Homemade Christmas Ornaments

As we decorated the tree this year our 5 year old started to ask why there were so many kinds of ornaments. I told her that every ornament on our tree was very special as it had come from a place we took a trip, marked a milestone or was a gift from someone that we loved. She decided that we needed to make a special ornament to give to all the people we love this Christmas, so this craft was created for that purpose. This is a relatively simple Christmas ornament craft for kids to do, but is better suited for slightly older children as opposed to young toddlers. We did a few different versions of this craft (listed below) and experimented with different colors of glitter to see what worked best. We were very pleased with the way they turned out and this craft will make a beautiful homemade gift for grandparents and friends to hang on their trees for years to come.

Glitter Ornaments:

What you'll need:
  • Clear glass or plastic Christmas ball ornaments (available at craft stores)
  • White glue
  • Water
  • Glitter
  • Cardboard box to contain the glitter
  • Pipe cleaner to use as a child safe hook
How to make your Glitter Ornaments
  1. In a disposable cup, mix together equal amounts of glue and water. You want the glue to be thinned out a bit. Stir this together well.
  2. Pop the top off the ornament and pour in some of the glue mixture. Swirl the ornament around so that the entire ball is coated with glue. Dump out as much extra glue as you can. This involves holding the ornament over the cup for a bit so that the excess can drip out.
  3. Pour in some glitter and swirl the ornament to coat the entire inside of the ball with it. Dump out the extra glitter, tapping the ornament as you go to get out any clumps, etc.
  4. Let the ornament dry overnight. In the morning, put the top to the ornament back on. We cut a pipe cleaner in thirds and used that to fashion a child safe hook.

Tissue Paper Glitter Ornaments:

What you'll need:
  • Clear glass or plastic Christmas ball ornaments (available at craft stores)
  • White glue
  • Water
  • Glitter
  • Tissue paper
  • Scissors
  • Paint brush
  • Cardboard box to contain the glitter
  • Pipe cleaner to use as a child safe hook
How to make your Tissue Paper Glitter Ornaments
  1. In a disposable cup, mix together equal amounts of glue and water. You want the glue to be thinned out a bit. Stir this together well.
  2. Cut the tissue paper into small squares. We used different shades of blue and love the way this turned out.
  3. Use the paint brush to paint some of the glue mixture onto the ornament. Add a square of tissue paper. Repeat this process till the whole ball is covered. At this point not all of the tissue paper will be stuck down well, so once the ball is covered go back over the ornament and paint on more glue to coat the outside of the tissue paper as well. This makes the whole ornament smooth.
  4. Shake the glitter onto the ornament while the glue is still wet.
  5. Set aside to dry overnight. We found it easier to make a hook out of a full length pipe cleaner and then attached that to one of the knobs of our kitchen cabinets so that it could dry without sticking to anything. Just a thought!
  6. Once dry, cut the hook down a bit in size and hang on the tree.
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