Twelve Days of Christmas 2016 - Day One

Christmas time is upon us again, and I'm ready for it this year! I hope I am, anyway. I just got an error code while typing that I don't know anything about, so we'll see what happens.

Day 1 of my 12 Days of Christmas this year is a fun little gift or goodie holder that you can hang on a doorknob or have a basket of them in the foyer. If you like leaving little things on friends or neighbors door steps, you can hang it on the doorknob, ring the bell, and run! We used to have so much fun doing this! 

All you need to make these are toilet paper tubes, scraps of paper big enough to cover them, and some wire for hangers, unless you don't plan to hang them. :)

Those blue-patterned things that look like some really strange fringe on the bottom of the
tube are really just decorated clothespins. The photo should have been at a better angle. Sorry! 

Start by flattening the toilet paper tube. If you will be stuffing it with something more substantial than candy canes or pencils, then don't flatten the whole tube, just the bottom. Glue the bottom of the tube together with a thick glue like Tacky Glue. I have used hot glue and scrapbook adhesives, and the tubes come open and lose all their goodies all over the floor! Take my word for it, use Tacky!

Next you're going to glue the paper to the tube, and you can use any kind of glue you like for this. If you're not going to put a hanger on it, then you're ready to decorate it and stuff it. If you're giving it a hanger, punch holes in the sides about 3/4" from the top. This gives you enough tube so the hanger won't tear through. Now you can decorate the tube any way you want. I sometimes put fringe on the bottom, and I usually put ribbon or raffia or something around the top before I add anything else, but that's just my preference.

If you make these to give to guests as they come visit, you don't need handles. Just stuff a nice
basket full of them and give your guests their choice. (The taller tube is 2/3 of a paper towel tube.)

If you're giving it a hanger, cut a piece of wire for your hanger and be sure to cut it long enough! My first ones were too short to hang on the knob AND have goodies in them, too. If you know what you're putting in your tube, I would go ahead and stuff it before putting the hanger on, just to be sure there's enough room. Bend the ends of the wire so it will go in the holes easily, then bend them all the way up and twist the ends. You can just twist them around the hanger itself, or you can twist them in curly cues by wrapping them around a pencil. I also wrapped the hanger shown below in the middle  just to give it a little extra cuteness.

And you're done! Easy peasy, right? I usually start saving TP tubes about a month or two before I'm going to make these, so I have enough. You could also get your friends to save theirs for you. When they ask you what they're for, just say, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Be sure to say it with a sly, secretive smile. hehe

I hope you will enjoy making these little treat hangers. Make lots! Your friends and neighbors will love you for it! And remember what Dale Evans, wife of Roy Rogers, said, "Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas." Love to all,