are videos, honest!).

• Find out about the legend of the shamrock and make one out of any medium you choose.

• Make crafts with rainbows, fairies, and elves as themes.

• Make flower fairies, which are flowers with human faces. Read the books of Cicely Mary Barker, such as A Treasury of Flower Fairies and A World of Flower Fairies.

• Let your children dress as fairies. Make wings out of cardboard and decorate. Read Peter Pan.

• Dress in green and make a leprechaun hat out of felt.

This is also a good time to celebrate the arrival of spring:

• Take a walk and look for signs of spring in the garden, if weather permits.

• Read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (or watch the movie).

• Begin growing a living Easter basket by putting a small layer of pebbles in the bottom of a tightly woven basket, then filling it with a few inches of potting soil. Scatter some fast-sprouting rye grass seed on top, keep the soil moist, and put the basket in a sunny spot with a plastic tray or dish underneath. In about a week, you'll have some real grass growing in your Easter basket. Let it grow tall and decorate the basket for Easter.

• Feed the birds. and thank them for their songs.

Easter: March or April

The word "Easter" means "new beginning," and actually coincides with a pagan celebration honoring the goddess of light. It's a true "good-bye to winter, hello spring" kind of holiday, as well as a religious observance for many. Whatever your beliefs, you can incorporate them into this festival of returning life.

This is the time, of course, for egg crafts. You can go from simple hard-boiled eggs and store-bought coloring kits all the way to highly detailed and beautiful Ukrainian eggs, called pysanky.

Pysanky is a craft that is thousands of years old. The method used to create designs is similar to batik. Designs are drawn on the egg with wax, which keeps the color from dyeing the area that is protected by the wax. By repeating the process and drawing with wax in different places, then dipping in different colors of dye each time, a multicolored design is created. When the wax is removed, the design is revealed.

The symbols and colors used on the eggs pre-date Christianity, although, Christian interpretations have been added.

For crafted eggs that last, try using wooden eggs, or making blown decorated eggs.

Project: Blown Decorated Eggs

Level: Easy to medium

Age: 5 and up, with this caveat: Some kids at age 5 just don't have a gentle enough touch to do this. You know your child.

Materials needed: Fresh eggs, a carpet needle, bowl, a beading needle, embroidery floss, egg dyes (either purchased or homemade), a white wax crayon, markers, paints (or whatever else you want to use for decorating), acrylic fixative

Directions:

1. Make a hole on each end of the egg using the carpet needle. Make one hole larger than the other.

2. Use the needle to break the yolk.

3. Blow the yolk out from the smaller hole end. If you're having trouble getting the insides to come out, make the holes larger.

4. Decorate the egg by dyeing and/or painting it. When done, "set" your child's work with acrylic fixative. Use the white wax crayon to keep thedye from adhering to a particular area and to "write" on an egg.

5. Cover the larger hole with ribbon and a little silk flower or little chenille chick.

Another neat thing to do with an empty egg is to fill it with chocolate. Just make one fairly large hole instead of two. Rinse the egg out with hot water. Use a small funnel and pour melted chocolate into each egg. Let the eggs cool and harden (use the egg carton to hold them in the refrigerator). Cover the hole with a decoration and watch your child's surprise when she cracks the egg and finds a chocolate one inside!

Make eggs or other Easter symbols out of marzipan (you can find recipes in most comprehensive cookbooks for this luscious almond paste confection). They can be colored or painted with special food dyes and paints.

Use your seasonal tree to display your decorated eggs. Put a bunny at the top and hang eggs with bright ribbon loops. You can make little baskets from large pieces of shell (your kids are bound to break a few eggs while blowing them out). For a handle, glue on fine ribbon or fine wire.

You can also take a branch from a flowering tree or shrub and keep it in water indoors. This can serve as a tree for displaying your eggs, and will display some pretty blossoms when your branch is "forced" to bloom. Flowering cherry, dogwood, or pussy willow work well. (If you don't have some in your own garden, they can sometimes be purchased at a florist or nursery.)

Make Easter bonnets. You can get plain straw hats at crafts stores, or look for plain hats in thrift shops and at yard sales. Use silk flowers, ribbons, dried flowers, fake birds and animals, or anything that suits you and your child's fancy. Make it really something! Then dress up and have a fashion show.

April Fool's Day: April 1

April Fool's Day is a good time to talk about practical jokes and about what kind of humor is appropriate. Whatever events you plan for the day, be sure to put the emphasis on comic surprises, not hurtful jokes at another's expense.

Here are other ways to add laughter to April Fool's:

• Collect riddles and jokes and make them into a book.

• Play role-switching games with your children. You be the child, while your children play at being the parents. Kids adore doing this and you may get some surprise insights into how you really sound to your kids (oops!).

• Make an April Fool's supper and let your child help plan it. Get creative and funny with food: Try mock-turtle soup or French-fried string potatoes made into birds' nests (with tiny potato "eggs"). Make foods into shapes that disguise what they are.

• Make a list of rainy day activities. Check your crafts box and make sure you've got plenty of materials for the rainy weather ahead.

Arbor Day: April 22

Arbor Day originated in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton, a pioneer who moved into the Nebraska territory and became concerned with the lack of trees. He began planting immediately upon arriving and, in his role as a journalist and newspaper editor, spread his enthusiasm and agricultural knowledge. Visiting Nebraska today, you'd be hard-pressed to see how it could have once been a treeless plain.

Make this a gardening day:

• Clean your tools and take an inventory.

• Plant a tree for each family member and give each a garden patch. Let your child decide what he wants to grow in his plot. (It helps to start small and try different things each year.)

• Take care of your trees on Arbor Day. Clean up around them. Decorate one with a bow and put out treats for the animals. Make a birdhouse.

• Plan your first picnic on Arbor Day, if weather permits. If not, pack for a picnic anyway and have it on a blanket on the living room floor. You can even make fake ants out of clay or paper.

Contact the National Arbor Day Foundation for more ways to celebrate: 100 Arbor Avenue, Nebraska City, NE 68410; phone (402) 474-5655 or visit them at www.arborday.org to learn more.

Mother's Day: May

In Europe, Mother's Day began during the middle ages as "Mothering Sunday." Young people of the proper age would leave their homes to learn their trades and begin their apprenticeships, but shortly before Easter they would return to see their families. The Sunday following their return was know as Mothering Sunday. The family would attend church and the young person would give gifts to both the church and his mother.

Dads and kids should work together to make mom "Queen for a Day" on this day. Pamper her and do any work around the house that needs doing, such as washing the dishes. Prepare her breakfast in bed.

Encourage your children give a gift of nature or something they've made themselves: Many projects in this book are easily adaptable to Mother's Day. Make homemade cards. Take this time to tell and show her how much you appreciate what she does for the family the whole year through. Tell her you love her.

Decoration Day or Memorial Day: May

Memorial Day marks the beginning of the summer holidays, but for many, its original meaning is lost. Established in 1868 to commemorate those who lost their lives in the Civil War, it is now a time to remember all those who have sacrificed their lives in wartime.

Visit the war memorials in your town, if there are any, and explore the your local military history. Watch movies about the Civil War, such as Gettysburg, or attend living-history events in your area. Check into any programs at historic sites near you.

Father's Day: June

For some reason, mothers get quite a bit of attention on their day, but fathers seem to get short shrift. Moms, make sure that doesn't happen this year. Turn the tables on dad and make him "King for a Day." Have the kids help you and do all the little things that will make him feel special. Serve him breakfast in bed. Make it his favorite breakfast, even if you and the kids need to make some preparations the night before. Give him a small gift (some handmade aftershave would be nice). Reinstitute the custom of wearing a red rose throughout the day to honor a living father, and a white rose to honor a father who's passed away.

Ask dad about something special he'd like to do on his day, or surprise him with a special event. My family has made it an annual ritual to plan an outing for Father's Day. Dad has no idea where we're going and just surrenders to our devices. In times past we've done a jeep tour and a picnic, and future plans include a river rafting trip in the Grand Canyon.

Independence Day: July 4

Despite all the parades and the hoopla, do you and your children really know the details surrounding Independence Day? How long has it been since you've read the Declaration of Independence? Do you even have a copy? Get a copy of The Fourth of July Story by Alice Dalgliesh and read it with your kids. Get a copy of the Declaration of Independence and frame it.

Start off the day with a red, white, and blue breakfast. Fresh blueberries, strawberries, and a little cream would fit the bill. Have a family picnic or a neighborly potluck. If you decide to attend a parade, make it an event. Pack some old-fashioned lemonade and healthy snacks (a mix of dried fruits and nuts works well). Bring a flag for waving and some kazoos or small horns to blow. Have a blanket or chairs for sitting down and some wipes for dirty hands and faces. These accouterments would be helpful at the evening fireworks, as well.

Christmas in July

Pick a day at the end of July, when kids are just beginning to get the "I'm bored" summer blues, to plan your December holiday festivities and gifts in advance. Play some holiday music. Start assembling the materials you'll need for holiday crafts and get started. Nobody will have time to be bored!

Labor Day: September

This can be a bittersweet holiday. The summer is winding down and kids are back at school, or soon will be. The true focus of Labor Day, however, is the world of work. Here are ways you and your family could bring back that focus:

• Do your children really understand what you do for a living? Have they ever come to your place of work for a day? Perhaps you could arrange a visit. Talk to your older kids about their futures, as well. What kind of thought have they given to their chosen path?

• Think about the various people who produce the goods and services you use every day. Take one product — bread for instance — and research all the people who contribute to that loaf of bread.

• Talk about the household chores and whether everyone is doing his or her share. This may be the time to review your chore delegation and reminder system to see how it's working.

• Visit some local businesses or factories that you and your children might not know that much about. Call and ask for a tour before you go. When you arrive back home, children can illustrate what they've seen or express their reactions in various ways.

Michaelmas: September 29

Dating back to the 6th century, Michaelmas, or the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, is still celebrated in the Celtic provinces in England and France. According to the Bible, Michael was the angel who threw Lucifer out of heaven. St. George, the Archangel's earthly representative, slew dragons.

St. George is the patron Saint of England. The story goes that in a village in a far distant country, there was a fearsome dragon that terrorized the community. Unless the villagers appeased him, the dragon would destroy crops and homes (and people) with the flames and smoke that poured from this nostrils. To keep him happy, they fed him sheep and other animals every day. When they ran out of livestock, they drew lots and began offering people from the community. When the lot fell to the King's daughter, she was prepared to be sacrificed and tied to the tower. St. George appeared as a valiant knight who slew the dragon with this magic sword, Ascalon. The people were so grateful, they all were baptized and became Christians.

This is a good time to learn about dragons in myth and legend. Make costumes and play knights and damsels. Watch a movie such as Ivanhoe, First Knight, Dragonslayer, or Dragonheart. Find your local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval recreational society, and attend one of their public events. Learn about the different ways dragons have been represented in different cultures. Make one out of papier-mâchè or clay or make a dragon costume.

Thanksgiving: November

What is the true meaning of Thanksgiving? Do you really know its history? Who made Thanksgiving a national holiday and where do the foods and customs we have today originate?

You may believe the way we celebrate Thanksgiving is the way the Pilgrims did -- but you're wrong. Our celebration actually dates back to Victorian times. The modern observance of Thanksgiving was the result of a campaign initiated by Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of Godey's Lady's Book, a popular Victorian women's magazine. Mrs. Hale almost single-handedly created the Thanksgiving we celebrate today. Before her efforts, Thanksgiving was an irregularly celebrated occasion that differed from state to state.

Often, with so much attention focused on Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa, Thanksgiving is given only cursory attention. Don't let this happen in your family!

Have each member of the family create a gratitude journal they can keep all year long, perhaps even daily. Each day, write down five things you are thankful for. It may be difficult to think of five things at first, but as you start looking more closely at the little things, you'll have difficulty sticking with only five (so don't!).

At Thanksgiving dinner, have each person write five things they're grateful for on a slip of paper, roll it up, and secure with a piece of raffia or some other natural material. Collect the scrolls, mix them up, and then redistribute. Have each member of your celebration read their scroll aloud.

Make sure you invite people for dinner who have nowhere to go on Thanksgiving. It's really not much trouble to set the table for one or two more people. Prepare a box of food with your children and take it to someone who is less fortunate or perhaps can't get out to celebrate.

Other Holidays to Investigate

I don't have room to cover all the possibilities when it comes to holidays and special occasions throughout the year and the crafts and foods associated with them, but I believe I've got you well on your way. Here are few more holidays to investigate:

• Martin Luther King day: Third Monday in January

• Chinese New Year: Date changes year to year on Western calendar

• Cinco de Mayo: May 5

• Flag Day: June 14

• Midsummer's Night's Eve: June 23 in most countries

• Bastille Day: July 14

• Grandparents' Day: Second Sunday in September

• All Soul's Day: November 2

• Martinmas: November 11

• Jewish Holy Days and festivals throughout the year

Another holiday we celebrate in our family is Appreciation Day. This can be held at any time and celebrated in any way. It simply focuses on one individual who's gone above and beyond in some way or who's simply been neglected during the year. It can even be Doggy or Kitty Appreciation Day, when we give recognition and attention to our favorite animal companions.

Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Crafts with Kids © 1998 by Georgene Lockwood. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

To order this book visit the Idiot's Guide web site or call 1-800-253-6476.