Good ideas for christmas cards to make with children?

[jennifersofia]

We try to do this every year, haven't got any good ideas yet. Needs to be something that can be a bit production line-ish, as we need to do 20+. We have 5&6 yr old dd's, and they are both quite crafty.

You could just go with an assortment of basic xmasy shapes cut out of various papers (xmas wrap, coloured, foiled etc)and 20 or so plain cards (or paper cut and folded to card dimensions)
let the girls pick the shapes for each card and where the want to put stick them and they can add an extra element with some coloured pens or glitter glue or something if they want

I've done xmas stockings ( already cut out) and use a cotton ball for the top bit, then they add glitter stickers etc etc. Did this with dd when she was 3 and 4

What about letting them cut out snowflakes, my kids love doing this and we put them over our windows. You could then stick them to dark blue card.

I've made potato prints using Xmasy biscuit cutters - xmas trees, angels, holly - you know the stuff. Then they've pressed them onto folded cards and stuck stickers, glitter etc on top. Xmas trees particularly successful as quite fun to 'decorate'.

Have you done the two handprints (upside down if you see what I mean) to make angel wings. Then simple angel face and body (could be oval and triangle) in teh middle?

There's a nice reindeer card that is easy - and pesonal.
Paint your DC's foot brown and get them to make a print on the card. This is the head. Then red hand prints for the antlers. When the paint is dry, you can add eyes/nose etc.
Looks better than I'm making it sound, and it's nice and personal, with the child's prints on.

lurking for good ideas also
hobnobfanatic, that sounds like a really good idea, but i'm having trouble picturing it,would the heel be the nose, or the toes?

Snowmen cards are dead easy. Draw 3 circles on a card in ascending size. Put a bunch of glue in each circle and use cotton wool to make your snowman. When dry, add eyes, top hat and buttons, all of which can be cut, or hole punched from black card. For the more crafty, you can use orange triangles for noses, glue small twigs or black card for arms and make black mouths, but it gets a bit fiddly (sp?).

We did this one year for our mom and tots group and it was a huge hit.

Also, check out Lakelandlimited.co.uk. They have great ideas for handmade cards for kids. Delivery is fast and the prices are better than at Hobbycraft.

Some more ideas here.

handprint reindeer

Fabulous ideas, thanks! I like that website JackieNo. (btw, your name always reminds me of James Bond)

clarevoiant - the heel is more the nose, and the toes bit is at the top, by the antlers (obviously, not anatomically correct for your average Joe-Reindeer, but it looks quite sweet!).

(Really, jennifersofia, I can't think why)

hobnobfanatic - thanks have done this with ds today and scanned it in to the pc, added eyes and a nose and printed it....it looks fab

Glad I could help, clarevoiant - I bet everyone will love them! : )

Right, presented ideas to dh, who thinks the 2 hands as angel wings a great idea, but did not think my idea of doing it once and getting it colour photocopied a good idea. He would rather have the children do every card (which is a lovely idea, but we just don't have the time) arghhh! Maybe I should just go down the charity card route..

Jenni,

Chin up lass!

The angel cards shouldn't take too long if you keep them really simple and prepare for it.

for example - get all the blank 'cards' laid out in a couple of rows and your dds hands in the paint and print, print, print.....
when they're dry add all the bodies and then all the faces.

You and your girls should be done in next to no time!

last post for second class deliveries in the UK is 17/12/07 first class is 20th so there are still plenty of days left!

how's about dh supervises making half of them as originals and you supervise making one and photocopying.

we have done some snowmen ones - I pre-prepare the red or green card cut up with artistic torn edges, then use egg cup and bottle top to print white snowman's head and body. Leave to dry (which is why we keep doing this before school! - honestly they can do half a dozen each in about 10 mins) then decorate with black felt tip hat, arms, scarf etc.

Later I stick em on to white blanks and add a Merry Christmas sticker. We can get about 20 done in a day this way (I have 3 DCs who are 8, 6, 4).

I know it's a bit mad and hardly cheaper than buying them (well, not at all cheaper than buying cheaper cards) but my DCs love a bit of craft and it gets them in a festive mood. That's my story anyway.