When we were kids, our families had the tradition of gifting each member of the household one new Christmas ornament every year. It made for a fun morning (and a very full tree as the years passed by), but a certain pattern always arose: the ornaments that we’d made ourselves were always the most popular.
Just in case you’d like to start this tradition in your family too, here are 15 awesome DIY ornaments that you can make with your kids this holiday season!
1. Folder paper trees
If you’ve read from our website before then you already know how much we adore projects that repurpose, reuse, and upcycle things! Even the simplest upcycle contributes to living a little bit greener. That’s why we were such big fans of Design and Form‘s folder paper ornament design! We love that it repurposes unused office folders and we’re also huge fans of the simple origami techniques used to create the little trees.
2. Model Magic snowflakes
When it comes to crafting time, your kids will be nothing but pleased if you decided to make something very hands on with the. That’s why working with things like modeling clay is such a great idea over the holidays! Meet the Dubiens suggests using a rolling pin to flatten the clay and a snowflake shaped cookie cutter to punch out shapes. Bake them and string them up with ribbons how they are, or maybe write your family’s names on them!
3. Sock snowmen
A Christmas ornament doesn’t have to actually hang on the tree for it to be an awesome piece of your holiday decor. These little sock snowmen, for example, are a blast to make, a fun way to upcycle old socks, and an adorable addition to the other Christmas figurines dotted around your house during the holidays. We love that each person can make their snowman look a little bit different. Check out how they’re done on Darkroom and Dearly.
4. Rudolph cork ornament
Do you always find that the holiday season has you uncorking a few more bottles of wine than usual? Then start hoarding those corks and put them to good use instead of throwing them out! Wine corks are useful for all kinds of things but during the holidays they make for awesome little DIY reindeer ornaments, just like these ones by The Homeless Finch.
5. DIY acorn ornaments
Do you love incorporating nature themes into your Christmas decorating scheme so that you can really feel the season outside as though it’s right in the room with you? Then we’ve found the perfect DIY ornaments for you! These little Christmas bulbs are made from brightly painted balls of modeling clay clued into actual acorn caps. You can probably find them in your yard just like Say Yes did!
6. Easy sewing card ornaments
Have you always loved the way bright, geometric, pop art looking ornaments look against the backdrop of a more traditional looking Christmas tree? Then there are plenty of kid friendly DIY options out there for you! We’re particularly big fans of these fun shapes by Mr Printables. Punch holes across the surface of each shape and have your kids embroider them with brightly coloured yarns to really give them some fun detail.
7. Easy clay snowmen
Did you like the idea of a side decor snowman but your kids have made sock snowmen before and they’re not feeling that idea again this year? Help them work with clay for something a little bit different instead! Say Yes shows you and your kids how to roll the balls, stack them, and add the details in just a few simple steps.
8. Paper towel tube stars
Are you still trying to think of ornaments that double as upcycling projects? Imagine how cool it would be to have a whole year’s theme be gifted ornaments made from repurposed things! We recently tried making these adorable little sparkly snowflakes from carefully cut and painted sections of paper towel rolls and both the DIY process and the final product were a fun success! We followed the steps on Blog a la Carte.
9. Popsicle stick ornaments
Popsicle sticks make great DIY tools because they can be cut, painted, rhinestoned, and generally crafted into so many different things even though they’re so affordable and easy to work with. That holds especially true over the holidays! She Knows recommends transforming them into Christmas trees, snowmen, or sparkly snowflakes using things like paint, glue, buttons, and pom poms.
10. Wooden bead elves
If your kids are anything like ours, then you probably have tubs of random reusable supplies like pipe cleaners and wooden beads stashes away for them they just need some easy DIY that will keep them amused on a cold afternoon. Parents.com, however, is here to remind you that those things can be extra useful and a little more productive around Christmas! Check out how they combined those things with some paint, felt, and ribbon to create adorable little elf ornaments.
11. Perler bead ornaments
Do you remember making perler bead crafts in the 1990s? We were totally obsessed with them too! You can make all kinds of things, so why not make yourself a few adorably pixelated looking ornaments? We owe some thanks to Shelterness for these cute little heart and snowflake perler designs taht are easily transformed into tree hangers with some simple floss, string, or ribbon.
12. Paper covered ornaments
Are you or the person you’re gifting your ornament to a total book worm? Then why not incorporate that into your design? The Turquoise Home shows you how to create a paper covered ornament by decoupaging strips from old book pages onto the surface of a plain ornament. Choose lines from damaged copies of your favourite books or books full of holiday stories!
13. Felt and ribbon ornaments
Are your favourite crafts the kind that combine frabic and material with other crafting supplies that you wouldn’t normally use in a simple sewing project? Then these felt and ribbon covered foam crafting spheres might be exactly what you’re looking for. Crafts n’ Coffee shows you how they held these sections of felt and pretty lengths of ribbon in place using simple sewing pins.
14. Miniature yarn wreaths
Are you an avid knitter or crochet enthusiast with a huge stash of leftover yarn that you’re always wondering what to do with? Well, according to Christopher and Tia, the holidays are the perfect time to use some of that scrap yarn up! They’ll show you how to use simple wrapping techniques in alternating colours to create adorable miniature yarn wreaths.
15. Quilled paper ornaments
Are you looking for something a little more challenging or intricate than some of these designs so you can get your older kids in on the crafting fun too? Then perhaps it’s time to try some simple paper quilling! Paper, Plate, and Plane guides you through the process of layering rectangular strips of paper until you’ve created a ball and curling smaller pieces around the surface of the outside for pretty detail.
Have you and your kids made other DIY ornaments that you’re proud of? Tell us how you made them in the comments section!
