First up is the newest pin that I have tried, saltine cracker toffee. Wow is this stuff good! Whatever you do though, don’t figure up the calories on this one. I made this for a cookie exchange with friends and I will be making it again for neighbors and family Christmas gatherings. It’s easy to make and with inexpensive ingredients. The hardest part (other than stopping yourself from eating it all) it cutting it. I put mine in the refrigerator to set up and it is a bit hard to cut. Just make sure you have a sharp knife.
Up until I found the saltine cracker toffee, for years I had been taking the same cookie to my annual cookie exchange. I found the pin for candy bar cookies 3 years ago and love them so much it took me that long to try another cookie recipe. Not only are these cookies delicious but they are so easy. I use the big roll of slice and bake sugar cookies for mine but you could make your own sugar cookie recipe to use. The only other ingredient is miniature snickers and colored sugar sprinkles to roll them in. These are delicious and worth trying this year if you are looking for a new cookie to make for the holidays.
Another one of my favorite holiday pins is an Elf on the Shelf letter I found several years ago. When our Elf makes her return each year she writes the girls a letter. I use the one pinned as the start of my letter and then our Elf tells my girls if they are on the nice list or the naughty list and want Santa wants them to work on during the Christmas season. This year Santa really wants my 3 year old to be a better listener (I’m sure I’m not the only parent with that request this year)! Pinterest has so many Elf on the Shelf Ideas that it is somewhat overwhelming but I think this letter is one of the best Elf pins I have seen.
Pinterest can be a wonderful source for gift ideas for teachers, coaches, and neighbors. When my oldest daughter was in preschool I scoured Pinterest for teacher gift ideas. I wanted to give the teachers a gift card because I know they love receiving those, but didn’t want to just give it to them in an envelope or card. I found the “Thanks a Latte” pin and loved the idea. I got coffee sleeves from Starbucks and used festive ribbon to give it a Christmas feel. Her teachers loved it! I got thank you emails and notes from them saying how cute it was and how much they loved the gift cards. It’s been a go to of mine several times since. Now there are different variations of this on Pinterest. I still like the original one I found but I don’t think you can wrong with any of them.
The holiday season is always a fun, but busy time filled with lots of get togethers. If you need a quick, easy appetizer that will make friends and family think you spent lots of time and effort on it, then try my pin for baked brie. This is delicious! It uses refrigerated crescent rolls and fresh berries and comes together in no time. I like to buy extra crescent rolls and use holiday cookie cutters to make festive shapes for the top of the baked brie but it’s just as delicious without them.
During the holidays and winter months, I am always looking for fun activities to do with my girls. Pinterest is a great place to find new actives and keep track of the ones my girls enjoy doing every year. One pin we keep coming back to is for magic reindeer food. We make sure that our version uses all edible ingredients so that birds and other animals (namely our dog, Maisy) aren’t ingesting glitter! My girls love putting it out each Christmas for Santa’s reindeer and it has become a fun tradition that we all participate in. I help the girls make it and my husband goes out with them to spread it out for the reindeer.
Once Christmas is over and cold weather sticks around I still use Pinterest for fun activity ideas. I found a pin for snow ice cream last year and was able to use it more than I care to remember! Last year was our first time making snow ice cream and I look forward to making it again this year, but only need to make it once so no need for lots of snow, Mother Nature! I don’t use food coloring in mine but you can add it if you want yours to be a specific color.
My last favorite holiday pin is a tried and true recipe that my family has been making at Christmas for many years, way before Pinterest was around. It’s for Oreo balls or Oreo truffles – whichever name you use. These are in demand every year at our house for Christmas and I also get a request to make them for my holiday party at work every year. I’m pretty sure the people in my office even asked me to bring them in the year I was on maternity leave because that’s how good and addictive they are. They are easy to make and no baking is involved. Making them is a bit messy but boy are they worth it!
So these are a few of my favorite pins for the holiday season. I hope this year you find one that you would like to try and enjoy it as much as I do. I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season!
Find these pins on my Well, that was Pinteresting board at:Â pinterest.com
