I was playing with paper bags today. I was looking at some paper bags I had at home, thinking about Rachelle's Creativity Challenge over at Tinkerlab ... coming up with a child-directed project using paper bags. I love using paper bags to make BOOKS, and so the idea I submitted to the challenge was one that we did in preschool around Thanksgiving ... making our Thankful Thanksgiving Books.

But while I was playing with the bags today ... I thought I would share what I came up with for my daughter's upcoming birthday party. She is having a Disney-themed party ... so I kept thinking "mouse" ... what can I make that looks like a mouse? I had these very cute small paper bags (3 1/2" x 6 3/4") and as I played around with it, I wound up making a small treat bag that looks like a mouse. Now, maybe it doesn't look exactly like Mickey .. but put a bow on the top, and we definitely have the resemblance of Minnie!

To make the bags, I first cut about 2 1/2" off the top of the bag to shorten it a bit. Then I had circle-oval shaped black foam pieces and used those for the ears. I glued those into the fold of the paper bag.

I cut oval shapes out of white cardstock, and then smaller black ovals for the eyes and nose. I used small piece of pink foam for the mouth, and finished off with a black marker for the whiskers. I found a Minnie bow clipart online, printed and cut out for Minnie's bow.

You can fill the bag with small treats, and seal it up with glue.

Now, the question is ... should I pre-make and fill these for my daughter's party - or have the materials out for the children to make their own bags and then fill seal them before they leave? I'm a preschool teacher ... so I'm thinking the latter!