It’s the most wonderful time of the year! So, let’s make it even more wonderful by combining two of our favorite holiday activities: decorating and eating. With a little creativity and simple edible supplies, you can turn your favorite desserts into works of art. You’ll impress your guests and save prep time by letting parts of your holiday meal double as decorations. Plus, if you’re expecting little ones, food crafts are a great way to keep them entertained. Here is a list of festive, holiday food decorations to try out this year.
Snowmen
Marshmallow Snowmen
Place three jumbo marshmallows on a toothpick or popsicle stick. Use pretzel sticks to make arms and then get creative with the rest. Maybe use some all-natural frosting and milk chocolate candies for buttons and eyes!
Hard-boiled Egg Snowmen
Similar to the marshmallows, stick two hard-boiled eggs onto a toothpick. Use carrot pieces for the arms, nose and hat, and whole peppercorns for eyes and buttons.
Christmas “Trees”
Pepper Tree
Slice red and green pepper and stack them on a toothpick to make mini Christmas trees. Cut each pepper a bit smaller than the last to give the proper tapered Christmas tree look. These work great as an appetizer with hummus on the side for dipping.
Grape Tree
Red and green grapes also make for a great tree when you put them on the end of toothpicks and stick them through a Styrofoam cup. Painting the Styrofoam cup green will make it an even more convincing tree.
Ornaments
Citrus Ornament
Slice citrus fruits such as lemons, oranges, grapefruits and limes and bake them in the oven at 200 degrees F for 2-3 hours, flipping them several times and removing them once dried. After the slices cool, pierce them with unfolded paper clips so they can be placed on the tree. Don’t be afraid to throw some glitter on the fruit once dried!
Gingerbread Ornament
Turn your favorite gingerbread cookie recipe into a holiday decoration this year simply by poking a hole in the cookie before baking so that it can later be strung through. Decorate these however you would like using icing, just make sure to leave this decoration until a few days before Christmas since they will spoil. When decorated with blue and white, these cookies can be a great Hanukkah decoration to have spread throughout the house.
Candy Ornament
This decoration only requires one ingredient and about 10 minutes of your time. Simply place metal cookie cutters onto a parchment-covered baking sheet and fill the bottom layer of the cutter with peppermint candies (or any other hard candy). Bake these at 350 degrees F until the candies have all melted together. Immediately upon removal, poke a greased paperclip through the top of the ornament to use for hanging purposes. Keep the candies in the cutters until completely cooled.
Garland
Popcorn Garland
Using a needle and red twine or thread, string together popped popcorn by threading through the rounded portion of the popcorn.
Cranberry Garland
Follow the same instructions as with the popcorn garland except with cranberries. For a more frosted look, roll the cranberries in glue and sugar (and let dry) before assembling.
Tip: Combine popcorn and cranberries on one garland for a multi-colored addition to your tree!