Marshmallow Snowman + Hot Chocolate Gift

I made these today as a last minute kids gift for my son's 1st grade class.  He is having his Winter celebration tomorrow, so I wanted to bring something.  This is a super simple, but a little time consuming if you are making a lot of them.

 You'll need:

marshmallows

pretzel bags (micheals $1.99...use coupon!)

ribbon

black Sharpie marker

orange paper

 black paper

 and Christmas paper for the hot chocolate envelopes.

Put some marshmallows into the bag.  Don't try to make a funnel out of paper...it doesn't work well.  I found the best way was to just hold the bag just so and the opening of the bag will stay open to put the marshmallows in.

Cut the ties that come with the prezel bags into three small ties.  They look small but they are actually perfect

Put some more marshmallows into the bag to make the second "snowball" and tie off. 

(optional: put 3 chocolate chips for the buttons)

Do again for the head.

Now onto the hat and the nose.

Make circles with your circle cutter and put a hole in the middle with a hole punch.  Cut strips of black paper and roll each into a cylinder and glue. Take your orange paper and cut out carrot shaped noses.

Take your sharpie pen and make the "coal" eyes and mouth

(optional: try to make the eyes and mouth out of mini chocolate chips.  I don't know how easy this would be, but might be worth a try. I thought of it after I was done)

I used medium, but I recommend small zots to glue the nose on

 (I had to cut the medium zots in half)

Isn't he cute?

Now assemble the hat. Pull the celophane through the hat and add the cylinder on top (no glue needed, but you might need to fluff the celophane to keep the hat on)

Take some ribbon and cut to fit your snowman. 

 I bought my rolls at the dollar spot at Target and each roll had enough for 3 scarves.

I used a lighter to melt the ends of the ribbon so it didn't fray. 

Don't hold the flame on too long or it will light it on fire...we just want to melt the ribbon.

The gangs all here!

Take the hot chocolate packets and make a pocket out of any paper.  I used the zots again to seal it.

Put a zot on the back of the snowman and stick him to the envelope.  Here I would recommend the medium to large zots, so the snowman is secure.

That's all! 

 Embellish with a "Merry Christmas" tag or a To/From tag and you'll have a cute little gift!

I might be making these next year for the neighbors.  I will just put a string on it to hang it on their doors.