Make It! : Snowman Kit

This is a fun gift that I put together for my two adorable nephews last Christmas. It's not so much a DIY as it is an assemblage of items, but I think we can still put it in the "DIY gift" category! I especially loved giving this to my nephews because they had recently moved to Iowa from Arizona, and hadn't yet had the joy of making many snowmen.

Supplies:
- Eyes and Mouth: A selection of rocks/pebbles, painted black with acrylic paint or spray paint
- Nose: A carrot from the floral section of Hobby Lobby or Michaels {I trimmed the green leafy part off the carrot and carefully folded down the ends of any exposed wires. Or, depending on the age of the kids, you could also insert a wood skewer or chopstick into the end of the carrot to make it easier for the kids to put the carrot in the snowman}
- Buttons
- Scarf: A strip of polar fleece {approximately 1/4 yard} with 4 inch cuts made at either end to create a fringe. We used a classic plaid as well as a blue and orange Illini scarf since my sister- and brother-in-law are University of Illinois grads living in Iowa Hawkeye territory!
- A top hat {ordered online for approximately $8-9}
- Four packets of hot cocoa and some candy canes {to warm up after snowman-building, of course}
- A box to put it all in. I bought a holiday photo storage box from Hobby Lobby for 50% off.
- Extra credit: A felt bag that says "Coal," which was a leftover stocking stuffer full of candy. We tossed the candy and re-purposed the bag to carry rocks for the eyes and mouth. I believe it had been purchased at Pier One Imports.
- Other possible items to include: Mittens {for the kids OR the snowman!}, eyeglasses, a faux pipe
- A label for the top of the of the box. Being the design nerd that I am, I created my label in InDesign and based it off of vintage signage. It reads: Happy Holidays / Hunter & Brendan's Snowman Kit / Comes complete with: Top hat, scarves, carrot (for nose), coal (for eyes and mouth), buttons (for buttons), hot chocolate (for drinking) / Fun Guaranteed / Snow Not Included. I printed the label on cardstock and adhered it to the box with a scrapbooking tape runner. If you aren't able to design a label on the computer, a hand drawn label or scrapbook letter stickers would also work just fine.

Time: 2 hours to shop for items, gather and paint the rocks and print or draw a label.

Cute and fun, yes? I think this would make a darling gift for new parents as well, so they can look forward to a family winter tradition with their babes once they're old enough.