Santa Claus theme treats, Balino-style… in full effect!
2018 had proven to be a year of abundant gifts and blessings for our family. If you’ve been following our journey – you will have already been informed one way or another, that after 5 long and painful years, we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy. On Christmas day of 2017, we had just announced to our own immediate families that we were expecting – which, at this point, is news taken with a grain of salt. According to our Little Mama, she had asked Santa (the same one for the last 4 Santa visits #momwin) for a baby sister or brother year after year – and each time, Santa kept his promise. However, it took much more than just Santa’s magic to give us our family’s missing piece. Prayer, the act of a loving friend, and the art of never giving up, were a part of our wish come true. Nevertheless, he was Little Mama‘s first level wish-giver and so to Santa, we are grateful.
Santa Claus or St. Nick is the true essence of joy and gift giving so we thought since we have been abundantly blessed with both – we wanted to stick with a Santa Claus theme for our Christmas deliveries last year.
The year before last, it was Frosty the Smallie treats, the year before, Tiny Rudolph and reindeer treats, and the first year of our Christmas deliveries as a family, was elf feet.
I would be lying if I didn’t confess that part of the reason why we jumped on this Santa Claus theme was its simplicity. Essentially – my needs were limited to ready-made brownies, red, black, white, and a dash of glitter.
First…
SANTA CLAUS THEME BROWNIE TREATS (STRAWBERRY SANTA HATS & SANTA BELT BROWNIES)
Do you have time to make brownies? You do? Great! Go for it!
As for me? Do I have time? Energy? Interest?
NOT. ON. YOUR. LIFE.
So we kept it simple.
This was all we needed:
1. Icing/Frosting. This was our go-to right here…
2. Strawberries (The plumper and bolder, the better – They’re supposed to represent Santa, so why not keep things consistent, right?).
3. Wilton Sparkle Gel (this is for the next set of Santa treats, but we found use for it as well for the Santa Hats as well).
4. Brownie Bites (You can find a big batch at Costco, or make them yourselves. Again, I don’t have the time for it, but if you do – awesome!). Don’t worry, read on – I have a link below for how to make brownies from scratch.
5. Cute little presentation boxes (we’re all about the bottom half of smalls sized red boxes, or red wicker baskets from the Dollar Store or Michaels).
6. Mesh Ribbon as a wrap. We used the Metallic gold Garland Mesh ribbon as it keeps a nice safe distance from the icing. For this particular presentation – Transparent cellophane tends to lose it’s shape and rest on the icing eventually pulling it off. No fun.
STRAWBERRY SANTA CLAUS THEME HAT BROWNIE BITES
My super easy simple no nonsense steps:
- Buy the brownie bites if time is not on your side (Hello Costco!)
- Take cupcake icing – the ready pump of the Cake Mate Cupcake Icing is easy to control (or frosting if you’re brave – just throw it into a zip lock bag, and take a nice snip off the corner and squeeze like a pro using a smooth circular motion).
- Squeeze a drop of Wilton Sparkle Gel out on top of the brownie for the strawberry to adhere to. For some, we actually squeezed icing/frosting on top of the entire brownie so we would have one less step post-strawberry. Whatever works for you…
- Carefully place the strawberry.
- Top it off with a small dot of icing/frosting for the Santa Hat pom pom (because at this point, you will already be a pro – if me and my clumsy kitchen self can do it, so can you! Heck, my Little Mama did most of it!)
- If you want to do the hat trim at this point, just a nice circular motion is your ticket. Don’t worry, Mama, after the third one you’ll get the hang of it….
My Tiny Chef was so proud of her creations. Little Man even stopped in to see what all the fuss was about!
Some tips:
- Keep in the fridge already wrapped loosely, finished off with an easy to curl glitter ribbon. We loved using the Metallic gold Garland Mesh ribbon as it keeps a nice safe distance from the icing.
- Deliver preferably that day!
If you want to take it a step further and make your own brownies and frosting, head over to our friend’s blog at Dinner with Julie for more DIY inspo. Like I said – we’re less bakers in the Balino household, and more ready-made prepares, so go on with your talented self. I’ll be right over here shopping at the baked good section at Costco.
SANTA CLAUS THEME BELT BROWNIES
My super easy simple no nonsense steps:
- You’ll have a bunch of brownies left. Use them.
- Take the Wilton’s Red Cookie Icing and pipe the top and bottom part of the brownie. Leave a good sized center for the belt.
- Take the Wilton’s Black Cookie Icing and pipe the black belt in the middle section.
- Using the Wilton Gold Sparkle Gel, pipe on the buckle at the center of the belt.
- Let dry completely before placing in nice presentation box.
- DELEGATE YOUR SPOUSE. Admittedly, I was more than happy to hand over this very intricate job. One he took very seriously.
And voila! Santa Belt Brownie Bites!
CLASSMATE TREATS: SANTA THEME HOT CHOCOLATE MIX AND MARSHMALLOWS
This has always been our go to Christmas gift to Little Mama‘s classmates. Not only do we have an onslaught of materials readily available:
- Red Cardboard
- Thin black tape
- Gold Glitter tape
- Hot chocolate mix
- Cellophane mini envelopes
- Mini Marshmallows
- Your very willing child
They turned out pretty darn adorable didn’t they? Bonus – they were super easy. It was all about cutting, taping, stuffing clear cellophane envelopes, and many many pats on the back
SANTA THEME WRAPPING PAPER
In going with our Santa theme, it super easy Santa DIY Wrapping paper. Because, if you’re going to do Santa Claus theme treats, why not do Santa Claus wrap? We saved a ton on wrapping doing it this way. Check ‘er out:
- 5-10 rolls of red wrap (got these babies on sale for 1.50 at the local drug store)
- Black wide ribbon
- Gold Glitter tape
- Double sided tape + Scissors
- And a good show to watch on Netflix while you mindlessly wrap each Santa belt gift
Look how much life they add to our otherwise basic tree?
READY FOR DELIVERY…
Time for delivery! The clincher? I may have a baby Santa all ready to go, but I also have a school aged little Santa who I can’t possibly pull out of school to do office hours deliveries, can I? Well… I am a self proclaimed smartie pants because I managed to time all her appointments (and mine) around the same time as our Christmas deliveries. Multitasking guilt-free Mama wins again!
As always, we made deliveries as a family to those individuals in our community who serve our community as a whole, and/or has made an immense difference in our family’s life.
- Our dentist
- Our Priest
- Our fertility doctor and medical support
- Our Local Police
- Our local Firefighters
- Our friend/Godmother/Egg Donor
- Our plethora of family friends who have done so much for us from babysitting to ongoing support
By the end of this Santa theme madness, we were all spent. But our hearts were full. Another Christmas delivery of gratitude for those we are blessed to have surrounding us day after day, month after month, year after year.
For this little guy… it was his first, and definitely not his last.
Says the sleeping Santa delivery guy, “what the heck did I get myself into choosing these crazy Balinos?’
Happy Gratitude season!
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