Christmas is the time to indulge in sweets. You can turn a small dowel into a peppermint candy treat by covering it in colourful ribbon stripes. Bundle a trio of these cool confections together with a big bow. Add an ornament hook and hang them on your tree. Or use them as decorations on gift-wrapped packages.

You will need:

• Cookie sheet
• Kitchen aluminum foil
• Scissors
• Four 1 foot lengths of 1/4 inch wide ribbon, 1 in light pink, 1 in dark pink, 1 in red, and 1 in white
• Glue stick
• 4 inch length of 5/8 inch wide wooden dowel
• Two 1/4 inch sticker dots in red

To make:

1 Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

2 Using scissors, cut ribbon lengths in half to form eight 6 inch lengths. Set all aside but one.

3 Lay ribbon length on cookie sheet. Using glue stick, apply thin coat of glue to one side of ribbon, leaving 1/4 inch unglued at one end.

4 Adhere glued end of ribbon to top of dowel. Twist ribbon around dowel, creating a spiral. Leave approximately 1 inch between spirals. Adhere ribbon to bottom of dowel. Snip off excess ribbon. Set dowel aside and allow to dry completely.

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 with remaining lengths of ribbon, overlapping and alternating colors of ribbon as desired. You may not need all ribbon lengths to completely cover the dowel.

6 Place red sticker dots at top and bottom of dowel. If necessary, reinforce with glue.