Super Sipperz!

My daughter, Savanna, has an obsession with straws. She has yet to meet a straw she hasn't wanted to try. So when I was approached about reviewing the Super Sipperz! I jumped at it. Just for her. These are regular bendy straws in a variety of colors. But what makes them really nifty is the connectors that allow you make really wacky designs out of all of the straws.

The girls immediately went and started building stuff. MacKenzie the architect tried putting 5 drinks in a row and building a bridge that all of the kids could sit at and drink from. They figured out really quick that root beer, orange Fanta, and lemonade really don't mix that well. Because that is exactly what happened. The drinks all mixed together and they had some funky flavored stuff coming out of their straws.

 If you have super imaginative kids, or well even not that imaginative kids, then you might want to add these to the stockings. They are reasonably priced at $9.99 for one 80 piece set and then just an additional $5 for a second set for a total of 160 pieces! Each set contains straws, connectors, a mesh storage bag, and a 60 day money back guarantee. Plus the fun you can't buy from watching your kids eyes light up while building. Oh, and the set also contains one set of tubes to make glasses out of the straws.

Check out this really cool video on the Super Sipperz! website. I love the little girl lounging by the pool with straws leading to her drink. LOL For straws you can build with, these are definitely pretty cool!

Handmade Christmas Soap

I came across this really easy really great craft for Christmas at Milk and Cuddles. The actual post was for Halloween, so we did both. I had never made soap before and thought it would super difficult, but it was so easy I think we may do more as gifts for neighbors and grandparents. Next time I might add some scent to it.

All you need for the soap is glycerin (bought mine at Michael's for $9.99, and can make 16 soaps with one block), Christmasy items to put in the soap, a muffin tin, and some clear wrap.

Melt the glycerin in the muffin tins. The site I came across that had the directions used silicone muffin pans and said microwave for 35 seconds until glycerin is melted. I didn't have any silicone muffin pans, so I used some regular ones from the Dollar Tree. I melted it in the oven at 200. It took about 10 minutes to fully melt the soap down.

Add the items to the soap, pushing it down with a popsicle stick or something like that so that it is covered completely in the soap.

Let stand for 20 minuted and then remove and wrap.

I had no trouble getting the soaps out of the muffin tins, although I am sure they would come out prettier with silicone pans. We added little bells for the Christmas look. If we make them for gifts this year, I will purchase some decorative stickers for the backs to cover the wrap and keep it secure.

The cost for making 16 soaps was $14.

Popsicle Puzzles

This isn't just a Christmas Craft, but it we managed to make it into one. You can really do this for any time.

Popsicle Puzzles are super easy to make, and are really fun for your budding artists. I came across this craft in a magazine while sitting in the dentist office not to long ago. I thought it would be a great Friday Craft project for homeschooling, and since we are getting ready for Christmas around here in Monkey Land, I got Kenzie to do a Christmas themed one to show off here.

Supplies needed:

Popsicle sticks ($2 for a big pack of them at AC Moore)

Tape (any you have on hand will work)

Crayons

Markers

Take 10 (or more) popsicle sticks and tape them together in a flat square. Turn over and draw a design on the non-tapped side. Again, this can be ANYTHING! Take the tape off, and mix up the pieces. Your little ones can rearrange the pieces back into the original picture they drew.

This would be a great little gift from your kiddos to Grandparents (I Love You or something equally cute), to brothers and sisters, or a lucky friend.