Collect Your Materials
Make Your Ornaments
I collected all of my ingredients the week before, so I wasn't scrambling at the last second. Here are each of the decorations we made with a link to instructions:Peanut Butter Pinecones My tweaks: I used Organic peanut butter for this (I know, I know but that's how I roll!).
Birdseed Orange Feeders My tweaks: We made these the day before and threw them in the refrigerator.
Birdseed Ornaments My tips: Here are the ornament forms I use. I replaced the corn syrup with honey in this recipe. I've read different views on using honey and gelatin to feed birds. It is incredibly cold here in Michigan, so I have less fear of mold and melting. Also, I use Great Lakes Grass Fed Beef Gelatin. However, if you are nervous about this one just leave it off the list. Or, you can make suet ornaments.
Dehydrated Fruit My tips: Skip the last step where the varnish is applied
Popcorn and Cranberry Garlands These are are quite a pain if the kernels are small, and it's not something you want to do with tiny little hands around. But when we switched to an all cranberry garland things got a lot easier.
It's best not to use fishing line to hang any of these because birds can get tangled in them.
Read The Night Tree by Eve Bunting
This is one of my favorite childhood books, and I couldn't believe how well it fit with this activity.
Decorate Your Tree
And now comes the best part - mix up some healthy hot chocolate and get out there! Start with the garland first and then move on to the rest. Don't worry too much about how perfectly the ornaments are hanging. Cora couldn't reach that high, but we just moved a few up before we left.
Create a Closer Observation Point
The only bummer part about our tree was that we couldn't see it from our house. It's great for the animals because they can eat it peace, but we still wanted to see some wildlife eating our ornaments. So we found a branch and stuck it in a pot just outside our sliding glass doors. Then we took a third of the ornaments from the original tree and hung them here. It's the best of both worlds, and it is a great option for those who don't have many trees in their yard. I would love to hear how this works out for you and hear about some of your own family traditions!
Your Woman Gone Wild,
PIN IT FOR LATER!
15 comments
I use Tahini instead of peanut butter so it won’t trigger any allergies – can’t be too careful…
We love this book and make these decorations for the birds also, it’s really lovely. I love all your ideas, and we also use organic peanut butter ‘cos that’s how we roll too haha. I always love looking through your website, it brings such peace to me, thank you.
This is what we do all December in my preschool classroom.