Tree for Treats – Christmas decoration gallery 2022

First place
Finlay, age 12

Congratulations to our competition winner Finlay who made this wonderful snowman from salt dough (which he also made himself).

Finlay decorated his snowman using his alcohol markers, he has given him a jolly smiley face and drawn the VICTA logo on his tummy.

This isn’t any ordinary snowman though! Finlay has given him his very own white cane made using a cotton wool bud. He has “Merry Christmas” written in braille running down one side on a gold strip.

Well done Finlay, we loved your snowman and his jolly personality!

Second place
Mera, age 11

Congratulations to Mera who made this light up snowman! Mera has written a lovely description of her decoration:

“Hello, my name is Mera Bedran. I am 11 years old. I made a snowman figure like the one in The Snowman story. I used a white sock and I filled it with wool and I used black pepper to make the eyes and buttons and cinnamon stick to make the smiley mouth. For the nose I used cardamom to add the smell of Christmas to my snowman. I used green fabric to make the hat and scarf and added VICTA fairy lights inside. My mum helped me to use the hot glue gun and to sew the hand at the end. I have called my snowman ‘The VICTA Snowman’.”

Third place
Stevie, age 13

Congratulations to Stevie who made a beautiful string garland with different tactile elements to enjoy!

Stevie has used red wool with red and white striped pegs to attach the decorations to her string. She has made a pipe cleaner candy cane, a white glittery paper snowflake, a tactile paper angel with a pipe cleaner halo, a paper bell with a real bell hanging from it, a sliver star decorated with stickers and braille, a paper Christmas tree with raised paint tinsel, a snowman decorated with cotton wool, a wreath made from strung beads decorated with a paper reindeer and a bell, and a red pompom bauble.

Felicity, age 11

Felicity made this lovely card star, decorated with a tactile snowman, VICTA rainbow and sequins. 

“Felicity’s decoration is sensory to feel. The snowman was made using play foam which can be moulded. The scarf and face were made using wiki sticks and the snow around the outside was sequin snow flakes and pretend snow. The VICTA rainbow is made with wiki sticks.”

Freyja, age 15

“Freyja’s decoration is enclosed in a bauble. As it is not sensory to feel, she has added bells to make it audible. Her decoration shows The Snowman standing in pretend snow beside some Christmas trees. The Snowman has a green hat and scarf on and three black buttons on his tummy. He is smiling and has an orange nose.”

Students from the VI provision at Moor End Academy

“‘The Snowmen and the Snow Dogs’ made by the children in the VI provision at Moor End Academy. We have used cloves, oranges and cinnamon sticks to give the scent of Christmas.”

Slices of baked orange have been painted white and decorated to look like snowmen using cloves, gems, buttons and sequins. They have been strung together with cinnamon reindeer heads to make dangling garlands. They smell delicious!

Well done to:

Bellah-Rae, age 11
Roaminie, age 11
Zaina, age 11
Thomas, age 12
Emily, age 12
Neha, age 12
Aqsa, age 14
Hooriya, age 14
Hanna, age 14

Students from the VI provision at Dalton School

The snowmen look so jolly all together! They have been made using two white foam circle shapes to form the head and body and then individually decorated as they describe:

“The children have made these fun snowmen and worked on their cutting skills in the process. They have a warm scarf, a festive tummy and faces with eyes chosen by the children.”

Well done to: 

Fatima, age 5
Maaz, age 5
Harry, age 4
Umaymah, age 5
Abdur, age 5
Benji, age 7
Haider, age 6
Adam, age 6
Eben, age 8
Adam, age 8
Isobel, age 9

Thomas, age 13

Thomas has cut out a snowman shape from white card and decorated it with wobbly eyes, a face with rosy cheeks drawn in felt tip, a purple felt scarf and gloves with black felt tip details, lollipop stick arms and sequin buttons. 

Christine, age 7

Christine has also made a white card snowman with lollipop stick arms, wobbly eyes and a purple felt scarf. His buttons are stuck on with glitter and a glittery star shape. 

Patrick, age 9

Patrick has made a cute pompom snowman, with an orange, carrot-like nose, blue feather arms and stylish white glasses made from felt!

Esmee, age 4

Esmee’s tree has been made by gluing sticks together and decorated with beads and snowflake shaped sequins.

“Esmee has severe cerebral palsy in all 4 limbs and partially blind. She explores with her left hand and her mouth, she enjoyed making this little tree a lot.”

Abbie, age 6

“Abbie loved listening to lots of Christmas songs while she cut out her snowman from white card and shook LOTS of rainbow colours – silver, blue, pink, purple and gold glitter over the parts she glued. The head and body are silver glitter. The shiny gold paper hat has pink and blue glitter. Abbie added a pink pompom with gold sparkly strands to the hat. The orange card nose like a carrot has stripes of pink, glue and gold glitter. The gold stripy paper scarf has gold glitter dots. Abbie scrunched up silver tissue paper for two eyes. Abbie said the cotton wool was for snow on the body and added two pink heart gemstone buttons ‘because it is a girl snowman’. She sprinkled some peppermint scent onto the cotton wool so the decoration smells like Christmas candy canes. She used her cane to walk to the post box to post her entry with her vision support teacher Claire and her rehabilitation and mobility officer Jeff.”

Dextar, age 7

Dextar has decorated black card to make a Christmassy snow man scene. He has described his decoration for us:

“I thought a normal snowman would be boring so mine is flying over a Christmas tree. But he is asleep, so his eyes are closed. He has a great disguise as he looks like a cloud. I made my snowman from cotton wool. My Christmas tree is made of wood. I coloured it in and added pompoms.”

Ethan, age 2

Ethan has decorated red card with stickers, cotton wool and glitter:

“My snowman is melting because the sun is coming out. I used lots of glitter!”

Margo, 10 months

Margo has decorated a yellow card bauble shape with shades of green paint. We imagine she got very messy painting this, well done Margo!

Elsie, age 2

Elsie has brought a printed snowman to life by decorating him with cotton wool balls, blue glitter for his hat and a tactile scarf!

Poppy, age 10

Poppy has made a lovely snow cloud using see through Perspex, cotton wool, glitter and sequins. She described her decoration for us: 

“I wanted to use lots of textures. I thought it would be fun to make a glittery snow cloud with a felt Santa hat so I’ve made the magic cloud that made the Snowman. The cloud is Perspex with cotton wool, nail varnish, shiny snowflake stickers and a Merry Christmas sticker. The ribbon is like a tiny snowy sky too.”

Oliver (6), Jessica (2) and Amelia (4)

Oliver, Jessica and Amelia have filled clear plastic baubles with different Christmas themes. Oliver has filled his with small pieces of scrunched red and green tissue paper. Jessica has filled hers with snow shimmer and silver snowflake sequins. Amelia filled hers with a pompom snowman, two fir trees and a tiny polar bear.

Jack, age 10

Jack has used orange card to create a 3D triangular tree shape. The tree has holes punched into it making it tactile and lights drawn on using felt tip.

“My name is Jack, I am 10 years old. My decoration is orange with a purple string it has dots and lights on both.”

Jessica, age 6

Jessica has cut a circle from orange card and decorated it using felt tip pen.

“My name is Jessica, I am 6 years old. This is my orange Christmas treat decoration it says ‘Christmas is here’ and it has a green string.”

Mia, age 5

Mia has made a very cheerful reindeer from foam shapes, he has a glittery red scarf.

Ellie (12) and Keira (7)

Ellie and Keira made these lovely snowmen that smell good enough to eat! They have written their own descriptions for us: 

Keira: “This is my snowman, he is made from a sock stuffed with rice and Christmas spices. I made him a hat from a Christmas sock and stuck a big green sparkly pompom on top. I gave him wiggly eyes, a pipe cleaner circle nose and drew a black dotty mouth, with pink cheeks. He has three pink flower buttons on his body, a scarf with a pin badge and I made him a bell necklace to make him jingle.”

Ellie: “I have made a special sock snowman. He is stuffed with rice, stuffing and a secret mix of Christmas spices to make him smell Christmas! I have given him two big wiggly eyes, an orange pompom nose, black gems for the mouth (in a smile) and two pink gems for the cheeks. He is wearing a red and white scarf and a holly leaf sock hat. I have sewn a gold jingly bell to his hat so you can hear him. He also has three big buttons on his body, a pink flower, a lime green circle and a bright green circle. The snowman is wearing a VICTA pin badge on his scarf. He is quite heavy, so if you don’t have a real tree for him to sit in the branches of, then it would be best if he guarded the presents at the bottom. If you have a train at the bottom, he could ride on the train, or be the driver. I hope you like him.”

Matthew, age 16

Matthew has finger painted the ‘Snow Dog’ onto a round piece of wood.

Adam, age 13

Adam has created a snowman’s head by filling a clear plastic bauble with cotton wool. He’s made a fantastic top hat from black card, added a blue felt scarf and used black tissue paper for his eyes and mouth. His nose is an orange gem that looks like a carrot.

Dayzie, age 13

“Dayzie has decorated a glass bauble with snow on the inside and outside. It is an open bauble so you can feel the snowman inside who is holding hands with a little boy and the boy is holding a dog. There are trees in the background.”

Om and Ayushi 

Ayushi helped Om to cut out the snowman. They made a ribbon scarf and stuck on cotton wool, bells, a cut out red hat and nose.

Romi, age 2

Romi really enjoyed mixing her own salt dough and making her star. She painted it red as although she is colour blind, it’s always the colour that she picks out. Well done Romi, it’s a lovely Christmas star!

Now on display at centre:mk

After enjoying them in the office, the decorations are now on display as part of the centre:mk Christmas display in Middleton Hall. You will find them alongside the train near the penguins, just outside the main John Lewis entrance. A big thank you to centre:mk for displaying them on their beautiful trees!