Photo: Erik Putz
1. Spray mini Bundt pans with oil. Fill the pans halfway up with packaged cake batter. (Tip: Use a mini ice cream scoop.) Arrange on a tray and bake according to cake package directions.
2. Melt green Candy Melts in the microwave. Dip the top of a cooled cake into melted candy, then place on parchment paper. Add sprinkles immediately.
3. Use a red licorice string to tie a tiny bow. (Don?t knot the bow too tightly or it will break.) Press bow into Candy Melt and let cakes set, about 30 min.

illustration: Flo Leung
Serve

Stack your food spread with some healthy options, too. These Santa-Claus-on-a-stick fruit snacks feature pieces of banana, strawberry hats, and big and mini marshmallows (for the hat?s pom-pom and trim) on skewers. Add red candies and chocolate sprinkles for the face. Or make a Christmas tree out of broccoli florets arranged flat on a tray, with draping carrot stick garlands, cherry tomato bulbs, and a star topper made from yellow pepper slices. Activity

After ornament making and cake devouring, the kids will need some post-sugar-high quiet time. Build a reindeer pen in the TV room (a blanket-and-chair fort filled with pillows will do) and settle in for a showing of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, complete with a bowl of reindeer feed (popcorn or trail mix). Outfit your herd with dollar store antler headbands.
illustration: Flo Leung
Loot

Send the smallest guests home with packets of DIY Snowman Juice. Put a few scoops ...