Plan a Fancy Fling for 2015

by Meghan

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Fancy New Years Crafts for Kids

As many of you may have noticed from our photos, Big M pretty much lives in Orange Tutu and Snowflake Crown (she refers to them as though they are people, hence the capitalization!).  As long as we are at home and she is awake, they are on her person.  Orange tutu was part of her monarch butterfly costume for Halloween. She’s been wearing it every waking moment of every day since mid-October, and over the last few weeks it has rapidly deteriorated to shreds.  Fortunately, all she has told anyone she wants Santa to bring her is a new tutu… and Santa, Grandma and MerMer have more than complied!  This had led to a new obsession… Fancy Nancy!

Fancy Fling for 2015

MerMer sent her the Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly Dress and Fancy Nancy Petite Library for St. Nicholas Day, and it instantly displaced Orange Tutu as her attire of choice.  This new found interest in all things fancy has only encouraged her passion for ballet (further encouraged by her first trip to the theater to see ‘real ballerinas on stage!’ in The Nutcracker) and made her far more interested in my make-up drawer and accessories.


Fancy Faux Make-UpFancyFauxMakeup

Shopping list:

Old make-up compacts

Nail polish

Empty make-up bag

Old make-up brushes

Cost: Free – use whatever you have in the house

Prep Time: Less than 5 minutes (let dry overnight)

Clean-Up Time: Less than 5 minutes

This interest is especially piqued if she sees me ‘getting fancy,’ which during the holiday season has been a far more regular occurrence.  While in my past life I used to dress up and put make-up on for work every day, now, the second she hears the hair dryer or smells perfume, it’s a dead giveaway that the babysitter is en route and Mama’s going out!  This of course makes her stick to me like glue and want to get her hands on all my nice make-up.  To keep me sane, secure myself a few extra minutes peace to get ready and save her sensitive baby face, I made her a Fancy Faux Make-Up kit.  I took a few old compacts that I didn’t use anymore, scraped out all the real make-up and filled them with nail polish.  I let them dry overnight.  Then, I had an old brush set and, as an Ipsy glam bag subscriber, an assortment of bags for her to choose from.  She couldn’t have been more thrilled.  I collected more empty compacts from my sister-in-law, and now she has a set she plays with in her room, and one I keep in a bathroom drawer.  I pull it out whenever I need to keep her entertained, and we both get beautiful together!

Of course, after make-up, comes accessories… the lower drawer of my jewelry case has now been filled with all my preschool friendly costume jewelry – bangles, beads, cocktail rings.  And she helps herself to those, while I pull on stockings and heels.  In preparation for the biggest celebratory eve of the year, in addition to our now routine ‘beautiful fancy tutu’, fancy faux make-up and costume jewelry, I thought I’d give her a few fun activities to add to her ensemble for New Year’s Eve: a 2015 Masquerade Mask and Pipe Cleaner Tiara.  Whether you make these as you ring in the new year together, leave them as entertainment for the kids with the babysitter or with a group of munchkins as you host your very own New Year’s Soiree, they are sure to kick off 2015 in style.


2015 Masquerade Mask

The Masquerade Mask was inspired by these New Year’s glasses.  I already had some masks in the craft closet, so we used those as our base instead.  I also picked up some great methods for crafting with young children while at a friend’s birthday party featuring The Art Truck, where Big M actually made a mask as the craft.  The instructor was so great with the kids – leading them through their creations with access to one media at a time in small doses.  As soon as they got bored with foam shapes, she’d bring out bowls of jewels to add.  Five to 10 minutes later, and she brought out handfuls of feathers.  This served a magnitude of purposes: limiting mess with small quantities of materials; preventing preschoolers from being overwhlemed by too many choices; keeping them engaged for longer periods of time; and giving their creations a more complex, layered look with mixed media.  I’ve been using it with my crafts with Big M ever since with great success!  She also introduced me to the instant gratification of Glue Dots!

Fancy New Years Crafts for Kids

Shopping List:

Craft masks

Assorted foam stickers – numbers and shapes

Assorted sequins

Assorted plastic jewels

Assorted feathers

Glue dots

Cost: Less than $20 (A pricier one, but I used all the same materials to decorate the tiaras below, and I still have lots left over to use another time!)

Prep Time: Less than 5 minutes

Clean-Up Time: Less than 5 minutes

To demonstrate this method, here is how we built our Masquerade Mask.  First, we used foam number stickers to put on the new year – 2015!  Next, I gave her a bowl of jewels, and we used glue dots to attach them to the mask.  Third, I gave her a sprinkle of assorted sequins, which we also attached with glue dots.  She layered some of these together and put some on top of her jewels.  Last, I gave her feathers and some sparkly foam butterfly stickers.  She used the stickers to attach the feathers to the mask.  She wanted some more sequins, so we filled the mask with those until she got bored.


Pipe Cleaner Tiaras

With the mask complete, she was ready to build her crown.  We originally saw these on Pinterest from education.com.  You can follow these specific directions, let their creativity take you where it will!

Fancy New Years Crafts for Kids

Shopping List:

Assorted pipe cleaners

Assorted sequins

Assorted plastic jewels

Glue dots

Cost: Less than $5 (cost of pipe cleaners)

Prep Time: Less than 5 minutes

Clean-Up Time: Less than 5 minutes

We used two types of pipe cleaners to make our tiara – silver ones to go around her head, and pink chenille ones to add decoration.  You will need to join two pipe cleaners together to have enough length to encompass their head.  We then used 3-4 pink ones to make the decorative loops.  We attached sequins and plastic jewels with glue dots to deck it out even more.  You could use beads, feathers, ribbon, glitter… anything you have on hand.  The tiara will definitely be a repeat craft soon, I’m certain!


Fancy dress, fancy make-up and jewelry, a celebratory mask and a tiara – your preschooler should be decked from head to toe to ring in the New Year in style!  Big M was super proud of her ‘Fancy, fabulous outfit!’  Another great idea – instead of keeping your kiddos up until midnight, have your countdown at noon on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.  For more great ideas for kids to ring in 2015, check out our New Year’s Pinterest board. Happy 2015!

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