Silly Nilly Day #5—Rudolph-Inspired Candy

I try to have all my Christmas shopping completed by the second week of December. This gives me the opportunity to slow down and really enjoy the holiday season. This also means that I get to spend a lot of time with my kids (insert very large smile on my face right now.) I decided to open up our house, through our blog and show you what our holiday season is like when we aren't designing clothing. This is the general idea behind having a Silly Nilly day. Sometimes I forget to enjoy the small moments. I get wrapped up in deadlines, returning emails, volunteering at the school, dance classes, washing clothes...ugh, this is bringing me down just typing my daily chores. Anyway, we created "Silly Nilly Days" to remind me, and hopefully those of you reading this blog to always enjoy our small moments. Below are two easy projects we create every year inspired by our favorite reindeer.

RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER CANDY CANES

One of our favorite things to make for Christmas is our Reindeer Candy Canes. Even Lexie (2) can help make these because they are super easy. Once they are made, we put them in our teacher gifts, use them for treats when our friends come over, and decorate packages. Oh, and they are just super cute to use as decoration for a side table next to a tree.

I told you they were super cute. They are also easy to make.

1. Wrap a brown or black pipe cleaner around the candy cane then crinkle the antlers.

2. Glue googly eyes onto the cane. One year we used different sizes of googly eyes and made goofy looking reindeer.

3. Glue red pom poms on for the nose. We didn't have the pom poms so we just used red glitter glue.

4. Tie a green or red bow around the neck of the cane and whallah, you are done.

I hope you make some this holiday season and find even more creative ways to use them.

The second project is also a family tradition. We make them throughout the holiday season. We have to keep making them because my husband can't keep his fingers out of the candy bag. These are some of his favorite little snacks (and he isn't a big snacker!)

RUDOLPH AND ELF KISSES

We made up the name of this little candy. We use red and green M&M's on hersey kisses so the name just kinda fits. This snack is a great combination if you like a litte salt and a little sweet in one delicious bite (well, I take more than one bite, but you get the idea.)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Step 1: Spread pretzels on a cookie sheet. Only do one sheet at a time because you need to have time before the kisses harden to put the M&M's on the top. Smaller batches are easier to control.

Step 2: Place a Hersey Kiss on top of the pretzels.

Step 3: Place the Kisses in the oven for about 7-8 minutes. They need to be soft enough to put the M&M's on top, but not too soft that they are super messy. Also, if the oven is not to the correct temperature (too low) then the Hersey Kisses won't melt correctly and just crumble.

Step 4: As soon as the Kisses are glissening and soft they are ready to come out of the oven. We use red and green M&M's and press them into the kisses. Make sure you press firmly enough for the kiss to stick to the pretzel or they will come apart once they dry. Let them harden and then they are ready to eat.

OPTIONS: Each year we try a different combination. Sometimes we use a different flavor Hershey Kiss or put peanuts on top rather than M&M's. This year we tried Rolo candy rather than Kisses because we had some in the cabinet so we thought we would try them. I really don't think you can mess up this snack.

These snacks don't last long enough for us to hand out to our friends, but some years we put them in decorative bags and give them to the neighbors. We would love to hear about your favorite combination to make this great holiday snack.

Happy Holidays! Have a Silly Nilly Day!

Jennifer

*Visit our ETSY shoppe to see our ridiculously cute clothing for kids. Also, find us on facebook to learn firsthand what we are producing. Thank you!

SILLY NILLY DAY IDEA LIST:

#1 Visit an orchard!

#2 Find a field of wildflowers!

#3 Attend a local festival!

#4 Crafty Playdate for Thanksgiving (Mom's Time Out)

#5 Rudolph-inspired Candy

#6 Create a paper snowflake wonderland

#7—A very special Silly Nilly Day and Winter Wonderland!

#8—Decoupage craft day for Mother's Day!

MORE SILLINESS...