The end of the year brings lots and lots of opportunities for celebrations, from ringing in the New Year on Dec. 31 to friends enjoying long play dates thanks to winter vacations. The end of the year also tends to bring great sales for holiday craft supplies at most of your favorite craft stores. Now’s a great time to stock up on basics for a new year of crafting, and it’s an even better time to pick up supplies for some New Year’s Eve-themed projects.
What kind of holiday craft supplies would work for a New Year’s Eve project? Jingle bells! These bells might be best known for signaling the arrival of Santa and his reindeer, but they’re also great for making A LOT of noise as the clock gets ready to strike midnight on Jan. 1. Have your children put a set of sale-priced jingle bells to work next week by turning them into sets of New Year’s Eve noisemakers.
Materials
- Jingle bells (10 per noisemaker)
- Pipe cleaners (your choice of color, but the glitzier the better for New Year’s Eve)
Instructions
1. Start out by taking two pipe cleaners and twisting them together several times at one end, about 3 inches in This will help keep the bells from sliding off as your child works.
2. Once the pipe cleaners have been twisted at one end, it’s time to sting the bells. Add 10 jingle bells to the pipe cleaners. After the last bell has been added, twist the end several times, just like your child did with the first end.
3. Overlap the two ends to create a bracelet shape by twisting the pipe cleaners all together.
4. When the noisemaker is complete, make sure there aren’t any sharp ends poking out from the pipe cleaners. If there are, bend them around the twisted pieces, or trim off with a pair of craft scissors (not a good pair of scissors, though!).
5. Make several noisemakers for a loud celebration on New Year’s Eve.
