DIY Christmas Ornaments for Holidays on a Budget

Rose Morrison

Nov 22, 2024

family making homemade Christmas ornaments and doing crafts at a table

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Everyone feels more accomplished when they can use something they made with their own hands. The do-it-yourself method is a great way to furnish your Christmas tree, especially since it allows your whole family to enjoy the fun. These DIY Christmas ornaments are some of the most unique decorations you can make for your tree. Some are simple, while others might take some time and effort. Either way, your household is bound to enjoy them.

Three cross stitch DIY Christmas ornaments sit on a table with faux greenery, rolls of thread and brown paper.

1. Cross-Stitched Ornament

Though it might be time-consuming, nothing quite catches the eye like a cross-stitched ornament. You don’t have to come up with patterns on your own. You can easily find one you like online that captures the season’s festivities. Otherwise, you’ll need a small hoop to display your embroidery and hang it on the tree.

You can teach your children to cross-stitch as you learn. Learning to work with your hands and create such a precise work of art requires concentration and builds motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Working together on your tree embroideries could be a family bonding activity, one that they’ll remember forever.

A rolled up Christmas wish list hangs on a fake tree covered in yellow-white lights.

2. Christmas List Ornament

If your kids are still young enough to write Christmas wishlists to Santa, make sure to memorialize their lists in the form of these cute DIY Christmas ornaments. Have your kids write their wishlists on a scrap of paper. They might not be able to write small enough letters for a standard-sized ornament, but you can always make your tiny lists bigger if needed.

When everyone’s done writing their biggest Christmas dreams, wrap that piece of paper around an empty thread bobbin and glue it down. Remember to tag the ribbon with your child’s name and the year they made it.

A mini candy cane hangs on the branches of a fir tree as one of the DIY Christmas ornaments.

3. Candy Pieces

Candy might just be one of the more unique ornaments you could put on your tree. They can break up your tree’s other decor by offering something sweet and organic for eyes to rest on. The best part is that you can use any candy easily accessible during the holidays, and you can eat them once you take down your Christmas tree for the year.

A glass ornament filled with yellow ribbons hangs from a gold ribbon on a fake fir Christmas tree among red ornaments, mesh ribbons and yellow-white string lights.

4. Ribbons Inside Ornaments

When you buy those empty plastic ball ornaments, you can do almost anything with them. Some people paint them or add glitter, which would be a great way to add some sparkle and shine to your Christmas tree. One of the best choices you can make is to repurpose some of the scrap ribbons you have left over from wrapping presents. You can fill an ornament with as much ribbon as you like, creating a layered, colorful effect that will bring joy to your tree.

If your family recently welcomed a baby, you can make the ribbon inside the ornament more sentimental. Measure out the ribbon to the length the baby was at birth. Then, you can curl the ribbon inside the ornament and keep it as a sentimental symbol of how big your baby was on their first Christmas.

A dried orange slice hangs form the branch of an indoor fir tree as one of the DIY Christmas ornaments.

5. Dried Citrus

There’s a reason people associate certain scents with Christmas and the end of the year. Smell creates connections and can establish memories stronger than any other sense. If you associate the scent of citrus with Christmas, you’ll want to get some orange slices for your tree. The orange scent mixing with the aroma of the pine needles of a live tree will combine to create a pleasant smell that reminds you of the holidays.

Adding orange slices to your tree is a simple, fun way to make DIY Christmas ornaments. Cut an orange into round slices, then lay the pieces out on a baking sheet. Bake them at 250℉ for three hours. Turn them over halfway through the baking to ensure they’ll be completely dry. Once they’re dried out, poke holes in them to string ribbon. Then, you can add them to your tree.

A candy cane made with red and white wooden beads hangs from twine on a mini fake fir Christmas tree.

6. Wooden Bead Candy Canes

Anyone can hang candy canes on a Christmas tree, but you can take your ornaments to the next level with beads. Fold bendable wire into a candy cane shape before filling a bead with hot glue. Stick the bottom end of the wire into the bead until the glue dries. Slide the rest of the beads onto the wire and hot glue the top bead into place in the same way. They’ll last forever and look extra festive with red ribbon bows.

Seven felt cookies with felt icing and bead sprinkles wait to be hung on a Christmas tree.

7. Felt Sugar Cookies

Cover your tree in cookies without baking anything by getting cookie-colored felt. Cut two pieces for each shape you want to make before using a need and thread to baste stitch them together. Fill them with stuffing and sew the bottoms shut. You can cover your DIY Christmas ornaments with white felt and polka dots made with beads, sparkles or tiny circles made with felt. Hot glue will pull it all together after you design cookie toppings that match your Christmas decor.

Two salt dough DIY Christmas ornaments with blue hand prints wait on strings to be hung on a Christmas tree.

8. Salt Dough Handprints

If you have young kids in your household, save their handprints in salt dough. You only need a mixture of flour, water and salt to create a clay-like mix. Roll the dough out flat, use cookie cutters to make shapes and make small holes at the top of each one for your ornament hooks or string. Gently press your child’s tiny hand against the dough while it’s still moldable before letting each ornament dry overnight. You can paint the dried ornaments however you like before hanging them on your tree.

Choose DIY Christmas Ornaments for a Handmade Holiday

Whether you’re hoping to stick to a budget or just want something more sentimental this season, these DIY Christmas ornaments will help liven up your living room. A handmade holiday might not be as fancy as you would like, but you can count on it to warm your home and remind you that one of the greatest things to be thankful for is that you have each other.

Original Publish Date 2/20/2023 — Updated 11/22/2024

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