‘Tis the season to welcome our elves back from the North Pole! What a better way to ring in the holiday season than an elf on the shelf sewing party! I decided, in addition to my weekly sewing classes, I wanted to host a workshop for kids to make accessories to give to their elves as welcome back gifts.
Now, what to make?! I knew it was a possibility that some kids who were going to be in attendance had never sewn before. I wanted the project(s) to be fun for those who knew how to sew as well as easy for beginners. After some research, I decided on a sleeping bag/pillow, elf-sized tree skirt and gingerbread costume! Who’s elf wouldn’t want to dress up to be the gingerbread man?
I went to work creating each accessory. I made a couple prototypes for each until I had the perfect pattern! I bought a mini tree I found in the $1 spot (which has slowly become the $3 and $5 spot) at Target and used it to help me gauge the size of the tree skirt. Then, I had to search for the perfect fabric. I love buying fabric from my favorite little store here in Tampa…Keep Me in Stitches. It happened to be 50% off…score!
After the patterns were created, fabric had been bought and samples made it was time to create an invitation. I found the cutest invitation (for free!) from Daisy Celebrates. I downloaded it and used pixlr express to finish creating the invitation.
Now I love to sew, but I also love to plan parties, especially themed parties! Every party has to have ssnacks and something to take home…right?! I decided that a hot chocolate bar would be the perfect treat! I set up the Keurig and put out candy canes, chocolate chips, marshmallows and whip cream! I also served donut holes and Christmas cookies!
Now if we were going to have a hot chocolate bar the kids would need something to put their hot chocolate in. I began looking for some ideas online and found a cute elf mug. It was $15 (out of my price range). So, I did the next best thing. I purchased plain white mugs from the dollar tree and used my silhouette to create a personalized elf mugs. They made the perfect take home gift and it only cost me a little over $1 a child.
While at the dollar store (one of our favorite places to frequent), I found some cute Santa and elf hats, but I couldn’t resist the adorable elf headbands! So, those too became gifts the kids could wear while they were sewing and take home after the party ended. I was happy to hear many of them say that they were going to wear them for future holiday parties or gatherings!
It’s all about the presentation! When the girls came in the house I wanted everything to look inviting and get them excited for what they were going to me making. I had a table set up with their names written on the table cloth (brown paper from Walmart), a bag with an elf tag and their sewing supplies. The bag would be what they put their finished projects in and serve as a gift bag for their elf. The tag (which I also got from Daisy Celebrates) is so cute, but I wanted to create a poem to add to the back. This poem lets their elf know that the gift was handmade especially for them!
Now, all I needed were my sewists! They all arrived ready to work and brought their Christmas spirit! We had a great morning stitching up accessories for their elves, sipping hot cocoa and listening to Christmas tunes. I can’t wait for my next group!
Sarah Boyd Designs 