Creating Memories: Candy Cane Reindeer

This project brings back so many childhood memories. :) My mom used to make these with my younger sister and I to give away as gifts to friends in school. Now my own little girl is going to continue the tradition and pass them on to her entire class Friday. :)

This is a very inexpensive project for a classroom- it could even be done as a classroom take-home project. I bought the candy canes at Wal-Mart for 88 cents; the rest of the items I bought at Michael's. The pom poms have 100 in the package for $2.49, the 7mm wiggley eyes were on sale for $1.49 and have 282 in the package, the chenille stems have 25 in the package for 99 cents.

If you wanted to make more than 1 dozen reindeer, you would have to buy 1 package of chenille stems for each 1 package of candy canes; you have enough pom poms to make 100 reindeer and enough eyes for 141 reindeer. :)

Supplies (will make 12 reindeer)
1 box of the larger candy canes- we used peppermint, but any flavor would work for this
1 package of beige chenille stems (pipe cleaners) you could also use dark brown (or any color- red, green, white, black, etc.)
1 package of 7mm wiggley eyes
1 package of 10mm red pom poms (you can use any color- I've used different colors with different candy canes to make them coordinate.)

Tools:
Glue
Scissors

For 1 reindeer you will need:
1 candy cane
2 chenille stems
2 wiggley eyes
1 pom pom

Step 1: Fold one of your chenille stems in half.

Step 2: Hook your candy cane through your folded in half chenille stem. Refer to photo below.

Step 3: Twist your chenille stem (like a bread bag twist tie) until secure, should be about 3 times.

Note: Make sure you twist close to the candy cane, but be careful not to snap the candy cane.)

Step 4: Bend each half in half again. (It should look like rabbit ears.)

Step 5: Twist each of your chenille stem halves (like a bread bag twist tie) until it is entirely twisted. Refer to picture.

Step 6: Take the remaining chenille stem, cut in half. Cut each half in half. You should have 4 pieces that are the same size.

Step 7: Fold each of the 4 pieces from Step 6 in half.

Step 8: Place one of the folded pieces from Step 7 around one of your chenille stems. Refer to photo below for clarification. Twist this smaller piece (like a bread bag twist tie) in place.