Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

"What?!  An actual Clearly Candace post?!"  Yes, my friends, the holidays were beyond my control this year.  I could go on for days...  I apologize for being 2013's Worst Blogger, but I plan to come back and fill you in on some missed 2013 goodies (Kelvin The Elf included). Now, on with the post!...

Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

{Cue singing!} I have yet to meet a single person who didn't love the movie Disney's Frozen.  It was SO good! A magical adventure about princesses, that boys even enjoyed!  My son went to see it for a boy's birthday party!  The story and meaning were beautiful. The characters were great. One character, in particular, captured our hearts with smiles and laughter....

OLAF!!

This adorably funny snowman comes on the scene with "Hi, everyone, I'm Olaf! And I like warm hugs!"  What's not to love about this snowball of fun chasing his body parts all over the place? He was precious.

We had a Christmas party at our place this year with LOTS of kiddos in attendance.  I decided they needed a craft activity.  Frozen was in its peak, so I came up with an Olaf craft for the kids to enjoy. Sweet and squeezable, meet Marshmallow Olaf!  

I thought he would be a fun keepsake, since marshmallows harden with time.  I opened and aired out the marshmallows for a couple of days to stiffen them some.  This step helped reduce some temptation to eat them, with special warning of the feet (the minis were in the back of my pantry!) Successfully, most of the Olaf's were not eaten and the kids had a great time building them! I also made sure to include some extra (fresh) marshmallows and a orange slices as a treat.  What's a Christmas party without some extra sugar, right? ;-) Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of the building session. :-/

How to Make Your Own Marshmallow Olaf

Each Olaf requires:
2 regular marshmallows (head and chest), 1 jumbo marshmallow (bottom), 2 mini-marshmallows (feet)
1 brown pipe cleaner, cut like so: ____ __ __ (head twig, bent and arms)
2 coffee straws (1 for body, 2nd cut in half to connect feet) or 2 toothpicks, with supervision
1 orange slice or an orange marker (nose)
2 adhesive wiggly eyes (or draw the eyes)
Black marker (eyebrows, mouth, buttons)

To Build Olaf:
Push straw into bottom, through chest and into head (see Olaf craft photo).
Push straw halves through the bottom to attach mini marshmallow feet.
Push arm pieces into the sides of the chest.
Bend the larger pipe cleaner and press into head for head twigs.
Attach/Draw eyes and nose (lick the orange slice or use end of a toothpick for support)
Draw on eyebrows, mouth and buttons.
OLAF is DONE!

You can even make true to character by "losing his head" as I did in my first try using toothpicks and leftover eyes. So very...Olaf!

When brainstorming for this craft, I was inspired by all the Frozen birthday parties already pinned on Pinterest!  If I were still a girl, my January birthday would've had a Frozen theme!  Lucky for my husband, I no longer require birthday themes. ;)

Similar to the idea of the Ninja Turtle party favor bag masks (my Etsy bestseller), I drew up a file for an Olaf party favor bag!  I thought it turned decent enough.  What do you think?  Does it look like him?

I hope you said yes, because, the Olaf Party Favor Bag Printable is already in my Etsy Shop!  The PDF file is in color or b&w that can be cut and glued to a folded white lunch sack!  I found my bags on the paper goods aisle at Wal-Mart.  I also trimmed out his upper lip out to give the bag a little more Olaf shape. :)

Maybe this craft and printable will bring a little joy to some birthday parties this wintry season.  

Stay warm out there and be sure to share your own warm hugs!

With Him in mind,

"Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." Romans 12:10