Amy’s Free Ideas
Seasons > Christmas > Decorations for the home > Accordion Disc with Star Christmas Decorations
These discs make great wall decorations or wreath substitutes. They are a little like Christmas tree balls for the wall. The smaller ones are made from 2 sheets of paper glued end to end. Then fold them accordion style. Fasten in the middle with a wire (such as a twist tie) or thread. Spread them into a circle and fasten the open edges with paperclips. You can glue these edges, but the discs will take up much more storage space. If you use paperclips instead of glue, you can store them in a really small box. Cut out one or two paper stars to decorate each “ball.”
Just make 3 discs (as in the photo on the left) or go crazy and make a bunch. They do look better it they are hung in groups, rather than spread all over like polkadots. Because they are cheap and quick to make, they make great Christmas decorations for the classroom or Sunday school. The students can help make them!
Make inexpensive candle stands with cans. They don’t even have to be empty. In fact, it’s probably better if they are NOT empty, because when they are heavy, they are less likely to fall over if they get bumped. Just wrap each can with a piece of paper. Leftover scraps of wrapping paper would be perfect. Decorate them with Christmas stickers, or cut out strips of colored paper and stars. This is a fun project to do as a family. If it becomes a tradition, each year you could have a different design. Then when the holiday season is over, eat what is in the cans! That could become a tradition, too. When the last Christmas decorations have been put away, take the decorations off the cans, and make a meal out of the mystery ingredients. Just make sure you plan ahead so it makes a nice meal, rather than grabbing whatever can out of the cupboard because it is a good size for the candles. The candles do look more interesting if they are different heights. Since these candles are all about the same height, I looked for cans that were different heights. You could even use these candles as an advent wreath (minus the wreath!) Light one candle the first week before Christmas, light 2 candles the second week, 3 candles the third week, and all 4 candles the last week before Christmas. If you want it to be in a wreath shape, just use a round plate instead of a long one, and fill in the base of the cans with lots of cut out paper leaves. Fold each leaf in half to make a vein down the middle, and to make them 3-D instead of flat.
So, the more I think about the idea to use the canned goods to celebrate the end of the holiday season, the more my mind has gone wild with ideas. At first, the idea was just to have a simple meal, say soup and grilled cheese sandwiches after the contents of the cans is revealed. But then I thought how such a simple meal could be made by children (with the help of dad) and give mom a well earned holiday. A VERY nice tradition, I think. But then I thought about how, if this were done every year, the kids would get better at cooking over the years. Then this could turn into a competition like the T.V. show, Chopped, where the competitors have to make a meal using unusual ingredients. Then I imagined various family members secretly swapping out cans with even more unusual items during the holiday season for a more startling “reveal” when the labels are removed. Who thought such a simple idea could spark such fun ways to wrap up the holiday season!!
The bigger discs take 4 sheets of paper rather than 2.
The bigger discs are heavier than the smaller ones. so they need twice as much mounting putty to keep them from falling off of the wall.
The discs fold up small for storage.