Santa hats are a good addition to anything Christmas themed.
I'm a "NO Christmas before Thanksgiving!" person. While my mother begins listening to Christmas music in September, I refuse to play it until our last Thanksgiving meal has been eaten and we take our inaugural drive to see Christmas lights Thanksgiving night. However, the middle mini begged for a Christmas in July Day at daycare. Mostly, he wanted to try "Elf Spaghetti" (the spaghetti Will Ferrell shoves in his mouth in the beloved Christmas movie).
I've literally gagged while watching that scene before, but, one of my passions of working with kids is making their dreams come true. It's a true joy of mine. So, on a warm day in July, our house was filled with Christmas music, the kids watched Elf, and then had a sugary lunch.
The spaghetti toppings for lunch: maple syrup, Hershey's chocolate syrup, marshmallows, M & M's, chocolate fudge Pop Tarts, and sprinkles (both multicolored and red and green). I also offered pasta sauce for those kids not interested in eating the bizarre toppings on their spaghetti. Grossly, some kids put EVERYTHING on their pasta and ATE IT!
Ok, so I'll admit, I tried this! I left off the maple syrup and only added the chocolate. It wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be but I only managed a couple of bites. But I ate it with my hands (just as Buddy does in the movie)! A little backstory: the kids all asked if they could eat with their hands just like Buddy does. That was a hard no from me, but to show the kids how messy eating with your hands is, I did it. They instantly made gross faces and told me to go wash my hands and face! Sometimes it takes a visual explanation to help the kids understand.
Other fun things to do for Christmas in July:
- baking soda snow (see pictures below)
- Christmas slime
- simple Christmas crafts (such as candy cane painting below)
This won't be going into the regular lunch rotation obviously nor will it be something we do next July (as far as I can tell at least), but it was a fun lunch to do and one that we'll all remember!