Even a person with a very rich imagination cannot guess what can come out of crêpe de Chine or a crumpled newspaper. It becomes even more difficult to figure out what they are working on in this cramped workshop after designer Polina takes out a glue gun.

This is something like a laboratory for the production of miracles. After a couple of minutes, the faceless scraps and paper balls take on very definite shapes. Not just flowers, owls, hares - unique Christmas tree decorations. The dream of many is the same famous one" handmade"In 2009, hedgehogs are as popular as they were a hundred years ago.

In Minsk, the imagination of artists went even further. It seems that what can be created from an ordinary light bulb, pasta or buckwheat? Then the light bulb is painted, the base is hidden under the “skirt” so that no one will guess. And here it is - a fascinating New Year's toy. Art critics are sure: the widespread folk handicraft is not due to poverty, but due to fatigue. The same type of balls or cones cause despondency.

There are toys that are real works of art. They are exhibited in real museums, where visitors are afraid to touch them.

Nowadays, Christmas tree decorations are absolutely free, in the sense that they can be in any image or style. For example, in the form of an apple made of shells or a camel with earflaps. And 50-70 years ago New Year's toys a special ideological burden was assigned. In museums of ancient jewelry they know for sure: the history of a country can be taught not from books, but from figurines.

Elena Belyakova, senior researcher at the history department of the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore: “Probably the most reflective of politics is the 30-40s, because this reflects what was going on in the country then, and there were toys on that theme. 50 “The 60s are technological progress, which is also reflected in toys.”

During their existence, Christmas tree toys have experienced several funny moments. In 1937, a whole series of balloons with images of members of the Politburo was released; during the Great Patriotic War, Christmas trees were decorated with cotton wool soldiers; in the 60s, corn cobs were especially popular. And now, in times of high-tech, Christmas trees and decorations made of varnish fabric are becoming fashionable.

Schoolchildren at the exhibition feel like they are at a holiday. This is a rare case when you can not only take a closer look at history, but also turn it in your hands. Today's toys will probably someday also be looked at in the same way and, admiring the mysterious light emanating from the shiny balls, they will be surprised - they knew how to make them.

In the meantime, in the dark production workshop New Year's decorations Only the eyes of master Galina Nikolaevna glow. Behind the wall it’s even hotter. The material is melted up to 1200 degrees. For glassblowers, the main thing is not to miss the moment - the material is very fragile.

Alexey Korol, glassblower: “Glass tends to cool very quickly, so you need to have time to finish it while it is hot, cut it, so that it does not crack.”

In a few hours, glass snowmen and Santa Clauses will leave this workshop throughout the country. Christmas tree decoration is a special thing. Such a toy is kept like a jewel and passed on from generation to generation. This is because, deep down, each of us remains a child, for whom the shimmering balls on the Christmas tree are the main New Year's miracle.

Host: There is very little time left until the most joyful night of the year, when you can give gifts and arrange grandiose fireworks. And in all this New Year's chaos, many of us forget that the holidays can become a serious test for the little ones - for our children. Psychologist Natalya Suvorova will tell us how to protect them from an overabundance of impressions during the holidays. Tell me what is the best way to do it New Year's Eve a real holiday?

Guest: You need to proceed from the interests of the child, his capabilities and abilities. Because if the child is smart and active, the programs should be extensive, including some sport competitions, hiking. If this is a melancholic child, afraid of many things, then it should be such a very modest, but gentle, lyrical, family holiday. And if we want this holiday to be remembered for a long time, then the embodied memory of this can be gifts, which will also be different in the first and second cases.

Host: Well, what’s the best way to present this gift, should it be placed under the pillow, under the Christmas tree?

Guest: It depends on what holiday scenario you choose. You can entrust some of the gifts to Santa Claus, and put some of the gifts under the Christmas tree. Some of the gifts for the windowsill, if the children believe in fairies, elves, and so on, it depends on the fairy tales that are read to the child. If a child believes that, say, mice can bring him something, then you can put something in the corner of the bed or sofa. And you need to remember how to wrap the gift. Because while the child is untying it, he will be anticipating, he will be impatient. And this can also become part of the holiday.

Host: How to properly prepare a child for the arrival of Santa Claus?

Guest: The child should know that Santa Claus can ask him to read poetry, sing a song, or ask riddles. He should know that he can walk around the Christmas tree with Father Frost, and that the Snow Maiden will be with Father Frost. And in fact, you probably need to talk to him about the fact that you need to thank Santa Claus and all your loved ones for the gift. But from the very beginning there must be someone at this meeting who insures, and the child does not go alone to Santa Claus, say, but hand in hand with grandmother, grandfather, mom and dad. Maybe one of the elders will answer Santa Claus's questions first, and then the child. Well, I think in that case he won’t be afraid.

Presenter: What should parents do if the gifts the child asked for are beyond the family budget?

Guest: Long before the holiday, you can invite the child to write to Santa Claus and discuss what of what the child wrote that Santa Claus can really deliver. Talk to your child about why he needs this or that thing. If he wants everyone to see that he has something unique, then it doesn't have to be an expensive thing. Recently I came across a girl from a very wealthy family who was walking and simply beaming, and when I said: “You look so good today! What happened?” She said: “I’m wearing a dress that my grandmother knitted for me.” You should have seen the faces of the surrounding children! They have the opportunity to buy everything, but unfortunately not everyone has a grandmother who can knit. And if the child says that there really is such a thing, it is, of course, expensive, then you can agree with him that it may not be this year, but next year. next year. And not Santa Claus, who will give him a small toy, but the family, at the expense of something, will really give him what he needs.

Presenter: Is it possible to devote the entire vacation to going to different matinees, to some fabulous performances? Won't this be a burden on the child's psyche?

Guest: Everything should be in moderation, including joy. After all, our task is not just to give gifts to the child, but to make the events unforgettable, discuss something with him later, and make sure that the invaluable life experience that the child received is meaningful to him. And if every day we are in some kind of bustle, probably not everything will work out.

The ability to enjoy holidays, be it New Year or any other, does not arise by itself. The baby needs to be taught this.

And this is best done by personal example. How you want to become a wizard, at least for a day, in order to give your child that very New Year's miracle that he is so looking forward to.

Shall we try?

Certainly, New Year's miracles can't exist without Santa Claus! Any child and most parents absolutely know that this cheerful grandfather exists. Otherwise, where do the most desired gifts come from under the Christmas tree? And their appearance, of course, must occur in some mysterious way.

For example… Surprise on the balcony Why not congratulate your baby on December 31, when everyone is in an upbeat, festive mood? For example, go out to the balcony in the evening with your son or daughter and there, on the railing, find a beautifully packaged package with a note from Santa Claus.

It is clear that Frost simply did not have time to visit (after all, how many children he still has time to congratulate!), and, flying past, left a gift on the balcony.

Gift in the snow

Bring a bucket of snow from the street, pour it in a pile near the door on the landing, and put a gift on top (or even gifts for all family members). Don't forget to leave a few shoe prints in the snow big size. Then ask one of your neighbors to ring the doorbell and run back home. The main thing is that the child does not notice your absence.

When the doorbell rings, we all open the door together and find (well, isn’t this a miracle?) gifts and snow footprints - a clear sign that Frost had just been here. No mistakes! The main thing is not to repeat the mistake that one grandmother made. While her five-year-old granddaughter was changing into a smart dress, the grandmother rang the doorbell and in a “rude voice” began to ask whether Katyusha lived here and whether she was a good girl. What followed was a dialogue between the grandmother and “Moroz” about gifts. While the girl hastily pulled on her dress and ran out into the hallway, “Santa Claus has already left,” the grandmother was closing the door and holding a gift in her hands.

The “raffle” ended in bitter tears and resentment: “Why is it needed, this gift, if the real Santa Claus came and I didn’t see him?” If grandma was talking to Santa Claus, then he simply had to wait for his granddaughter! In general, the holiday was ruined...

And one more thing: don’t forget to better hide gifts from the ubiquitous kids before the holiday. Otherwise it will turn out like in the old joke:

Girls, Santa Claus turns out to be greedy! - Where did you get the idea? - And instead of bringing me a gift, he found a doll that my mother hid in the closet and put it under the Christmas tree...

Before calling your child to see if there is a gift under the Christmas tree, open the window and sprinkle some snow on the carpet - Santa Claus has flown in! Everything must be real.

Modern children become adults too early... And if it is in our hands to extend the fairy tale of childhood even just a little, let's do it! After all, the New Year is a holiday when even the most incredible miracles become possible.

We, parents, have long since passed the age when we believe in fairy tales and expect magic. Somewhere, even with regret, we remember that carefree time when on New Year’s Eve everything became mysterious, and the light tread of Santa Claus could be heard outside the door. And how much joy and happiness we had, running from early morning to look under the tree! Yes, of course, there, as expected, were the long-awaited gifts. There was no doubt: Santa Claus was coming.

Now we can watch with emotion the behavior of our children. We look at them, smile furtively when they listen to the steps outside the window and wonder how Santa Claus manages to get into the house: through the window or through the chimney? And how does he know all the children, not forgetting about anyone on this amazing night? We feel great satisfaction when kids jump for joy when they see bright boxes with gifts, and maybe this is our adult fairy tale - to make the New Year magical for our loved ones.

Preparations

A significant component of the New Year's mood is preparation for the holiday. Remember your feelings when, as a child, you walked into a store where Christmas balls, garlands and tinsel. The sight of these decorations made our souls feel warm and pleasant, because we understood that the long-awaited holiday was approaching, and everyone around us was preparing for it.

Start now to prepare for the New Year. There are a lot of different holiday decorations sold around, and they will certainly come in handy. Don’t be sad if you don’t have money for expensive things, because you can do a lot with your own hands. This will add even more pleasant pre-New Year bustle to your family. Children happily make New Year's crafts from colored paper and cardboard. In the store you can buy special “semi-finished products” - books made of paper and cardboard with wonderful pictures drawn in them. Christmas tree decorations that need to be cut and glued. A little imagination - and a world without borders will open up before you, every day you can make something new and interesting from eggshells, jars of yogurt, salt dough and many other improvised materials.

Tell your child in advance about what awaits him in the New Year, help him learn the poem, even if he doesn’t go to school. kindergarten. Invite your child to think about what gifts he can give to each family member, perhaps these are drawings or crafts that need to be made in advance. The child's involvement in preparations for the holiday will help him feel the approaching fairy tale.

Decorating the room

The first thing we do a few days (and some weeks) before the holiday is the New Year's decoration of our home. The Europeans are in many ways ahead of us in this regard, and we have a lot to learn from them. Look in magazines, on the Internet, set yourself the right mood: what to buy, where and what to hang.

To make the contrast visible, you can remove all the souvenirs, photo frames and other things that have decorated your room all year, and instead put New Year's candles, hang wreaths, hang tinsel and garlands. You can make your own wreaths from willow branches, multi-colored sparkles, bright rags and anything else you don’t mind using on the material at hand. If you have pictures from previous New Year celebrations, you don’t have to remove the photo frames, just replace the photos in them with New Year’s ones.

Try to keep your room decorated differently this year than last year. Let there be no familiar and boring details that you hang in the same places year after year. Dress up indoor flowers, make a small Christmas tree from bay leaves, green fluffy tinsel or other unusual materials. It doesn’t matter that in the hall you already have a large fir tree with lights and a star on the top, small fir trees on the windows in flower pots can make your interior stylish and unusual.

Spray cans with silver and gold paints will be a godsend for those looking for new ideas in home decoration. After all, if on an ordinary branch, painted in silver color, hang a few Christmas balls with red bows, it will turn out very well modern decoration. If you are a classicist, the same can be done with spruce branch: Spray powdered with gold, it will look very impressive anywhere in your home.

In addition to the visible details of the festive decoration of the home, there are also invisible ones that need to be paid attention to, because... they play a huge role in creating mood. These are smells. The right scent for New Year's Eve will help make the atmosphere in your home festive. To find something you like, look to air fresheners, scented candles and lamp oils, and other items designed to add scent to a room. There are special New Year's colors: pine needles, cinnamon, tangerine.

Outfits for New Year's Eve

What's a fairy tale without a costume? Make preparing your outfits for New Year's Eve part of a wonderful time. Let crowns, masks, wings, sparkling with multi-colored highlights, create a pre-holiday spirit in your home. Children love to try on their costumes, run around in them, spin in front of the mirror and imagine how they will come to a party where everyone will admire them.

Just a few small details will help you create an original outfit for your baby. Don’t be too lazy to embroider a girl’s ordinary dress with shiny tinsel, and the boy’s shorts and shirt with sequins in the shape of snowflakes. Make the children feel that not just another holiday is approaching, in which they need to dress neatly, but a fairy tale is coming, which wants to make the kids a part of it.

Princesses and Snowflakes, Bunnies and Pirates, Butterflies and Malvinas, Cats and Clowns - all these are the heroes of the upcoming performance. Tell children how they should behave according to their role. Princesses are well-mannered and neat, Bunnies are quiet and kind, Butterflies are graceful and smiling, Pirates are courageous and strong. Come up with a suitable character for your child’s image, remind him periodically before the holiday, tell him that the child should now learn to behave the way his hero will behave in the New Year. This can be a great incentive for your child to develop good habits.

Program

Don't expect New Year's Eve to be wonderful if you don't prepare for it. In order for the holiday to be a success and to be remembered for a long time, you need to work hard.
Plan your evening's program. Write everything down important points, which in your opinion should be at the holiday. Think about when and what is best to do. For example, it is best to stage a children's performance before 12 at night, while the kids have strength and enthusiasm. It is better to play more adult games as late as possible, when the children may already be asleep.

Find some original numbers, games or sweepstakes that have not yet been played in your family. To get the thrill, there should always be something fresh in your program.

If guests come to you, give them the task of preparing some kind of game or performance. Stock up on little surprises to reward children for rhymes, songs and dances.

Think about whether Santa Claus will come to you and at what time. It could be a neighbor in disguise, or even dad. Children in a storm of emotions will not notice the temporary disappearance of the head of the family. Poems and songs can be demonstrated to Santa Claus and he can give prizes. Make the entrance of the magical grandfather into your house mysterious (light tapping, quiet ringing of a bell, rustling in the hallway, etc.). If Santa Claus gives gifts to the kids, this can be the logical conclusion of the evening for the children: the performance is over, they saw Santa Claus, they received the gifts - and they can sleep.

For those who live in a private house, you can secretly decorate some part of your yard in a fabulous way, secretly from your children. Come up with your own New Year's story, build a magic cart, put a plush hare with a big shiny bow in it, act out a scene, let the hare (in your voice or the voice of a hidden participant) tell the children about some secret, maybe tell them that the Squirrel Queen wanted to take one of the gifts for herself children, and hid it in the yard. Let the children look for him, and the hare tell him where he might be.

Include neighbors or friends who have children in your presentation. Adults can help you arrange everything and, as if by chance, they will come to visit you with their children on a festive night. Children will be impressed by what is happening and will remember this New Year for a long time.

Surprises

We all love pleasant surprises, and the more unexpected they are, the more delighted we perceive them. Think about what you can do for your family, as well as for the guests who come. Perhaps our tips will give you some ideas and help you find an idea.

Words of confession. They can be written down on a piece of paper and then read at the appropriate moment. You can confess to anyone and anything, as long as your words come from the heart and are euphonious to the recipient. Make short speeches dedicated to everyone who came to the evening. For example, voice strengths each and praise them for them.
Notes of congratulations. Prepare small leaves of congratulations in advance, perhaps personalized ones, and discreetly place them on the participants of the holiday. They can end up in the most unexpected places: in a pie, in a pocket, on a plate.

If you have prepared gifts for everyone present, do not rush to hand them over: do it in an unusual way. If you put gifts under the tree for children, discreetly do the same for adults. If Santa Claus should bring gifts to the children, let him unexpectedly bring gifts to the adults.

Dress up with your children in costumes and go to the neighbor kids with congratulations and gifts. Introduce yourself as the heroes of a fairy tale, put on a performance. The participation of your children in such a congratulation will also be part of a wonderful holiday and will bring a lot of pleasure; your children will be pleased to see surprise and admiration on the faces of the neighboring kids.

Music and video

Make a special musical selection of adult and children's New Year's songs and just music. Turn them on every day before the holiday. Winter audio tales will also come in handy. There are entire discs with such recordings. They will evoke a pleasant feeling of the approaching New Year, beloved by everyone.

Also look for good films for family viewing, cartoons and fairy tales on New Year's and Christmas themes. Make it a tradition to watch just such films with your family several evenings before the holiday. They will help you not only get into the right mood, but also serve interesting ideas For New Year's decoration Houses.

Remember that a woman has always been the keeper of the home. And it was on her that the mood of all the relatives around her depended. Warmth, peace and comfort emanated from her.

You and I should not forget about our role in family holidays. I would like to wish us all a successfully created fairy tale, not overshadowed by vanity and fatigue. May the joy of the coming New Year give us enthusiasm in realizing our plans.

We offer you several simple tips how to do New Year's celebration even more magical and memorable for your children:

1. It is important that new Year gifts They were not just beautiful, but intricately and magically packaged so that they would attract the child with their wonderful and mysterious sparkle, their fabulous secret.

Show your imagination, even if there are several layers of packaging, you can come up with a game according to which the baby unwraps each subsequent wrapper, solving a simple riddle, for example. But even without any games, unwrapping bright, colorful packaging that shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow will give the child real pleasure.

2. To create a festive mood in your child in anticipation of the New Year, you can craft, write, and draw together with him New Year's greetings, gifts, toys for the Christmas tree and even a family wall newspaper.

Older children can be asked to prepare a speech or congratulation for a family celebration, or simply any holiday surprise they want.

3. Give New Year's gifts to children in the most unusual ways:

1) For example, for young children who are already familiar with some animals, it is these birds and four-legged friends that can “bring” gifts in exchange for a treat. For example, nuts or seeds sprinkled on the balcony will disappear, and instead of them, candies will appear, supposedly brought by squirrels. Or the mice will bring the baby a toy for a piece of cheese left under the door. And you can exchange the treats left for the animals for gifts on New Year's Eve.

2) Great will be the joy of a child who finds a wonderful gift from Winter itself on a balcony or in a snowdrift during a walk!

In order to prepare such a surprise, you need small gift, not afraid of cold and moisture. Pack it in a sealed metal or plastic box, wrap it in holiday packaging and freeze it in a saucepan with water - on the balcony or in the freezer of the refrigerator. There, in the water, you can add spruce branches, cones or needles, tinsel or.

You can put a transparent block of ice with these gifts on the balcony or hide it in a snowdrift, turning the search magical gift for a child in exciting game.

3) During a walk, even the invisible elves of Santa Claus can throw small gifts (edible ones) to the baby in the hood - for good behavior and excellent Christmas mood. Of course, before the walk you should tell your child an appropriate fairy tale, and put gifts in the hood unnoticed and then wonder how they got there.

4) If your child is already a little older and you want to give him some money, you can arrange for him a classic “field of miracles” from the fairy tale about Pinocchio. Let him bury a coin in a pot of soil on the eve of the New Year, and the next morning, together with the coins, he will find a tree branch “grown” in the ground with money-leaves attached to it.

4. If you want Father Frost or Santa Claus to come to your baby, it is not at all necessary to invite an actor or dress up dad in a beard and fur coat. Real magic is elusive, and traces of what came to the child will delight and intrigue the baby no less than the real figure.

Therefore, a late doorbell (ask friends or neighbors), snow footprints on the threshold and a gift tied to the door will become good surprise a child who ran to open the door for Santa Claus.

A beautiful congratulatory inscription or drawing from Santa Claus on the frosty outside of the window on New Year's morning, along with gifts left on the balcony or windowsill outside (decorated with toys or a fir branch), will have no less effect on the child.

2020 is coming soon. How quickly time flies! But not only years are running away, but also hours, minutes, seconds. If you want to feel the New Year approaching in advance and celebrate it without fuss and haste, start decorating your home right now. Ideas for New Year's decor are already in the air, and many of them can be suggested by children who will gladly take part in this pleasant and exciting process. Moreover, the children do not need to be urged on or rushed, and they themselves can easily add something new every day and gradually bring the festive interior to perfection. You may have to buy some, but most of the decorations can be made with your own hands from what you can find around the house.

Color matters: the main tone of New Year's decor

Recommendations for selection color range cannot serve as the ultimate truth. New Year's decor should fit harmoniously into the existing interior and only give it an elegant, festive look. But some tips may be useful.

Green, the color of pine needles, will be present in any case. To dilute it, you need to use not the entire rainbow palette, but only two or three contrasting tones. It is better to give preference to New Year's colors - red, gold, silver. Rich, bright shades of purple, blue, and turquoise also look good.

You can arrange everything in one color scheme- it is very effective and stylish option. Just don't forget about compatibility. If the interior of the apartment is designed in cold colors, choose the appropriate color scheme and silver, to warm shades add gold and red New Year's colors.

Several Christmas trees in the house - easy and simple

You don’t want to cover your walls with tinsel and garlands, and you don’t need to. But New Year without a tree is not a holiday, so we definitely put up a forest beauty. Everything is simple here: we prepared some free space, inspected last year’s toys, determined what needs to be purchased, and you can decorate the main one.

But, if you approach the issue creatively, you can not buy the missing toys, but make them yourself. And one more thing - in every room you can find a place for a homemade Christmas tree, and let the holiday be felt throughout the apartment at once.

Additional trees can be:

• – from beads, garlands, photographs,
• from scrap materials - wooden sticks, pine cones, pasta,
• – tinsel, rain, sweets and everything that comes to mind are glued onto the cone,
• knitted or collected from small balls,
• branches beautiful shape with silver or gold plating,
• ordinary indoor plant, properly decorated.

Just let the trees not be of the same type, but different in texture, shape and method of execution.

And now - toys. Made with love and imagination, they will turn your New Year into the warmest, most soulful and cozy holiday. You can wrap simple Christmas balls with scraps of fabric, knit clothes with them from colored yarn, and paint them acrylic paints, make compositions from pine cones, funny felt figures. Bake in the shape of stars and Christmas trees with a small hole for a ribbon and hang it on the branches - both tasty and beautiful.

Decorating windows and doors

The windows are the eyes of the house, the door is the face. Let your apartment look out at the world around you and welcome guests with joy.

Let's start with the windows:

• place compositions of branches, pine cones and candles on the windowsills,
• arrange and hang bright New Year's balls,
• cut from plastic bottles or thick paper,
• make garlands from flags, funny figures, Christmas socks.

If you are interested in or are simply familiar with this technique, create fairy-tale, illuminated, magical figures and winter scenes.

Doors are usually decorated with wreaths. Get creative, create your own wreath or improve an existing one. Everything comes into play:

• dried citrus slices,
• winter berries – rowan, cranberry,
• cut flower buds,
• bright candies,
• corks, beads,
• cones, coniferous branches, ribbons,
• bows, tinsel, garlands.

A wreath can be used to decorate not only a door, but also a wall, window, furniture or chandelier.

New Year's lighting and table setting

New Year is unthinkable without candles. Let there be many of them, make beauty with your own hands. Arrange white and colored candles in glass vases, glasses, ordinary jars, one-third filled with sea salt or red berries, wrap with cinnamon sticks, cover with green twigs.

A composition with a live fire will come in handy anywhere, and especially in the center of a festive dinner. It is better to set the table in the same colors that predominate in the interior decoration. Each plate can be equipped with the name of the guest or a small card with a wish. Dishes to your taste, but depict some kind of dish on each new year symbol very desirable.

Decorate your home with love, involve everyone at home, and you will get real pleasure. And also - nice bonus in the form of quite tangible savings, since creating all New Year's beauty Can with my own hands. Have a nice winter evening and a happy New Year!