Winter Wonderland -5yr- Marshmallow Snowmen Craft

When my daughter was turning 5, she wanted to have a snow party.  Her birthday is on December 4, and of course, the year she wanted to have a snow party, it didn't snow early enough in the year. 

We sent out invitations inviting everyone to come to a winter wonderland party at our igloo. 

We decorated by spraying fake snow on all the windows.  Then we hung about 100 snowflakes at different lengths from the ceiling.  It really created a wintry scene. 

While the guests were arriving we read the book, "The Snowy Day".  The kids loved listening to all the things they could do in the snow. 

Next, we played pass the snowball.  I stuffed a large sock and formed it like a snowball.  The game was played like Hot Potato, only with the snowball and the music playing was "Frosty the Snowman".  The kids really enjoyed playing this game over and over. 

Then we all gathered around the table to create our own snow globes.  I used the small 8 oz. bottled water.  I had each child take a sip off the top.  Then we put one drop of blue food coloring in the water.  The kids placed their own snowflake-shaped confetti in the bottle and we helped them place the blue, gold, and silver glitter. Then we replaced the lids and shook them up.  The kids were thrilled to see the snowflakes inside their very own creation. 

Our next game was pick up the snowball.  We placed cotton balls all over the floor, and gave each child a baggie, then blindfolded them and told them to crawl around and pick up as many "snowballs" as they could.  They loved bumping into each other and trying to get the most snowballs. 

Then we had another craft project.  I cut out mitten shapes from felt and gave one to each child.  Then they decorated them with sequins, ric-rac, jewels, etc.  I then placed a magnet on the back so they could stick them on their fridge when they got home.  This was another big hit. 

We then went outside for a pretend snowball fight.  I had made several small stuffed snowballs by stuffing small socks and sewing them up.  The kids had a great time throwing them around at each other.  We then had hot chocolate with whip cream. 

Then we had one last craft activity, where we let the kids build a snowman with marshmallows.  We had a large toothpick that we placed 3 large marshmallows on top of each other.  Then we used pretzel sticks for the arms and put small marshmallows on the ends for the hands.  Then they used candy to decorate their faces.  The kids were just as excited to eat their snowmen as make them, but they still had fun doing it. 

The cake was a snowman.  I used 3 different sizes of round cake pans, and a square one for the hat (this had to be cut to be shaped just right).  I frosted the snowman white and put edible glitter on it so it looked like snow.  The hat was frosted black.  I used 2 large pretzel rods for the arms, Gummy Lifesavers for the eyes, mouth, and buttons, a candy orange slice for the carrot nose, and Fruit by the Foot for the scarf.  It turned out really cute. 

Then in the take-home bags for the kids, I had made "snow dough" (homemade play dough with iridescent glitter in it so it looked like snow). 

Finally, for the thank-you notes, we put each child's picture on some snowflake patterned paper with Styrofoam snowflake stickers, and wrote them a special note. 

It was really a fun party, and a fun theme that you can really get carried away with!  Good thing it didn't snow or we would have had a whole different set of games to play too!