Whether you are looking for a handmade ornament for your own tree or to give as a special gift, here are twelve easy and inexpensive ornaments that are fun to make!
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The holiday season is such a festive time! Whether you enjoy curling up and watching a movie (check out our 25 Family Favorite Christmas Movies), and checking it off on this Movie Bingo Printable or keeping the kids busy by getting ready for a New Year's Time Capsule, there are so many fun things to do!
We really enjoy making Christmas ornaments and every year we have a lot of fun making memories and creating homemade art for the Christmas tree!
Handmade Christmas ornaments also make perfect gifts for family, teachers and friends!
12 Homemade DIY Christmas Ornaments for Kids that make Perfect for Gifts!
1. Starbuck's Bottle Cap Ornament
Those Starbucks Frappuccinos that you can find in grocery stores are super yummy! The Mocha one is a favorite, but truly, we love them all!
Well, after accumulating a fair amount of the Starbucks Frappuccino bottles and caps, we started getting creative! Being that the creativity struck around the holidays, it was a natural progression to start thinking about Christmas ornaments!
These Starbucks bottle cap ornaments are super simple to make, fun and the end result is simply lovely! The ornaments also take advantage of those holiday flyers and catalogs that fill the mailbox!
The above deer was from a Pottery Barn holiday catalog! See the complete tutorial here!
2. Cinnamon and Ribbon Christmas Tree
A couple of years ago we started doing a little Christmas craft night with family and this Cinnamon and Ribbon Christmas Tree ornament was the craft we made! It was a lot of fun!
With cinnamon sticks, cut ribbon, a glittery star and a glue gun you can create this fun and artsy little Christmas tree!
We found our inspiration for this fun Christmas ornament and full directions here!
Don't be put off that the result may look a bit 'artsy;' it just adds to the charm!
3. Clothes Pin Ballerina
Angelina Ballerina was (and still is!) a favorite book character of ours! For many years the Angelina Ballerina picture books were on our coffee table, in our library bag and being purchased at the book store!
Angelina Ballerina Dresses Up is a fun sticker book with a fabulous story and illustrations!
As I sit and write this, my blogging partner (and daughter) is in her ballet class and I attribute her love of dance to the influence of that ballet-loving mouse!
Well, we purchased the Angelina Ballerina's Christmas Crafts book (still available, but a little harder to get) and had a lot of fun making many of the crafts and the Clothes Pin Ballerina was one of those cute ideas!
Wooden clothes pins (the old-fashioned kind) make up the body
Use marker or paint to add ballet slippers
Wrap tulle or wired ribbon to make the skirt
Chenille sticks for the arms and upper body
Three small white pom-poms are the head and mouse ears
Glue on seed beads for the eyes and nose
Add a little piece of decorative gold trim glued on (from JoAnn's) to make a crown!
Tip: Regular craft glue will work but hot glue will speed the process along!
It does take a little bit of time and patience, but the end result is very pretty and you can pin your ballet mouse ornament right on the tree or have her arm hold on! No hanger needed!
4. Clothes Pin Angel
If you had some wooden clothes pins left over from your Angelina Ballerina mouse ornament, you might as well try your hand at the angel!
I recommend starting with the face, JUST in case your kid slips and the face looks a little wonky - you can always turn it around and try again!
Using Sharpies, draw an eyes and a mouth on the clothes pin - lashes, nose and cheeks are extra. You can go simple with the 'closed eyes' expression and a simple mouth.
Wrap white lace trim from JoAnn's (there are PLENTY of options to choose from!) around the clothes pin and glue in place
Cut a small piece of felt for the hair, pick your favorite hair color!
Wrap a white chenille stick for the arms and torso
Twist a sparkly tinsel chenille stick for the halo
Craft wings and a bit of ribbon can be sewed or glued on and your angel is complete!
5. Popsicle Stick Christmas Trees
Affordable and fun, these ornaments come together easily with popsicle sticks, sequins and a little glue! The trickiest part with making these Popsicle Stick Christmas Tree ornaments is cutting the sticks to the correct length.
We used a good pair of utility scissors to make it easier!
Materials:
Popsicle sticks
Green acrylic paint
Brown acrylic paint (or brown magic marker will do as well!)
Glue
Glitter Glue
Ribbon, twine or yarn to hang
Directions:
Cut popsicle sticks to length to be the tree branches (see photo above)
Paint the 'trunk' brown and the boughs green
Glue the green boughs to the base- 'tree trunk' and adjust to give the traditional tree shape
Glue on sequins, gems, faux pearls
Optional: add glitter glue as tinsel!
Green acrylic paint for the boughs and brown paint for the trunk will dry in no time! Decorate your popsicle tree with glued on sequins, gems, and pearls and add glitter glue for a tinsel-y look!
6. Birch Wood Photo Ornament
These wood ornaments are a terrific way to capture and display a wonderful memory and revisit it every year while decorating the tree!
We just applied the photo right to the wood slice and left the photo intact rather than doing a photo transfer because we like seeing a really clear photo!
If you prefer the more rustic look, you can do a photo transfer method to remove the paper and leave just the image.
There are three ways to do photo transfers to the wood ornament, visit A Girl And a Glue Gun for steps for all three methods.
We chose the simple Mod-Podge application method because that worked best for us!
Materials
Wood slices
Photo printed out on regular paper
Mod Podge or other water base sealer
Optional: Glitter or really fine fairy dust glitter to make it look sparkly and magical!
Mod-Podge Method
Print out your photo on regular paper
Trim your photo to size using the wood coaster as a guide
Paint Mod-Podge on the wood
Place photo on the wood
Paint more Mod-Podge over the photo to seal
Optional: While wet, sprinkle diamond dust or glitter to give it some holiday shimmer!
7. Popsicle (or Cinnamon) Stick Reindeer
Years ago when I was teaching music, one of my third grade classes surprised me with a Popsicle Stick Reindeer ornament during the holidays and I was so touched!
They had made one of these ornaments for every one of their teachers, the staff, principals and to bring home as gifts for their family. Every year I hang it on my tree and remember them!
Years later I did the same craft with my daughter's Girl Scout troop (yes, I was the troop leader!) and the girls loved it!
You can put this reindeer ornament together with popsicle sticks as the base or go fancy and use cinnamon sticks! They're a little trickier to secure with the glue, but they smell wonderful!
Popsicle sticks, googly eyes, a red pom pom for a nose, and brown chenille sticks for antlers will be held together nicely with craft glue --or hot glue if you are short on drying time!
Red and green markers for decorating aren't necessary but make a nice touch!
A bit of red ribbon or twine makes a perfect way to hang your Rudolph ornament!
8. Snowman or Rudolph Ornament
These clear ornaments are terrific for kids' Christmas crafts!
We loved how they looked for a Rudolph ornament and the snowmen were so cute! This is one of those crafts that truly is as easy as it looks!
Fingerprints make the body for the snowman and face for the reindeer.
Paint on details with a small brush
For Rudolph a small red pom pom glued on makes the perfect nose!
Paint on some white falling snow or fill with white fill (beads or faux snow) for some winter ambiance!
Visit here to see a full tutorial for the Snowmen Ornament from That's What {Che} Said (above!)
Tip: If there is a painting mishap, you can quickly wipe off the paint before it dries and give it another go!
These clear ornaments are great for crafting- acrylic paint sticks very well to them and you can fill them with fun bits to make a themed-ornament as well!
We purchased ours at Michaels, here are the same ones we used!
9. Spoolie Snowman or Winter Fairy
These Spoolie ornaments are a lot of fun to make! We actually made them ourselves and had enjoyed it so much we used them for a birthday party craft one year as well!
Essentially the wooden spools and chenille sticks along with a wooden bead make up the body and the chenille stick loop at the top of the head doubles as a hanger!
Mini jingle bells aren't necessary but are a super fun addition for a little holiday jingle!
Snowman Materials:
Black chenille sticks (2)
Wooden bead (head)
Wooden spool (body)
White acrylic paint
Black acrylic paint
Orange bead (nose)
Black button (hat brim)
Small jingle bells for the feet
For the Snowman:
Paint a wooden spool (body) and wooden bead (head) with white acrylic paint
When dry, paint three black buttons on the body with black acrylic paint and
Add two dots for eyes and more black dots for the mouth
Fold a long black chenille stick in half
Thread a good sized black button through the 'legs' of the chenille stick -this will be the hat brim
Leave enough of the loop through the head - this will be part of the hat and also the hanger for the tree
Twist that hooked chenille stick by the button to hold everything it in place.
Thread the two ends of the chenille stick through the bead/head and twist at base of head to hold it from slipping.
Thread two ends of chenille stick through spool/body and twist at bottom of spool to hold it in place.
Thread the each of the two ends of the chenille sticks through a jingle bell (these will be the feet!)
Take second chenille stick, at mid point wrap around area and make the arms
For the Fairy Spoolie
The Fairy Spoolie is made pretty much the same way as the Snowman,
Fairy Materials:
Chenille stick - your favorite color!
Wooden spool
Wooden bead for the head - we found beads with faces like these!
Lace trim- or other felt or fabric scrap - enough to wrap around the wooden spool be be a dress
Doll hair
Mini Jingle Bells
Decorative card stock for the wings
Craft glue or hot glue
Glue dots recommended for the doll hair application
Optional: Glitter glue
Directions:
Paint the spool/body - color of choice and let dry
Cut wings out of card stock and decorate with glitter glue and let dry
Wrap spool/body with lace or fabric and glue in place to make the dress
Fold chenille stick in half and thread through top of head/bead leaving enough for a loop at top
Twist chenille stick at top of bead to hold head in place
Thread chenille stick through body/spool and twist at base of spool to hold it in place
Thread little jingle bells onto ends of chenille sticks and bend tips to hold them on for feet
Glue wings onto the back of your fairy and let dry
Glue doll hair onto head using glue dots- use as much as you like, but be careful! It gets frizzy easily!
10. Beaded Snowflake
Whether you have a fan of Frozen or Frosty to keep busy, these sweet little beaded snowflakes will be the perfect craft to add some sparkle to your tree!
Great for groups, fun for friends, or just to craft solo, these are super easy to make!
Twist three glittery chenille sticks into equal lengths (at the cente)r to make the basic six point snowflake shape
Slide beads of choice onto the chenille stick to add color and sparkle
Be sure to bend the end of each snowflake point to hold the final bead on
If desired, add a ribbon or hook to hang the snowflake. These will sit easily as is on a tree even without a hook or ribbon.
11. Do You Want a Sew a Snowman?
With a little bit of sewing skills, kids will delight in making these charming snowman ornaments!
Full the full tutorial click here and scroll down until you see the felt snowman ornament!
12. Mitten Ornament
If you have a cookie cutter in the shape of a mitten, that will make this DIY very simple!
If not, no worries, just print and cut out (or draw) a mitten shape onto stiff paper to use as a pattern.
Cut two pieces of felt in the using the mitten pattern and with right sides facing in, sew around the mitten leaving about and one and a half inches open to put in the stuffing
Turn mitten right side out and fill with stuffing (polyfill)
Sew up opening
Sew or glue a strip of faux fur to make a cuff.
Optional: sew or glue on little buttons or sequins to add a little extra!
Well, there you go! Plenty of fun and easy ornaments to make for your own tree or to gift!
We'd love to see photos of any of your handmade ornaments! Be sure to tag us at @mykidzbookshelf if you post!
Know someone who might enjoy this post? We'd love it if you'd share!
Don't forget to Pin this post so you can find it in the future!
Have a favorite ornament you've made? Let us know in the comments below!
Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!
April & Cenzia
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Updated: December, 2023 originally published 12/14/2021