In our house, we love to make things. We love to post them too. My children watch with awe as new parcels arrive in the mail box, so this year I am setting up the Small Hands Christmas Swap. It is a swap where the children have a chance to get creative and get posting.

Each set of little hands will be making a Christmas Card and a decoration to send to their partner. The task is inclusive rather than demanding. While you will not need to put glue to paper straight away, the swap has been set up early in order to get you thinking about it well before December.

Pairs of hands will be put together with some consideration of age. Upon consideration, a 9 year old has very little appreciation for 2 year old's experimental drawings and neither is the two year old impressed with intricate cutting skills of a big kid.

Here’s what you need to know:

When is it?
Sign ups are open October 6 – October 27
Pairs of hands will be emailed out November 2
Posting starts November 25 and finishes on December 9

How do I sign up?
Drop me an email seven.stitches.amy(at) gmail (dot) com with your name, the name of the little hands, your contact email and postal addresses, their age and two things about them and Christmas
i.e Miss January is 1, loves wrapping paper and twinkly things
or Master August is 7 and while he thinks spiderman is the bees knees, he thinks father Christmas looks pretty good in red too.
Be sure to join the flickr group too.


What if I haven’t a child?
If you have a significant set of little hands in your life, be it nieces, nephews or the kids you baby sit every second week talk to them about joining in. Perhaps it is something you could do together.


What if I have more than one child?
By all means sign up all who are interested and going to be able to take part in the swap.

Is it open to international participants?
Yes it is open to international participants. However to keep postage times short, if possible I will pair up the little hands within the same country.


If there is anything I haven’t covered here, drop me a line and I will get back to you quickly. Over the next few weeks I will be adding a list of participants to the side bar and posting links to some great tutorials for Christmas crafts suitable for little hands.