A Christmas Story Event
Turns out 2018 is the 35th anniversary of A Christmas Story. And I'm always looking for an excuse....
So I invited patrons to come and: Make a mini leg lamp (it's a major award!) and bunny mask (you'll look like a pink nightmare!), decode a secret message, and try to shoot Ralphie's eye out as you watch the movie!
I saw these wine glass leg lamps on Design Sponge and modified them to do as a library craft.
Using plastic wine glasses from Dollar Tree (two for $1!) and LED votives, we made these with construction paper, cardstock, and glue.
The leg is printed on apricot-colored cardstock. All rectangles are cut out of black construction paper; the longer rectangles go around the base of the lampshade (I used fringe scissors!) and the smaller rectangles around the shade. The curved template is for the lampshade, and I used yellow construction paper.
I had everything pre-cut, so guests could just sit down and assemble while they watched the movie. I also planned on having these Major Award Certificates on hand that they could take in case they wanted to give their leg lamp as a gift, but ended up not using them just because I didn't have the space for it.
I saw the paper plate bunny mask on Pinterest, but it was an image only (and white!).
I found pink cotton balls on Amazon and some printable bunny ears online. The paper plate, popsicle stick, and glue I had on hand.
I used the freebies from Printable Crush to make the Ralphie border on the instructions.
I already hot glued the popsicle sticks to the paper plates (and cut out the middle) so all that was left for the kids to do was glue on the pink fluff and the ears.
For a game, I made Black Bart and his bandits out of toilet paper rolls (aka the so-delicately dubbed "craft tubes").
I wrapped the tube 3/4 of the way up in my leftover black-and-white striped wrapping paper. The face is the same apricot cardstock I used for the leg lamps, and I just drew the faces on markers. The hats are black baby socks.
I got the pop gun from Dollar General (it was perfect!), and I added a few little props that the kids could set the bandits on top of and move around.
I knew I had decoders leftover from Spy Night, so I wanted to use them for another activity.
I got the wheel from Dabbles and Babbles (as well as the photo I used for the instructions).
And it was a crummy commercial---the message was "BE SURE TO CHECK OUT YOUR LIBRARY BOOKS!"
I used the poster printer to cover one cornhole board and convert it into a "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" bean bag toss.
And, of course, snacks. My mom already had a leg lamp cookie cutter. So we made a few dozen for the event.
We also had popcorn and cherry Kool-Aid.
Ohhhh fudge--peanut butter fudge, that is.
Candy soap. This cute idea came from The Purple Patch. It's red candy melts in a soap mold (from Hobby Lobby). FYI, one bag of the Wilton candy melts available at WalMart make about 5 soaps. And no thinning is necessary--just melt and pour. They come out of the mold easily.
