It is Christmas Season and that means it is time to start the Christmas Crafts! We love creating crafts especially crafts for kids! So to start our season off right; we are excited to bring you our newest Christmas Craft creation; The Smarties Christmas Tree! And yes, I made this one up cause #IAmASmartie who has kids that love Smarties! Why not make a craft with a candy we always have around the house? It is really easy to make, doesn’t take a lot of time, and doesn’t cost a lot of money! But it is a lot of fun and your family will enjoy your Smarties Christmas Craft!

How to build the Smarties Christmas Tree

If you remember our popular Halloween Star Wars Smarties Lightsaber Craft; you already know that we love Smarties in our home! They are a lot of fun to use in crafts for kids. Not only is it a candy that my kids love, but Smarties are also a “worry free” and a ”one size fits all” candy since they are inexpensive, gluten free, vegan, low calorie and free of top allergens. Plus, they are really easy to find! You can often find packages of Smarties at Walmart, Target, Family Dollar, Dollar General, and even your local Dollar Tree!

First thing, as always is to gather your supplies:

1 package of Smarties

2 packages green pipe cleaners

1 package brown pipe cleaners

1 package shimmery pipe cleaner (your choice of color; this will be the “tinsel” of the tree, so make it a good one)

Double sided tape (or hot glue/glue gun if you want it more permanent)

Total cost of craft: approximately $6.00 (that’s including buying a new roll of tape) This is however the cost of ONE tree. And there will be left over supplies of each item you purchased; although not enough to make another complete tree.

We used double sided tape because my kids didn’t want the craft to be permanent. They want to take it apart throughout the month and eat the Smarties. But if you wanted it to be more permanent, wherever I use tape; you can use hot glue and a glue gun.

To form the tree you will simply start by rolling the still wrapped Smarties in the green pipe cleaners. To make it easy, put a small strip of tape on the Smarties candy roll, then start twisting the pipe cleaner around the candy.

You want to make the twisting tight enough to cover the candy. As a result, each Smarties will take two green pipe cleaners to completely cover it. Once you finish winding the pipe cleaners around the Smarties, set it aside while you repeat the process until you have 15 Smarties wrapped in green pipe cleaners.

This is the part that is really easy for kids to help with! And really when you have more than one kid helping to wrap the Smarties in pipe cleaners, it goes rather quickly. Having the strip of double sided tape really makes wrapping it easier too because it helps the pipe cleaner to stick and stay in place while little hands continue to try to manipulate the pipe cleaner around the Smarties. J. had a lot of fun helping me wrap up all the Smarties and then build the Christmas tree afterwards.

How to form the Smarties Christmas tree

With all the candy wrapped in the green pipe cleaners, it is now time to get the shape of the tree. Simply start with a base of five Smarties. You will want to use a small strip of tape between each roll to bind them together into a single row.

Now we will build upwards. Place a strip of tape across the gap between two of the Smarties and place a new Smartie on top of the tape. Put a piece of tape on the side facing towards the center of the tree, and place another strip of tape on the next gap over. Basically you are attaching the second row of Smarties together at the same time you are attaching them to the row below.

Basically the idea is wherever one roll of candy touches another roll of candy, you have a strip of tape to help hold them together. For the tree we are building up in a triangle shape, thus why you place the next row up in the gully area of the row before. So each row has one less roll of candy until you reach the top which is just one roll.

Decorating the Smarties Christmas Craft Tree.

We now want to add some embellishments to the tree. At present, the green pipe cleaner represents the tree itself. The ends of the wrappers that are sticking out are the ornament decorations. But all good trees have tinsel! This is where the fancier pipe cleaner comes in! Take the shimmery pipe cleaner and bend it in a wavy pattern. Once you have the entire pipe cleaner bent, using the tape, attach it around the entire base of the tree. It will take about two waved shimmery pipe cleaners to make one wrap around for the lower levels of the tree. As you get higher you will only need one to wrap around the tree. And then the last row you will end up needing to snip a little off with scissors.

Creating the Smarties Christmas tree base

To form the base, or the trunk of the Christmas tree craft; you will need to gather six Smarties and roll them in the brown pipe cleaner just as you rolled the previous candy in the green pipe cleaner. This time you will be creating two rows of brown Smarties with three in each row. But this time you don’t want to create a triangle design, so place the second row of candy rolls directly on top of the candy roll under it; not in the gully between the candy rolls.

Then you will take a few more brown pipe cleaners and wrap around the base in a circle trying to cover/hide the ends of the candy wrappings; so all you can see is brown. It will also give a unique texture to the trunk of the tree. Once you have the base complete, use tape again on the top and tape it to the bottom of the Christmas tree! You now have your Smarties Christmas Tree craft!

If you want to get even more elaborate; you can take another shimmery pipe cleaner and shape it into a star to place on top! But that is not necessary.

Now simply display your new Christmas craft where everyone can see and enjoy it! The Smarties Christmas tree craft would make a great activity with the kids and a fun gift to give to your child’s friends for Christmas Gifts, or teachers, or even the grandparents! Or each child can keep their own.

But whatever you do with it; be sure to take pictures so your child can remember it years down the road!

Learn more about Smarties

You can learn more about Smarties by visiting their website, liking them on Facebook and following them on Twitter and Pinterest.

Also be sure to visit our Smarties Christmas Prize Pack giveaway from 12/4/12 until 12/18/12 to win a large pack of various Smarties products! Just in time for Christmas! They make great stocking stuffers and Christmas Candy to enjoy! The giveaway will be open to US residents! And a quick hint; the first entry is to comment on this craft post, so be sure to leave a comment before heading over there so you don’t have to return. (Saying, “thanks for the giveaway is not a valid comment entry for the giveaway)

Who in your family would love to make our Smarties Christmas Tree?

How do you like to use Smarties in Christmas Crafts for kids?

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Smarties. #CBias #SocialFabric. However all opinions are my own and I only recommend products that I personally use and believe will be good for my readers.