We had fun last weekend. We were laughing and giggling away because of the task our advent calendar had us scheduled to complete: ugly Christmas sweaters.
When I first put the idea into the girls’ calendar, I had thought we would buy some ugly Christmas sweaters from the thrift store, but when last weekend rolled around, I decided we didn’t need to spend any more money to still have the same fun… so I brought out some old t-shirts and let the wild things go. I was thinking of making an ugly Christmas t shirt quilt for everyone as a little bit of a joke and put them on as bedding for the next Christmas for a surprise.
I positioned the task as a competition (I live with several very competitive people) with a prize on the line for the ugliest Christmas sweater going.
I’ve had this iron-on glitter paper for years now, but never knew how to use it – so this weekend I took a brief YouTube tutorial and we cut out our ugly sweater images and ironed them on.
I was tempted to stop here and let the kids win because I loved how the black and gold looked – but my competitive spirit kicked in and I kept going.
Rudolph got a GIANT nose and beady little eyes and then I clipped branches from some old garland and hot glued them around his face as a frame.
Maddie opted for a penguin with mis-sized feet and googly eyes:
onto which she sewed a tassle for hair (yup, hand-sewed it herself!) then hot glued a moustache and extra-long tongue to complete his look.
She hot glued tassels to the shirt cuffs and a ribbon around the collar and voilà!
Chloë went with a Christmas tree iron-on,
but then added eyes, moustache, tongue and just about anything else she could get her hands on. We had to stop her before she added a dog peeing next to it.
Okay, I suggested she add a dog peeing next to it, but she kiboshed my idea.
With the exception of a bit of help with the iron, the girls created their own ugly Christmas sweaters all by themselves.
Hubby even got in on the fun – and he HATES crafting (see how competitive my family is?)
Clearly the glue gun was beyond his comprehension. lol He wanted to hang the ornaments at the bottom of the tree, but this is a G-rated blog folks. Instead he duct taped battery operated candles to the inside of his shirt so that they would glow out the front. He meant for it to look like three lights on the tree but instead he looked like Iron Man’s idiot cousin.
I’m not kidding you – we planned and plotted and laughed away! We were at it for a couple of hours cutting and gluing and having fun. It really is going to be one of my favourite Christmas memories from this year and a tradition I hope to continue going forward.
The winner?
Have a great one!