A Little Homemade Puppet Theater And Puppet Show!

With my son, Daniel, and his wife, Melissa heading up to spend Christmas with her family this year we had the added bonus of having two Christmases this year.  So we all got together last weekend to celebrate before they left.  I wanted to make it fun so I started thinking about some games we could play and things we could do.  After stumbling onto some little Christmas character puppets at the Dollar Tree I had a last minute thought.  Maybe it’d be fun to make a homemade puppet theater and puppet show for my grandkids, Kaisley and Eli.

I just needed to come up with something to use as my “theater”.  It was so last minute I didn’t have a lot of time to concoct something outstanding, but I did find an old box stored in the garage so I decided that would do.  I cut off the front and cut out a place in the back for the puppets to be inserted through.  Still not quite a theater yet, in fact I’d say it was even a bit sad looking.  It needed some serious snazzin’ up

So I dug around and found some old wrapping paper…

And decided to “decorate” the outside to look like a large Christmas gift box.

Inexpensive, quick and easy.

Next I used this plastic Christmas tablecloth I got at the Dollar Tree and cut it so that it covered the back…..

To hide where my hands would slip in and out of….

Then I used the rest of it to make little curtains for the front.  I just stapled it right to the box.  I tied paper ribbon around the middle to pull them to the sides.

Inside I added batting you would normally use for something like a Christmas village.  I put it on the floor and in the back to hide the cutouts for my hands.

Next I added some little props…….little decorations I had around my house already like this sleigh….

And these little Christmas trees.

 And, here are the stars of the show….my hand puppets from the Dollar Tree (and my inspiration!) – Snowman, Rudolph and Santa!  Now keep in mind I was in a hurry and made this in about an hour…..so it’s not the Taj Majal!!!  But, if you took your time and used wood for the theater instead of a box and real fabric, etc, just think how much fun you could have. 

And, yes, I’m just dorky enough…..just nerdy enough to have written up a little skit so I could stay on course.  (Not that I stayed on course anyway….I dropped the sheet, completely forgot what I was supposed to say and ended up adlibbing the entire last half of the skit!)

I’m not going to pretend my strengths lie in my puppet “acting”, directorial skills, and playwriting, but for these little ones…they were quite mesmerized.  And the rest of us….well we laughed though the entire ordeal.  It was a fun for the little ones and hysterical for the older ones.

Unbeknownst to me my daughter-in-law videoed the entire thing with her iphone so I posted it below for a little added fun.  Trust me when I say it’s not the best quality and keep in mind there was no “rehearsal” so you get what you get.  She filmed it in two parts, because it would have been too long as one video.  So we lost a little bit of the beginning, a little in the middle and a little in the end.  But, all in all, you’ll get the gist of it. 

Remember it’s JUST SIMPLE FUN for my family and nothing more.  Don’t judge me!!!! 

This first “act” starts out really dark for a few seconds, but then it will lighten up so you can see it better. 

This second act below was cut off at the beginning and the end, but again, you’ll still get the lighthearted “silly fun” in the whole thing.

I know…..super goofy, huh?  But, my little grandmunchkins had some fun with it!  And, that’s what it’s all about!

                      Happy Christmas and Happy Decorating!!!!