A Bevy of Cones

I'm in a Bunco group. You know . . . that dice game . . . where a bunch of girls gets together and plays a little . . . chats a little . . . eats a little . . . drinks martinis (Cosmos!) a little. We really do less playing and more hanging out. It's always a nice girl's night out once a month or so.

Our group's been together for four years now. It's a great group of girls. Every year in December, we forego playing and get together for a Christmas dinner instead. We've gone to restaurants, and we've done pot-luck dinners. This year, it's out to a restaurant. We also do a Secret Santa gift exchange. The past two years I set it up using the Elfster site. If you do gift exchanges or Secret Santas for any kind of group, I highly recommend this site. It's great! You can write and view gift lists, you can communicate anonymously with your giver and receiver, you can set-up the exchange so certain people don't get other's names; i.e., spouses. It automatically "shuffles" the names on the date you tell it to, and emails everyone with their partner. It's really cool!

Anyway, we do the gift exchange, but a few of us like to do a little something for each girl. This year I'm doing treat cones. I'll be getting to the restaurant a bit early and tying one of these cones filled with yummy chocolates to the back of each girl's chair. Now, those of you Bunco girls who read my blog, don't spoil the surprise! ;o)

Hopefully, if I get good pics, I'll share our wonderful night out. Below are some of my favorite cones from the 16 that I made. (Sorry for the low light. I wanted to get this post up before I left for work this morning, and there was no good light coming in anywhere in my house.)

I've quickly shown you, below, some of the basic supplies I use when creating these cones.

The cones above are empty yarn cones. They are made from very sturdy cardboard. You can find them pretty easily on ebay and Etsy. I've found them much cheaper, usually, on ebay and in good-size quantities. The trims are from JoAnns and the crepe paper ruffle I order from someone on Etsy (sorry, can't remember who it was now). Every time I go into the fabric store, I buy 2 or 3 yards of a couple styles of trim and just keep stocked up. Then, of course, plain old crepe paper to make the ruffles and rosettes. I have a whole basket of different colors in my craft room.

Lots of pretty Christamsy scrapbook paper. As a scrapbooker, I'm never in short supply of decorative papers. Pretty gift tags and printed chipboard shapes adds nice accents along with adhesive gems, glitter, etc. . . . whatever craft supplies you have laying around.

I hope you try these cones. They are really super-simple, and a lot of fun. And they're great for any time of the year and any occasion. Have a terrific day, everyone!