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EASY POINSETTIA NAPKIN HOLDERS
Make your tea or dinner extra special with festive napkin holders. These are fast and easy to make. No sewing or glueing is necessary. Just draw your pattern on the felt and cut it out. Simple and fast. Felt works the best because it has more body than cotton fabric. Using the picture as a diagram, cut 1 of each of the following: the long red piece is 9 inches long, the green "star" is 7 inches and the red star is 5 inches. (This is from point to point).

Cut a 3/4 inch slit in the center of the green and red star. Now put the green and red stars together -- lining up the slit. Take the ends of the long red strip and push them through the slit of the 2 stars. Repeat with the other end. Adjust the ends so they look like a flower and there is a nice- sized loop on the bottom side for a napkin. My felt pieces were also sprayed with a light glitter before they were cut.

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Another great idea for a take-home gift is to buy some inexpensive snowman mugs, and put a baggie of hot chocolate mix and mini marshmallows in it -- tied with a red ribbon. The next day when they drink their hot chocolate, the children can talk about the tea.

I also made snowmen out of marshmallows. Take a small pretzel stick and gently force it through two large marshmallows. Using vanilla icing, "glue" a flattened gumdrop on the top for a hat brim and another on top of that to finish it off. Take a tiny dab of icing on mini chocolate chips and stick to the front for eyes and nose. The scarf is a strip of fruit roll-ups. I cut it with scissors into long strips and then just looped it around the neck. The kids loved these -- ate a bunch of them with their tea!