Are you searching for some healthier alternatives for the kids’ stockings this year? Trying to get away from giving them a ton of sugary candy? Me too! I want to share a fun idea that will have your kiddos grinning while also cutting down on the sugar! While kids would also enjoy making these treats, I used a low temp glue gun to make them, so you’ll want to be careful about using that around the littles. What are we making? Reindeer and snowmen, of course! 🙂 For this project you’ll need individual applesauce cups (or a fruit cup should work fine too.), 2 sizes of colored pom poms, pipe cleaners (chenille stems), wiggly eyes and a low temp glue gun.

Let’s start with the reindeer. Turn the applesauce cup upside down. Find a clear spot on the side that doesn’t have the expiration date stamped on it. Glue 2 eyes onto the side a little more than half way up.

Next add a dark brown pom pom for the nose.

Now take a dark brown pipe cleaner and cut it into fourths. Hold one piece while wrapping a second piece around it a couple of times…then bend them to look like the picture below. Yep, you guessed it – antlers! 🙂 Make 2 for each reindeer.

Glue each antler on the opposite side of where you put the eyes and nose. After the glue has set up a bit, bend the antlers out toward the side just a little. And there he is – your first reindeer!

Can you guess who this is?

Rudolph, of course! “We can’t forget Rudolph, he’s our leader, you know!” While I didn’t have enough applesauce cups to make ALL the reindeer, here are 6 of them!

Onto the snowman! Start again like we did for the reindeer by gluing on 2 eyes, but this time use an orange pom pom for his carrot nose. I used a little piece of a pipe cleaner and glued it on for a smile. I used slightly bigger eyes for the snowman than what I used on the reindeer but the same size is fine.

Our snowmen are going to wear ear muffs so we’ll do those next. I cut a pipe cleaner into thirds for the part that goes across the top of the snowman’s head. Lay it across the top and bend the ends of the pipe cleaner down to fit the cup.

Take the piece off and trim each bent end just a little bit if needed so it doesn’t go too far down on the sides of the cup.

Put glue on only the little bent ends and stick it back on the snowman. Add 2 pom poms on the sides at the ends of the pipe cleaner to finish the ear muffs. These pom poms should be a little bigger than the one we used for his nose.

And now your snowman is finished! I used different colors of pom poms and pipe cleaners for my other snowmen and I made their mouths a bit different.

There you go! A quick, easy and healthy stocking stuffer that your kids will enjoy receiving and eating! 🙂