Bad Crafts: Christmas crafts, graded from worst to best

There are a whole host of seasonal crafts that only really get trotted out at Christmas. I think most of us have done one of these at some point or another.

Cranberry Garlands: F
Cranberry garlands look so pretty when Martha Stewart does them. Have you ever tried to make one? The cranberries are hard, so you have to stab them with the needle, which is both tiring to the hands and likely to stab yourself. Juice gets everywhere. Half the berries just fall off. It's a huge, dripping mess.

And then what? You really want to hang this thing inside? It's just going to get moldy.

Popcorn Garlands: D-
Only marginally better than cranberry garlands. Popcorn is easier to stab with a needle, but it's harder to get the kernel just right so that it doesn't fall off the string. You still stab your fingers and get bits of popcorn everywhere.

Orange Studded With Cloves: C-
Cheap and easy to make, and smells great for about ten minutes. Then the orange starts going bad, and you can't pin down where that sickly-sweet rotting smell is coming from at first.

Spraying Designs On Your Windows In Fake Snow: C+
These are fun to make, it's like a socially acceptable form of graffiti. No one is going to be fooled into thinking the frost on your window arranged itself into those snowflake shapes, but they look cute at the time.

On the down side: having to clean it off once the holidays are over. What's in that fake snow spray, anyway? And why is a window decorating product so hard to get off windows?

Strings of Paper Loops: B+
These are dumb, but I love making them. No mess, fun, and easy to make and deploy.

Paper Snowflakes: A+
Paper snowflakes are rad, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise.

Image courtesy Flickr/cheeseslave