With Christmas and a baby due at the same time, I’m trying to be as pre-prepared as possible.  I’ve purchased all my gifts, and wrapped about half of them.  I’m a big fan of the gift bag.  I like to wrap, but if I can put something in a bag with some tissue…why not?  But when I went to the store, I had a specific snowman gift bag in my mind(to match the little teacher gifts I’d already bought).  Oh, I could find a plethora of snowman gift bags…but nothing was just right.  Too big, too little, too lime green, too this, too that…and pink and blue for Christmas?  I guess they were maybe reaching out to those who celebrate a non-Santa-and-reindeer-yet-still-nothing-to-do-with-Jesus holiday, or (more likely) people who are just more stylish than myself.  (Oh…and what’s the deal with penguins?  When did they come onto the Christmas scene? But I digress…)

So I decided that it’d be fun to let the kids make gift bags for their teachers(and once I saw how cute and easy it was, we made a whole pack of 10!)  This is what the finished project looks like:

If you’d like to make some, here are the directions. 

Step One 
For starters you’ll need to gather your supplies:

-White gift bags(can be purchased in packs of 10 in most craft stores) 
-Some type of black fabric for the hat, 1 per bag(I had plain cotton fabric in my “scraps” box, but you could easily use felt)
-Black circles for the eyes, 2 per bag(I used “Foamies“, since my kids love them and they already have a sticky back, but you could also use felt or just paper)
-Orange “Foamies” paper(or regular paper or felt) cut into the shape of carrot noses, 1 per bag
-Buttons, 2 per bag(I used actual red buttons for most of them, but Em wanted some pink ones so we cut those out of “Foamies” paper, too)
-Strips of fleece in three different lengths, 1 of each length per bag
-Black paint or black pen
-Glue (and/or “glue dots” for putting on the buttons, if you’d prefer)

Step Two 
Cut out the hat shapes from black felt or fabric.  The size will depend on the size of your bag, so that part is up to you!

Step Three
Cut out the strips of fleece.  The shortest will need to be the same width as the small part of the hat.  The longest strips will need to be about 10-12 inches long.  The medium strips can be made by cutting the long strips in half(5-6 inches long).

Step Four 
Let the gluing begin! Glue on the hat.  Glue on the smallest felt/fleece strip.  Add eyes and a nose.

Step Five 
Mark the bag with little lines(one on each side, as seen below in the yellow circles), and cut the bag on those lines.

Step Six
Thread the longest piece of fleece through the holes in the bag, and then tie the medium piece on to the longest piece to make a cute knot in the scarf.

Step Seven
Add the buttons(with glue or craft dots if you’re using real buttons, or with foamie paper made to look like buttons).  Draw in the smile.  I used black puff paint dots to make it “pop” a little, but you could easily use a sharpie.

Add a little tissue paper, fluff it up, and you’ve got something you(and your kids) can enjoy and share with others!