My kids (Zack, 7 and Emma 3) love to get in on the holiday decorating action. As soon as the tree goes up, they start clumping all of the ornaments on a single branch. They set up in the Christmas train in the center of the most walked hallway in the house. And their idea of outdoor lighting makes Clark Griswold look normal.
Yep, my kids are just like your kids.
But I’m a little particular when it comes to my holiday decorations. I like them to be exactly how I like them to be. So this year, I let my kids make their own garlands for their bedrooms, and the end result was really adorable.
I began by cutting out 10 Christmas trees for each of them out of chalkboard fabric that I had on hand. You could use even use card stock for this – they won’t care at all. I cut one out by hand and then traced and cut the rest.
Then, I turned them loose with paint pens and chalkboard markers. I was envisioning trees decorated with strings of lights, garland and ball ornaments. This is the best that I got.
Those were Zack’s. Just wait until you see Emma’s, y’all.
No worries, though. These are their decorations and they don’t yet have quite the vision that I have.
So, I took a piece of twine and measured the length that I wanted for the garland. Zack’s was going to go across his wall, and Emma’s was going to be tied to the posts of her emerald green headboard. I marked the center of if with a clip so I could make sure it would hang correctly.
Then, I fired up my glue gun and spaced the trees evenly along the garland. I added a drop of hot glue to the top back of the tree and glued it to the twine.
The end result was really cute and kid made. They are very proud of themselves (and I’m proud of them). Here’s Zack’s garland hung from little nails on his wall.
And heres Emma’s garland strung across her headboard.
My kids’ garlands turned out messy. Silly. Unartistic.
Perfectly imperfect.
Make sure your kids get to participate in your holiday decorations. It will make the holidays all the more special to them – and to you.
Really cute! I am very particular, as well. But this year, I bit my tongue and let my 11 yr. old son place ornaments and strings of beaded garland on our tree. I didn’t even “fix” it. I am enjoying the perfect imperfection of it all.