On Christmas Day we will be swimming in the pool, sipping iced drinks and sweltering under a hot Australian sun. We will also be surrounded by Christmas decorations depicting snow flakes, reindeer and a man in a very wintry red suit. During December I get nostalgic for a white Christmas that I have never experienced. It’s amusing that we insist on adopting wintry motifs during our hottest part of the year.
So, in the spirit of addressing the imbalance and creating a very Aussie Christmas, I have three festive crafts for you that celebrate our summery festive season. They draw on the beach as inspiration and are kid friendly (although the hot glue gun parts are best taken care of by you).
Starfish Wreath
You will need:
- Dried starfish (please buy from a sustainable seller)
- A foam wreath (Spotlight have them)
- Pearl beads in a variety of colours
- Hessian in brown and cream (You can buy it as ribbon pre-cut, but it’s cheaper to buy as fabric by the metre)
- Wide white ribbon
- Hot glue gue
- Cut the brown hessian into 8 cm wide strips of ribbon. You can fray the edges for a rustic look.
- Secure the hessian at the back of the wreath with the hot glue.
- Wrap the hessian around the wreath, occasionally gluing as you go. Make sure you leave plenty of overlap so that the white foam is completely covered.
- Wrap some of the cream hessian around the lower part of the wreath.
- Place the starfish and beads around the wreath. This is the bit the kids can help with.
- Once you are happy with your design, glue into place.
- Tie the wide white ribbon at the top, leaving enough to hang your wreath. If you don’t want to hang it, leave the ribbon off or just tie a large bow. This wreath makes a beautiful centre piece for the table.
Driftwood Tree
You will need:
- Pieces of driftwood
- Twine
- Shells and other found objects
- Fashion the driftwood into an approximate tree shape. This can be quite rustic.
- Thread the shells and other objects on the twine and “decorate” your tree.
- If you have used shells and wood from a protected beach, take a photo or use your tree as a centrepiece just while on holidays. Then remove and throw away the twine and return the items to the beach.
Beach Scene Bauble
You will need:
- A large plastic bauble that you can place objects into. Kmart have some for $2 each.
- White sand. You can get small amounts of sand from Bunnings.
- Shells and other beachy objects, small enough to fit into the bauble.
- Fill the bauble so that is one fifth full of sand (or whatever looks good to you).
- Pop in the shells.
- You can use a chopstick or skewer to arrange the shells.
- Put the top back onto the bauble and hang on the tree.
A little note: These crafts can use found objects from the beach, but please be careful. Many parts of the Australian coast are native parks where removing shells is prohibited. You can purchase sea shells and starfish online and in craft shops – just make sure that they commit to sustainable practices. If you’d prefer to use found objects from the beach, make your creation, take a photo and return your objects to the sea. You can make Christmas trees and mandalas from shells and carve Christmas messages into the sand. All make beautiful Christmas mementos as photos.
More DIY Christmas Ideas:
