Decorating the Christmas tree with your family is one of those traditions you look forward to all year. Unwrapping passed-down ornaments brings back so many memories.
And if you’re feeling inspired, you can grow your collection—or switch things up entirely—with a homemade decorations that will bring back memories in holidays to come.
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From beautiful glass globes to Christmas-themed crafts your kids create, there are countless meaningful ornaments you can make together. If you’re wondering how to get started with homemade Christmas tree ornaments, here are a few ideas to spark your creativity.
Paper Candles
Candles are a great way to bring a warm cozy ambiance to your home, but using real candles around kids might be considered dangerous.
Luckily these adorable paper candles make great DIY Christmas tree ornaments and are a fun way to add elegance and style to your tree.
You can use the same types of materials to make a crafty hanukkah menorah.
For Christmas tree paper candle decorations, you will need small baking cups, paper (yellow and textured), gold glitter, a hot glue gun, and clips.
Cut out small rectangular pieces of paper, which you will roll into a tube forming the candle body.
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Then cut out a small flame from the yellow paper, glue on some glitter and attach it to the top of the candle.
Use the hot glue gun to create dripping wax at the top of the candle and cover it with glitter.
Coat the baking cup with glue and cover it in glitter, then attach the bottom of the candle to the baking cup.
Next, glue the clip to the bottom of the cup so you can use it to secure the candle to the tree.
Salt Dough Ornaments
Salt dough is the perfect messy medium to create your homemade ornaments. This modeling material made of flour, salt, and water can be dried in the oven, meaning you don't have to wait for your creations to air dry. What's great about salt dough is you can make very realistic tree ornaments, such as:
- Donuts, gingerbread men, snowflakes, animals, stars, candy cane, snowmen, and more.
- Photo frames - use a cookie cutter to create a photo frame, and once the dough dries, insert a picture and decorate the frame. You can use these frames to hang pictures of loved ones.
- Tiny Christmas trees - you can use a tree cookie cutter to create these and spruce them up using some acrylic paint, ribbons, and glitter.
- Handprint ornaments - use the dough to make handprints of everyone and decorate them like Santa, elves, or Christmas trees.
- Your initials - you can use the dough to create letters spelling out your name or your initials, paint them, add some glitter, and string them up.
The standard salt dough recipe calls for 2 cups of white flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1 cup of water. Combine the flour and salt first, then gradually stir in the water. Knead your dough for several minutes to get a smooth Playdoh-like consistency.
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Form the dough into any shape you want. Then place your pieces on a baking sheet with foil and place in a 250 degree oven. Bake time will vary depending on the size of your creations, but 30 minutes is a good starting place.
Bake until the surface turns a golden brown. Once they've cooled, you can paint them, glue other decorations or glitter to them, or leave them natural, whatever you choose.
Mini Bells
Jingle bells anyone? Add these pretty ornaments to your tree or hang them by the front door. To create the bells, stack mini cake, and bundt molds to form bell shapes and glue them together using epoxy. Next hot glue jingles and other small ornaments to the bottom to create the clappers.
You can paint the bells gold and silver and add a shimmer of glitter or glue or some ribbons and greenery to complete the look.
Make Felt Ornaments
Felt is a great crafting material that kids of all ages can easily use to create their ornaments. You can help your kids make felt tree decorations such as snow angels, gingerbread men, reindeer, and Santa, or even recreate their favorite characters, such as Olaf from Frozen.
To make a gingerbread man, for instance, cut out body shapes from brown felt. Use dots of glue for eyes, and a few stitches of thread for the mouth. Add rickrack and buttons for the clothing. Poke a hole at the top and loop thread or string through to attach it to the tree.
Spruce Up Some Pinecones
Pinecones are another fall and Christmas decorating favorite.
They are very versatile and can be used to create eco-friendly holiday crafts such as pinecone wreaths, tree decorations, centerpieces, and more.
To make simple Christmas tree decorations collect a few pinecones, some paint, glue, glitter, and string.
Clean the cones of any dirt and let your kids paint them whatever colors they want. Once the paint dries, apply some glue and sprinkle the glitter.
Lastly, attach the string, hang them up and watch them sparkle next to the tinsel and fairy lights.
Bejewel Your Ornaments
Rather than getting new tree decorations, why not spruce up the ones you have and add a bit of character? You will need your tree ornaments, some acrylic paint, hot glue, and rhinestones.
Let your kids' creativity shine through as they bedazzle the ornaments. This is a great way to recycle your old ornaments and give them new life. Alternatively, you can fill glass snow globe ornaments with fake snow, miniature trees, twigs, and other decorations to create bejeweled snow globe decorations.
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Twig Ornaments
If you want to stay eco-conscious, you can recycle some twigs and transform them into rustic Christmas tree decorations. This is also a great activity to do with your kids.
Let them go outside and collect some twigs and show them how to use twine to tie them together into nature-inspired decorations. They can create stars, snowflakes, and even miniature Christmas trees.
If you are looking for easy homemade ornaments to make, we hope this list contains something you'd like to try. With so many DIY Christmas tree ornaments and eco-friendly holiday crafts to choose from, you are bound to find something that suits your style.
It's a great family bonding activity and you'll enjoy the mementos for years to come.