We enjoy making quick and simple games to play like this Holiday Tic Tac Toe game board. And nothing is better than homemade! Tic Tac Toe was once called Noughts & Crosses and there are several variations dating back to Ancient Egypt, around 1300 BC.
What is more fun than making a holiday Tic Tac Toe that can easily go in the car to all the festive holiday gatherings?!? This board can easily be made with a birthday theme, Halloween, Valentine’s and any other holiday that you want to have a little extra fun with! You can gift it or make it as a family.
For our game board, we made a couple variations — my daughter made my Tic Tac Toe Board from polymer clay and for hers, she glued ribbon onto her pouch. We sewed simple pouches to store all the pieces in. I left my bag open whereas she made a drawstring top. You can also have the pouch close with velcro or even snaps or buttons. The options are endless — you really can do anything you like. The pieces we made from polymer clay and then I baked them in the oven at a low temperature. The next day, they were ready to use since I always leave them in the oven overnight to finish baking and harden. It’s so much fun!
Let’s get started!
First, we will sew the pouch for our game board and store our pieces. Plus it makes for easy storage and transport this way! Cut the fabric 19” long and 8” wide. Fold in half and iron.
Next, fold top edge over, iron and then fold over again. This will give us a nice top edge. Do this at both edges.
I am lining my bag so my polymer clay pieces do not break as easily. You can leave it one layer (with no lining) like my daughter did — it is totally up to you. Here is what it looks like so far.
You can make a drawstring top if you like. To do this fold edge over just as we are above but fold over a bit extra so you have room to string through the ribbon or jute for a drawstring. Then sew along the bottom edge. I often place my ribbon in and then sew. I find it’s much easier than stringing it through after. I share how I did the drawstring in a bit more detail, here in my post: Old Fashioned Tic Tac Toe.
This time, I decided that I will just fold over my bag to close it. I may add a button and string to close my bag but I haven’t yet decided.
Time to sew. Sew along the edge.
And here it is with the top edge sewed. Do this for both ends.
Now normally I would say fold good edge to good edge to sew, but since it is lined, we will sew with this top edge outwards. This seam will be the inside of the bag. Pin edges.
Starting at the right top, sew down, along the bottom and up to the top left.
If you are doing a drawstring top, be sure to turn in the side edge and sew, so the top will have a nice edge. Then sew from the top seam down, being careful to not sew through the ribbon or the bag will not close, or the ribbon will not go through. Since I am not doing a drawstring closure, I am sewing from the very top of the bag. Be sure to backstitch. I sew with the fabric edge at the edge of my presser foot.
When you get to the bottom, be sure the needle is in the fabric, pick up presser foot and turn the fabric. Place presser foot down and sew again.
Be sure to hold the fabric from the back (but do not pull, just lightly guide the fabric), and guide with your front hand.
Once we get to the corner, pick up the presser foot, turn the fabric, place presser foot down again and continue sewing, removing pins as you go along.
Almost done!! Backstitch at the end.
Bag is complete!! Trim threads and edges. You can use a presser foot with a guide so your stitching is perfectly straight.
I decided to trim the edges a bit so it is not so bulky inside.
Trim the bottom corners at an angle. This will allow the corners to not only look better, but square up more easily when you flip the bag.
Flip the bag!! This is always my favorite part!
Iron.
And it’s now complete! This is a great bag for anything! But we are going to turn this into a Holiday Tic Tac Toe bag!
You can make the Tic Tac Toe grid from ribbon, jute, fabric, pipe cleaners, embroidery or polymer clay like I am. There’s so many options!
I decided to make hot chocolate mugs and marshmallows for my Tic Tac Toe pieces and a candy cane Tic Tac Toe grid.
You will need 5 pieces of one shape and 5 of another. I have 5 hot chocolates and 5 marshmallows. I might draw on smiley faces to make them cute!
All the pieces will go in the bag and be pulled out and placed on the bag to play.
Here’s polymer clay pieces…though they’re far from perfect, I love them, they’re adorable! You can take a lot of time to make it much more intricate, but I like simple when it comes to polymer clay.
I bake the clay at a low temperature, about 185F for about 5 to 10 minutes, depending upon the thickness of the clay. After, I check it by poking the clay with my finger – if it feels hard I shut the oven off, crack the door just a bit and leave the clay to harden in the oven overnight. If the clay feels soft, I bake it another 2 minutes and then check it again. I never cook food at the same time because of the fumes the clay can give off. I always bake the clay at night so the oven can air out as well.
So much fun to play!! And a perfect past time for kids!! Who wouldn’t love to create their own Tic Tac Toe game bag and play!?!
And when game time is done, it is easy to put everything away!
And just like that, it’s all put away!! All the pieces are inside. When picking it up, I keep it flat but if a child is picking it up by the top (I’d add handles for easy carrying), then be sure the clay pieces have no parts that could easily break. The mini marshmallows on the hot chocolates would definitely break off.
Fun right!?! And this can be made for any holiday. It is a great homemade gift to give at the holidays or to keep the family busy on a cold, snowy (or rainy) afternoon!
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours