One of our favorite parts of decorating the house for Christmas is taking out the box of passed-down ornaments, a meaningful collection that grows each year. From gorgeous globes your in-laws gifted you and your partner for your first Christmas together to crafty felt creations the kids made in kindergarten class, ornaments are perhaps the most meaningful Christmas decoration. And if you are looking for homemade craft ideas this holiday season, DIY Christmas ornaments are a great idea for the whole family to try.
While ornaments are most often hung from the branches of your real or artificial Christmas tree, there's no stopping you from spreading the Christmas cheer by incorporating these adorable hanging shapes on your mantel or a seasonal wreath to add extra charm to your festive door display. As long as there is a means of hanging the ornament, these DIY pieces can embellish your wintery window scene or be the final touch on your Christmas dinner table. Regardless of where you choose to hang up your DIY Christmas ornaments, these charming homemade decorations will soon become what you look forward to most to put on the tree (before the shining star).
Mike Garten
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Marbled Nail Polish Tree Ornaments
Easily turn ordinary wooden trees into festive pieces by dipping them in a cup filled with water and two different shades of green nail polish. Keep your figure upside down as you place it into the bowl until it stops dripping. Once it's done, you can place it upright to dry.
You can go for a more rustic look with your wooden trees by simply watering down acrylic paint before you happy it to the trees. Once it's dry, use a mini eye screw in hook and ribbon to create a topper.
The House That Lars Built
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Paper Candle Ornaments
Real candles will be a big no-no, but these adorable paper candles will add the elegance you're looking for.
Gather up some Christmas-themed cookie cutters to make a few DIY'd ornaments. Trace the cookie cutters onto patterned paper and cut them out. Place a small line of glue around the edge of the cookie cutter and place cut paper on top, lining up all the edges and let it dry. Attach a small loop of cord to the back of the ornament, let dry, and hang.
Draw half a bell or oval onto folded paper balls (we used ones 8” in diameter) in mixed colors and carefully cut out the shape. Then unfold the paper ball and use double stick tape to attach both ends.
Danielle Daly
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Reindeer Ornament
On a gold ornament, paint two circles of white where they overlap for an area for the eyes and let dry. Paint two black dots for eyes in the center of the two white circles and let dry. Paint a black (or red for Rudolph) nose in the center where the two white circles meet and add a little mouth shape underneath the nose and let dry. Attach the twig antlers to the top of the ornament with hot glue. Cut out a triangle ear shape from brown construction paper and bend inwards slightly and put a thin line of hot glue right in front of the twig antler and glue down.
On a red ornament, paint a thick line of black paint around the middle of the ornament and let dry. Cut out a small rectangle of the gold glitter paper and cut a smaller rectangle in the middle to make it look like a belt buckle. Then hot glue the buckle to the center of the black line to look like a Santa belt.
Gather the kids and head outside to collect some twigs and then use twine and colorful wire to tie together beautiful nature-inspired ornaments for your tree.
Use a Cricut cutting machine to create these intricate snowflake ornaments, or if you're particularly skilled with a pair of scissors cut them out by hand. And if you mess up, no worries because no two snowflakes are the same.
Whoever said "Don't play with matches" didn't know how much fun it would be to make Christmas ornaments out of them. All you need are matches, glue, and your imagination to make some fun geometric Christmas designs this year.
Alice and Lois
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Wood Bead Snowflake Ornament
With wooden beans and twine, you can add snowflakes to the Christmas tree.
Cinnamon sticks aren't just for mulled wine and Christmas desserts. They're also useful for these DIY ornaments that look like adorable Christmas trees and smell like all your best holiday memories.
Mix together salt, flour, and water to make these salt dough creations. Roll them out and use Christmas-themed cookie cutters to make all your favorite shapes.
Give your Christmas tree a pop of color with these fun wooden ornaments painted in vibrant hues. There's only one rule when it comes to painting them: Have fun!
Tiny suitcases are just the ticket for a travel lover's tree.
Trace an Altoids tin on a sheet of glitter paper to create front and back panels. Cut a thin strip (0.88" x 11.5") to cover the sides of the tin.
Cut 2 pieces of cloth ribbon 11" long to make the handles and hot-glue to the top of the tin while wrapping it around to make a handle on each side.
Attach tiny stickers or travel-sized print outs.
Kate Mathis
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Kissing Ball
Hang this mistletoe from your tree if you're feeling romantic this Christmas. All you have to do is wrap a foam ball with the fabric of your choice, and secure with a rubber band. Add ribbon and some leaves to create a festive look.
Larry StansburyContributing WriterLarry Stansbury is a writer whose work has appeared in POPSUGAR, Sports Illustrated, Her Campus, Distractify and more.
Elizabeth BerryEditorial AssistantElizabeth Berry (she/her) is the digital editorial assistant for Woman’s Day, where she covers seasonal recipes, holiday gift ideas, and other lifestyle topics for the website.
