For our Christmas tree this year, we decided to make our own ornaments. I wanted the focal point of our Christmas decor to be centered around the kids, and having them help make the decorations truly holds a special place in my heart, and I hope the same holds true in theirs, too. I absolutely loved spending this time with my littles and the outcome is exactly as we had hoped.
Below is a quick rundown for each of the things we made in case you, too, would like to make any of them!
Cinnamon stick ornaments:
We had a bag of cinnamon sticks my husband bought a while back that we never used, so I decided to bundle them up and make ornaments out of them. To make these, all you need to do is wrap three or so cinnamon sticks with some twine or string, tie a knot to secure them, and then create a loop to hang them from.
Dried fruit ornaments:
The next thing we made was dried fruit ornaments. To make these, slice your fruit as thinly as you can. I did this with a serrated knife, but you can also do it with a mandolin.
Next, lay these slices on paper towels and then blot with another paper towel to get as much moisture out of them as you can. Then, preheat your oven to 200* and lay the slices either directly on the oven rack, or place them on an oven-safe rack to bake. Bake these for approximately 3-4 hours, flipping over every 30 or so minutes, until dry. Putting a baking sheet under the rack will help catch some of the smaller slices that may drop through the cracks.
Once dry, poke a small hole through the top and thread a piece of twine through for hanging.
For the apple slices, we also used cranberries to make little ornaments with. And after threading them with a needle, I tied a loop at the end of the thread to hang by!
Stick star topper
We made our star out of sticks we found in the backyard. We attached them by first hot-gluing the ends together, and then using more twine to secure it in place.
Garland
For the garland, we strung popcorn and cranberries using a needle and a stronger thread. My daughter also crocheted garland using thick, white yarn that we hung on another tree in our home.
Gingerbread man ornaments
Finally, we made cinnamon “gingerbread men.”
Ingredients:
2 cups applesauce
2 cups cinnamon
Mix these two ingredients together well. If the “dough” is still too sticky, add a little more cinnamon until you can roll it out without it making a total mess.
Cut out your shapes, and then make a hole in the top with either a straw or a toothpick so that you have enough room to put some string or wire through to hang. Then bake on parchment paper at 200* for approximately 2-2.5 hours until dried out.
We strung thin gold wire through ours so that we could bend them a little to lay flat on our tree.
And this is how it all turned out! I think this might be our most special Christmas tree to date.
If you want to see a video process of how we made everything, you can reference the Christmas highlights on my Instagram page HERE.
Our daughter was ALL in when it came to making these decorations, and the boys picked and chose which ones they wanted to participate in. They did a lot of eating of the materials and loved going on the stick hunt for our tree topper, but the rest was more entertaining for our daughter, so don’t be discouraged if the little ones aren’t ALL in for all of them. Just take it slow and whoever wants to enjoy it, will!
As always, thank you for stopping by!
<3 Shannon
