How to Make a Santa's Treats Tray

Before you get started on the project, make sure you lay out all the materials. This project includes one bottom, two sides, two handles and ten nails. Lay them on or near the working space to make working on the project a bit easier.

You'll also receive a sticker sheet to decorate the tray. Be sure to have the kids (or help the kids) read over the instructions before getting started.

To complete this project you'll need:

• Hammer
• Safety glasses and mask
• Sandpaper
• Wood glue

Prior to putting the wood pieces together, use your sandpaper to sand the wood. This will remove any rough edges.

• Place the two sides of wood on their narrow edge.
• Add a bit of glue along the edge, making sure not too over glue.
• Now place the bottom piece of wood on top of the wood glue. Make sure the edges are lined up perfectly and wipe away any excess glue.

• Once the wood glue has had a few minutes to set, it's time to secure the bottom to the sides with nails.
• Using your hammer and six nails, nail the bottom piece of wood to the sides.

• Stand the tray up on one side.
• Add a bead of glue to each side and attach the handle.
• Let the glue set for about a minute before securing with a nail.

• Using your hammer and remaining nails, secure the handles.
• Add one nail on each side of the handle.
• Keep in mind, it may take a helper to hold the tray while you hammer the nails in.

• Now that both handles have been added to the tray, it's time to apply the sticker.
• Carefully peel off the sticker and slowly apply it to the middle of the tray.

Let the kids get creative with the tray. If they want to add extra stickers to the tray, stain or paint it with glow in the dark paint, this is the perfect way to put their own spin on the project. Enjoy!

If you can't get a Santa's treats tray kit from The Home Depot, you can make your own version at home.

You'll need:

• Cardboard box (with 8.5” x 11” or smaller)
• 1 cereal box
• Stenciled letters
• Craft paint
• Paint brush
• Scissors or utility knife
• Napkin

To make the cardboard version, you will need one bottom, two sides and two handles. You can cut all of these out before beginning your project with either your scissors or your utility knife.

This DIY treat tray comes with printable templates that can be printed out on your home printer. See ThriftDiving.com for the bottom, side and handle templates.

Use the edge of your fingernail or a blunt object to make a crease in the fold lines of the side pieces. Unfold it and lay them flat after making the creases. A utility knife works best for cutting out the handles to ensure you get a smooth cut.

Using craft paint and a paintbrush, paint the bottom piece of thick cardboard and let it thoroughly dry.

• Use a glue gun, add a bead of hot glue to the edge of the side piece.
• While the glue is still hot, gently lay the bottom piece of the tray onto the edge of the side with the hot glue to secure the pieces together.
• Once glued, the bottom of the cardboard Santa tray should have a side piece attached to each side.

After hot gluing the sides to the bottom of the tray, use craft paint to paint the sides. Let it thoroughly dry before moving on to the next step.

Now,
use craft paint to apply paint to the handles.

Use an alphabet stencil or another stencil of your choice to create a design on the tray.

Don’t apply too much paint or else the paint will seep underneath the stencil. If you get bleeding paint under your stencil, use some of the red (or tray color) to fix the mistakes.

The sides of the Santa tray should fold up onto itself to create rectangular sides.

• Use hot glue to secure them in place.
• Remove any hot glue that seeps out after it dries.

• Add hot glue to the edges of the handles to secure them to the tray.
• Paint any left over areas that need to be painted, and use extra hot glue to fill in any gaps where the sides meet the handles.

Whether you purchase one of The Home Depot Kids Workshop kits, or you make your own out of cardboard, your kids are sure to enjoy this fun project.

Make the activity even better by picking up some of your favorite ingredients to make homemade cookies for Santa, letting the kids set it out the night before Santa comes!