Adorable Snowman Candy Cane Holders

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It's that time of year to share special treats and gifts with our neighbors, friends and kids' teachers! We couldn't be more excited about these adorable candy cane holders!

Typically, the kids and I make a double or triple batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies and divide them up as gifts. Yet, this year we thought it would be better to avoid homemade baked goods and opt for something a little more COVID-friendly. Hence, these delightful candy cane holders!

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Why we Love Homemade gifts!

There is something so sweet about having kids make vs buy gifts for others. Not only do homemade gifts show others how much we care for others, but making homemade gifts can encourage empathy, creativity, and build self-confidence in our kids. When kids make gifts for others, they have to think of the other person and what (s)he might like. Kids are also able to express themselves creatively and take ownership over making something real and useful for someone else. They can feel proud of their work and the happiness their gift brings to others!

Make Candy Cane Holders with Felt

Felt seemed like the perfect material to use for our candy cane holders. The fabric's soft and flexible texture makes it great for cutting, gluing, sewing or shaping into just about anything. It's not terribly expensive, and you can find felt at places like Michaels or online at Amazon.

My kids have made beautiful ornaments and holiday decor out of felt. Check out Fun Thrifty Mom's adorable DIY Easy Felt Christmas Ornaments for inspiration! We have also used felt for other crafts, like our Felt Hot Dogs and our Squash Turkey Craft.

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How to Make Snowman Candy Cane Holders

This craft consists mainly of tracing, cutting and gluing. Kids should be able to do most of these tasks on their own!

Trace candy cane holder pieces on felt. To create our snowman's body, we simply traced a snowman's outline on two pieces of felt (one piece would be the front of the snowman, and one would be the back). Then, we traced a hat, scarf, nose and arms.
Cut out felt pieces. We cut out all tracings and laid them on the table!
Glue together felt pieces and accessories! We used a hot glue gun to glue on all of the snowman's parts and accessories! As a final step, we glued together the front and back edges of our snowman, leaving the top open in order to form a pouch to hold a candy cane.

Other Ways to Use our candy cane holders

With a little tweaking, there are lots of other homemade gifts you can transform your snowman candy cane holders into.

Place card holders! Simply make a wider version of this craft so that the felt pouch is big enough to hold a written name card .
Pencil or candle holders. These candy cane holders would also make great holders of pencils, pens or thin candles.
Gift card holder. Again, a wider version of this craft can hold a gift card.
Napkin rings! Simply glue your candy cane holder to a napkin ring. We make our own napkin rings by covering a halved toilet paper roll with construction paper!

💡Overview 💡

Skills supported: Fine motor (tracing, cutting, gluing, drawing), following instructions, math (composing shapes)

✂ Supplies ✂

Colored felt
Black marker or Black sharpie
Scissors
Pom Poms
Googly Eyes
Hot glue gun
Candy Canes for gifting!

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📝 instructions for Snowman Candy Cane Holders📝

Consider setting up the craft before cooking so kids can get to work right away.

Trace snowman's body and accessories on felt. To create our snowman's body, we simply traced a snowman's outline on two pieces of felt (one piece would be the front of the snowman, and one would be the back). Then, we traced a hat, scarf, nose and two arms.
Cut out felt pieces*. We cut out all tracings and laid them on the table!
Glue together felt pieces and accessories! We glued on all of the snowman's parts and accessories: felt hat, scarf, nose and arms...and Googly Eyes and Pom Poms for buttons! Then we drew a mouth on the face. Finally, we glued together the front and back of our snowman along the edges, leaving the top open in order to form a pouch to hold a candy cane.
Add your candy cane(s). Use the open pouch at the top of your snowman to slip in your candy cane! Now your gift is ready!

Note: You can use a similar strategy to create stocking candy cane holders as well, and these are even simpler. You will cut out two identically sized outlines of stockings, glue them together along the edges, and add Pom Poms as desired! Just make sure to leave the top unglued so that you can insert your candy cane!