Our Christmas Traditions new and old: How to make a Reindeer Handprint Card

• Making homemade cards – I’ve a really cute Reindeer Handprint card to share with you at the end of this post
• Eddie the Elf comes to stay on the 1st December – we have an Elf on a Shelf, only this one the children are allowed to play with and to love.  He arrives on the 1st December bringing the children’s advent calendars and throughout December he bring the children little gifts, messages or just plays with their toys while they sleep.  He isn’t naughty just fun.

  
• We make homemade biscuits to give to Santa when he arrives, this year we will be making homemade mince pies – you can find the recipe for those here – this recipe was kindly shared by Jen (Mum in the Mad House) and is her family recipe.

  

   

• Watching the switching on of our town lights
• Driving around and looking at the local houses decorated with Christmas lights

This year I am starting a new tradition with the children, I have made up a Christmas Eve box for them to share – this will be given to them at some point on Christmas Eve as an early treat and a way to help settle them down as I know they will be over excited.

In their box I have added:

• New PJ’s each and of course the lure of Disney was too great to resist especially as we are off to see Disney on Ice on the 22nd when it opens at the O2 (shhhhh the kids have no idea)
• A new Christmas DVD
• Chocolates
• New slippers

I still want to add:

• A new story book or two (not a Christmas one as it will be given on Christmas Eve after all)
• Some colouring and new pencils
• A baking set – Gingerbread decorating or a Gingerbread house kit
• Popcorn – well it’s not movie night without it

How to make a Reindeer Handprint Card:

Every year we make our own Christmas Cards, this year we are making Reindeer Handprint cards.
These are really easy to make and require only a few paint colours and very little effort.

You will need:

• A4 White Card
• Brown Paint
• A paper plate, plate or painting tray
• Orange (or another colour paint)
• Yellow paint
• White paint (or stick on eyes/googly eyes)
• Red paint (or red felt/red pompom)

(As you can see you are able to use whatever you have to hand really – if you’ve no red pompoms improvise and use a red pen or red paper – it really does not matter)

•  To start fold your white card in half (short sides at the top and bottom – fold these to meet each other)
• Next cover your right hand in brown paint and print to the middle left of the card.
• Turn the card upside down and repeat so the handprints meet in the middle (the second print will be upside down to the first)
• Using an index finger, paint a line of orange (or a colour of your choice) between these handprints – this will be the collar of your Reindeer.
• Making sure the card is the correct way round add a Yellow fingerprint to the bottom of the collar.
• Add a Red nose and an eye and you are finished.
• A very simple Handprint Reindeer Christmas Card.