We’re trying to make some of Ender’s gifts this year, which I hope, if we start when he’s too young to complain, we can continue on as a tradition. Most of that creative energy is going into his big gifts, but I saw a tutorial on Mox and Molly (Via Strollerderby) for some sponge bath toys that looked really easy. Well they were as easy as promised, but now that I’ve made them I’m not sure they’re small enough to fit in a stocking. I had two sponges left, so I cut them horizontally instead of vertically and made a pair of teeny ones that will fit better, and I’m sure Ender will enjoy all four sponge stars in the water.

My plan was to fill the rest of the stocking with a set of loose soft blocks, but then it occurred to me that I had a couple empty spice containers I could probably use for something.

I decided to make a pair of rattles, figuring that even though Ender is possibly nearing the end of optimal rattle age, kids don’t outgrow noise makers for much longer.

My first thought was to fill one entirely with bells. I assumed, foolishly, that it would sound like bells.

Apparently bells need a bit of space to really “ring” so this rattle didn’t sound anything at all like bells in spite of being made up entirely of bells. It did sound pretty cool though, sort of like a rain stick. It’s also super sensitive, so if you brush up against the table where it’s resting, the whole thing kind of shivers.

Listen: bells

For the second rattle, I put in a bunch of pebbles, eventually settling on about an inch for optimal sound. This gives a nice solid clunking sound. The spice top has a lid that flips up to attached holes, I think it held pepper flakes. I thought about gluing it shut, but the sound is much better with it open, so sometime in the next couple days I’ll cut it off instead and figure out someway to smooth the plastic.

Listen: rocks

So the second week of December and we’ve got 4 stocking stuffers for the price of bells and sponges. Not too bad.