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My children love to play with play dough.  It is a time when they can just create and play freely on their own.  Sometimes I do not like the mess that it makes, but I plan ahead and know that we are going to have a mess and then just clean it up.  For part of their Christmas gifts this year I decided to make them individual play dough kits.

For years I would buy them play dough sets from the store.  After using them a few times they grew frustrated with them.  The play dough would get stuck in all the cracks and the pieces were made poorly and would break.

Having a large family I know what we can keep and what we can’t keep.  I don’t have room for excess and I realize that when we had multiple play dough sets it was just an overwhelming choice for the children.  I finally just got rid of all that we had and kept just the basics for play dough.  Cookie cutters, rolling pins, food stamps, frosting squirters, and molds.  Everything else went.  Play dough time is enjoyable now as I hand each child a blob of play dough and a few pieces to create with.  Much easier time.

This is the recipe that I use for my play dough.  It makes a nice spongy dough.  Not a messy dough to play with at all.   I mix up double batches at a time.

• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 1/2 c salt
• 2 T cream of tartar
• 2 T vege oil
• 2 c flour
• flavorings or colorings

In a saucepan boil the water, salt, cream of tartar, and oil.  You can add your food colorings at this moment.  Sometimes I add a packet of Kool Aid.  Makes a great smelly playdough.  Then I add my flour.  I like to add it with a wooden spoon and stir it in as best as I can.  It will be quite chunky and sticky but will get spongy as it cools.  I then flop it onto the countertops and as I can stand kneading it, without scalding my hands, I knead.  As the dough cools it gets spongy.  As I am kneading it, I also add my scents and colors, depending upon if I didn’t already.

 

Since I was making different themes for my gifts sets, this was the type of play dough that I made.

For the first set I was making was a cupcake themed playdough set.

I made pink playdough scented with vanilla extract.  The brown one is cocoa powder rolled into the playdough for chocolate cake dough.

 

I put them into recycled lunch meat containers and labeled them with cardstock.

 

I then put together items used for making and creating cupcakes.  I bought the muffin tin at the Dollar Store, added some doilies, included some cupcake liners, and added mini beads and glitter for sprinkles .  What cupcake wouldn’t be complete without birthday candles.  I am thinking they will have fun creating cupcake masterpieces with this one.

The next set that I made was an ice cream set.

I made vanilla and strawberry scented ice cream for one.  Chocolate and mint for the other set.

For the vanilla I added vanilla extract to the dough.  For the strawberry, I used strawberry flavoring and pink food coloring.  For the chocolate, I kneaded in cocoa powder.  For the mint, I used green food dye and get this—-toothpaste.  Yes  I know but I didn’t plan on making the mint one and the only thing I had that was minty was toothpaste:)

I then put an ice cream scoop, some glitter sprinkles, popsicle sticks, and homemade cardboard cones.    I think this one will be my favorite to play with.

Up next I made a cookie dough set.

I added vanilla extract flavoring for my sugar cookie dough.  Then for my gingerbread dough, I mixed in some nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger.

 

I put them into recycled lunch meat containers and added a label.

For this set I included a cookie sheet, some cookie cutters, a rolling pin, some googly eyes, buttons and sprinkles.  All these should help decorate some gingerbread men and sugar cookies.

 

Under the sea playdough.

 

For this playdough I made bright blue and scented it with the vanilla extract.  That just makes it smell way to yummy.

This set was made to depict an under the sea playtime.  I included some shells, some glass beads, leftover from my tic tac toe game, and some pvc water animals.  

One last set that we made but did not photograph was a construction set.  I made some green Kool Aid scented playdough.  My son’s favorite color is green.  Then I included some mini construction trucks.  It came with 6 construction trucks and cost around $5.  I then included containers of popcorn seeds, rigatoni noodles, and elbow macaroni.  I am hoping he will make a construction zone and scoop up the seeds and move the noodles with the scooper.  Whatever he decides to do should be a fun time.

There you have it.  Some last minute inexpensive Christmas gifts.  




Here is how I wrapped them up.

Some plain and not so plain creative fun gifts for children.

 

 

 

 

 

Baking is one of my absolute favorite things to do. It has been many years since I have been able to make a multitude of treats for the holidays.  This years’ baking went so quickly, with so many helpers it gets done quite fast.  I used to go all out and make so many treats, it just wasn’t healthy.  I know that when my children eat the sugar cutout cookies covered in artificial food dye frosting that there are going to be repercussions, sometimes out of control loudness, sometimes just a meltdown from having too much.  Whatever the reason, this year, I tried not to do so many things, kept it scaled back for my own sanity.

I laughed because I would mix up my batch of cookies and by the time I baked them, I realized that what I was making was enough for everyone to have a sampling and put out a small plate.  There wasn’t enough to put away for treats to have for Christmas, let alone give any away.  I had to do double for most of these recipes to have adequate amounts.

Saltine cracker candy

This is super easy to make and tastes wonderful with its sweet and salty flavor it makes a great addition to our cookie plates.  Click here for recipe.

Peanut butter balls

This recipe takes me back to my childhood days.  I remember having one of these at a church get together that I had went to with a friend when I was little.  I never had them again until I was married.  Now they are on the annual cookie making list for the holidays.  Very simple to make and tastes so creamy and smooth.  Click here for recipe.

Taste like Gramma’s sugar cookies

 

 

These cookies remind me of the simplicity of the holidays.  They taste like something that I had as a child everytime I would go to grandma’s house. These are nice and fluffy, not flat like a cut out cookie.  Click here for the recipe.

Candy coated popcorn

 

This recipe we make quite often in our home.  We like to do this annually while we are decorating the tree.  Serve with some homemade hot chocolate.  Click her for recipe.

Cut out cookies and Gingerbread men cut out cookies

 

This is always a messy task to take on, especially with lots of little ones.  I know that my little ones will not remember the mess it made, only the fun that they had.  These are a definite on our cookie list for the holidays.  Click here for recipe.

Chocolate dipped pretzels

This is something we usually do a few times per year.  It is quick and easy and tastes great.

We usually individually dip the pretzels into the chocolate, but to save time, we just set our pretzels out onto parchment paper and drizzle melted caramel and melted chocolate over the pretzels.  We added some sprinkles and mini candies.

 

This is our large family cookies for the Christmas season.  As a busy mother, I focused on making one type per day.  That way it didn’t get overwhelming when I couldn’t do a whole lot on certain days.  It is important and helpful to mix up your cookie batches the night before.  Then cut out on another day.  You can even freeze those cookies until you are ready to frost them.  It is no fun to clean up three times in a day.  Just do it one step at a time, make life easier.