Tag Archives: New Years Eve Crafts

Make-Your-Own Confetti For Kids!

big-bottle-shaker-w-confettiConfetti!  Who doesn’t love it?

Although it can be messy, it’s a fun part of so many celebrations.  And we often add it to many of our recycled rattle projects to add color and a bit of extra merriment.

So what’s better then colorful confetti? Answer: recycling holiday wrapping to create your own endless supply of fun…con…fetti!  Here are three ways to make different kinds of confetti from extra holiday wrapping supplies.  Naturally, if working with younger kids, be aware of safety issues with scissors and substitute kid shears.  If working with very young children, you may want to make confetti in advance then allow them to choose or pour confetti through a large-mouthed funnel into your holiday rattles or crafts.

So don’t throw out that holiday packaging! Here’s how to make it part of your next celebration.

Hole Punch Confetti

hole-punch-confettiThis is clearly the easiest method and makes perfect little circles.  Just cut squares of used wrapping paper (the brighter, the better) and put several together before you start punching. You’ll easily find how many paper squares you can put together to get the most amount of confetti without straining your hand and your hole punch.

Other fun hole punches? Craft stores often have hole punches with different shapes and sizes, like stars and moons.  These make for wonderful additions to this project!

Cut Across Confetti

cut-across-confettiCut squares of used tissue paper or wrapping paper and put about 4 – 6 together.  Tape one side to keep the papers together.  Then make long scissors cuts up toward the taped side, but not into the taped area. Once you’ve made these long vertical cuts, you can cut straight across (in the opposite direction) and it will yield nice little uneven squares of confetti.

Snip-A-Ribbon Confetti

Have lots of used ribbon? This method yields a bit less confetti, but still makes snip-a-ribbon-confetticolorful little squares.  Simply hold 4 – 6 pieces of ribbon in your hand and snip across the top.  You can also cut longer pieces and make mock shredded paper.  Similarly you can curl ribbon and then cut the longer curls to add into your rattles.

Then, What?

By far, the two most popular confetti crafts are rattles and confetti poppers.  We have our rattle post below plus two different creative methods for MYO poppers (aka confetti cannons) in the links below.

Here’s wishing you a happy and joyful celebration!

Make Your Own New Year’s Eve Noise-Makers! http://www.tinytappingtoes.com/family-fun-2/make-your-own-new-years-eve-noise-makers/

Confetti Poppers From Push Pop Containers
http://www.thesitsgirls.com/diy/confetti-poppers/

Balloon Confetti Poppers From Adventures In Wunderland
http://adventuresinwunderland.com/balloon-confetti-poppers-new-years-eve-craft/

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5 Fun Noise-Makers For New Year’s Eve!

Screen shot 2014-07-07 at 1.00.10 PMHow will you be merry-making with your kids this New Year’s Eve?  Here are five fun ways to make a merry musical start in 2015!

Make a Vuvuzela!

There’s a reason this horn (pictured below) is called the most annoying instrument in the world. It’s loud and silly sounding. And it’s also an easy craft to enjoy making as you attempt to stay awake all the way to midnight on New Years vuvu brazilEve. Find a free craft pdf with step-by-step instructions here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Vuvuzela-Make-Play-Your-Own-South-African-Stadium-Horn-1242716

An Elegant “French Horn”

The blog; Savvy Homemade, has this easy craft where you can create a much nicer sounding horn to welcome in the New Year. The supplies are simple, just make sure you have a funnel, some electrical tape, a bit of plastic piping and a few other basic items on hand to master this craft.

http://www.savvyhomemade.com/homemade-french-horn-for-kids/

Homemade Fireworks!

Sounds scary? Not when you bring out some large bubble wrap that you’ve saved up for just such an occasion. This can be a big hit with younger kids who can’t stay up until the New Year but want to feel the excitement of bringing in a New Year with lots of noise! To get the “full fireworks effect” have the kids hold the bubble wrap while you play a video of fireworks and they can create the sounds effects live! Need a fireworks video suggestion? Here’s the BBC’s version of magnificent London Fireworks from New Year’s Day 2011.

Make A Monkey Drum

Our friends from the Activity Corner in Australia have this easy craft to create a monkey drum from a paper plate. You can check out the easy instructions here:

http://www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/Trash-to-treasure-craft-ideas+38/Make-a-monkey-drum+12587.htm

Make and Takes Crazy Kazoo Noise-Makers

We love this clever version of a homemade kazoo from the wonderful blog: “Make and Takes”.  The craft uses paper towel or toilet paper rolls plus wax paper, a hole punch and a few rubber bands to make a wonderful, workable kids kazoo. Complete instructions here:

http://www.makeandtakes.com/new-years-eve-noise-makers

kyra pl;ays a vuvu
And whether it’s noisy or not…

We’re wishing everyone out there a Happy New Year!