Nothing captures the holiday spirit like a beautifully decorated Christmas tree, a tradition since the 16th century. Just as important as the star crowning the treetop are the ornaments that dress it below, and they can easily be made right at home. Try these fun and unique adornments that not only get the whole family excited with arts and crafts, but also make your tree that much more special.
Wine cork reindeers
Next time you have a social affair where many bottles of wine are served, save the corks! They make fun decorations as reindeer by adding wiggly eyes, brown pipe cleaners for ears and a red pom-pom for the nose. You can even make cute little mice, cats or any other furry friend with the cork acting as the head of the animal.
Lightbulb ornaments
While Christmas lights make the tree dazzle when lit, you can paint, draw and glitter standard-sized lightbulbs to be hung on the tree with string. A lightbulb makes a great “canvas,” and they can be transformed into snowmen, angels, penguins or whatever your creative mind allows. Just be sure to hit the craft store for wiggly eyes, beads, ribbons, sequins, holiday-colored accessories and anything else you want to decorate it with.
Twig snowflakes
One of the easiest ornaments to make is a snowflake using twigs from your backyard. Simply gather a handful and tie them together into the shape of a snowflake (using pine needle or thread). You can even decorate the snowflake with ribbons, berries and glitter to further enhance your nature-inspired, ornament masterpiece.
Popsicle stick people
There are hundreds of ways you can use popsicle sticks for decorations, and they’re great for kids of all ages. With markers, felt and wiggly eyes, you can transform a popsicle stick into a limitless amount of ornaments: Santa, an elf, fun candy cane-themed ornaments, sleds or anything else that will spruce up your holiday tree.
Yarn puppets
Now’s a great time to break out the knit kit and create some adorable mini knit objects with yarn! Finger puppets are a great way to decorate the tree (and for kids to use afterward). Other cute knit ornaments include mini mittens, little stockings and even berries and bells, all of which have a winter-weather theme. And use holiday-specific colors that look great with the green fir of the tree.
Cookie stars
All those extra Christmas cookies you baked shouldn’t go to waste, especially when their shapes (stars, gingerbread men, snowflakes, snowmen) can make memorable ornaments on a Christmas tree. This is especially perfect if you used ready-made dough (which is sturdier than homemade); the cookie’s density gives longer “shelf life” as ornaments. And as a fun fact for holiday guests, Christmas trees were originally decorated with edible things in the past.
