"Reindeer Noses" (with Photo Tutorial)

It was a gloriously fun and enjoyable weekend that really helped get me in the holiday spirit.

During the day on Saturday, we made "salt dough" ornaments.  They are still drying and my children cannot wait to be able to paint and decorate them this week! My hubby and I took the kids out shopping Saturday night so that they could buy all of their Christmas presents for each other and for us.  My kids love, love, love being able to shop for other people ... they have such a giving heart and always put a lot of effort into picking out just the right gift for those they love.  We took the opportunity on the twenty-five minute car ride home to check out Christmas lights in the towns that we drove through ... all while singing along to Christmas carols on the radio.  It was quite a beautiful evening spent as a family.

On Sunday, we spent the day at my mother's house decorating a huge amount of sugar cookies while enjoying the company of extended family.  And, once we arrived back home, I dove into this project - Reindeer Noses.

Aren't they just too cute?  I don't recall where I first saw this idea, but I knew I wanted to make a bunch of these for the kids to add to their teacher gifts this year and to have on-hand to attach to presents throughout the holiday season.

This project is pretty simple to do.  I made my labels by hand, but they could easily be made on the computer and printed out.  With already having the cardstock, ribbon, markers, colored pencils, glue gun and stapler on hand, I think I maybe spent around four dollars between the candy and the bags that were needed to do this project.


What You Will Need:

Clear Treat Bags (mine came in a pack of 20 in the party section at Wal-Mart for around a dollar)
Card Stock (in whatever color or pattern you desire)
Glue Gun (with glue sticks)
Stapler (with staples)
Ribbon (in whatever color or size you desire)
Pencils (for sketching out your label design)
Fine Sharpie Marker
Colored Pencils or Markers (to fill in any parts of your labels that you want colored)
Scissors
Malted Milk Balls
Cherry Sours

Instructions:

Cut your treat bags all the way across about 5 inches from the bottom of the bag.  This will rid the excess portion of the top of the bag that you don't need.

Cut a piece of cardstock the exact width of the treat bag (mine was 5 inches wide) and about 4 1/2 - 5 inches tall.  Fold the cardstock equally in half so that it will fit over the top opening of your bag.

You can embellish these in any way you want ... holiday stickers or scrapbooking materials.  If you choose to use ribbon across the cardstock as I did, cut the ribbon a little longer than the width of your cardstock and attach the ribbon to the cardstock utilizing a glue gun.  Press down to smooth out the glue a bit.  (Be careful because the ribbon will be hot for a few seconds!) 

Trim off any excess ribbon at the ends.

Attach whatever hand-crafted or printed label you desire on top of the ribbon.  I sketched out my labels by hand with pencil, traced over the pencil with a thin Sharpie and colored in a few parts with colored pencil.

Place eight malted milk balls and one sour cherry candy in the bag.  Fold over the top opening of the bag about 1 inch and seal with a staple at each end. 

Place the cardstock label over the top of the bag evenly and staple at both ends again - trapping the treat bag inside of the flaps of the label.

That's it!  Repeat until you've made the desired amount you need.

"TO" and "FROM" can be written on the back along with any holiday message you'd like to include.

NOTE:  Sandwich or snack size baggies can be used if you can't find clear treat bags.