These homemade christmas ornaments have affiliate links, but we have a wine habit to support!
The holidays are one my favorite times to find some holiday crafts for kids! My kids are older, but they still love the little traditions that we started when they were young.
One of our favorite traditions is to make our own Christmas ornaments to put on the tree. That way each year that they bring out the ornaments, they have a little memory of that year.
These handmade Christmas ornaments wonderful Christmas gift ideas. They are fun glitter Christmas ornaments.
You can personalized them and add a little extra touch to a gift. These are super easy to make and even young children can make them with the help of an adult.
Homemade Christmas Ornaments
Supplies
- Glass or Plastic Empty Christmas Ornaments
- Murphy’s Oil Soap (any sticky cleaner will do)
- Glitter
- Paint Markers
Directions
First and foremost, you want to make sure your ornaments are clean. Make sure there is no dust on the inside. Blowing into them will help double check. Remove the tops to do this and then keep the top off.
Take Murphy’s Oil soap, or other sticky cleaner, and put enough in the ornament that you can swish it around to coat the entire inside. Once the inside is completely coated, drain it back into the cleaner bottle.
Next, is the fun part. Get glitter crazy. Pour glitter into the ornament. (The use of a funnel helps, but making a mess is more fun in my book)
Pour enough that you can easy coat the inside of the ornament. Then pour it back into the glitter bottle. My kids loved to mix up the glitter colors.
If you do this, I recommend shaking the excess glitter into a plate so it doesn’t get mixed in with the single color glitter.
Experiment with different types of glitter.
Each type of glitter, fine, large, sparkles, will give you a different look. The different colors and designs you can come up with is really why this is one of our favorite holiday crafts.
We also love making these cute Candy Cane Trains each year too. The kids love giving them as gifts to their friends.
Once the inside is covered, place it back into the tray to dry (WITH TOP OFF). This usually takes an hour or two.
Then get creative, decorate the outside with paint markers. My kids each wrote a secret message to santa for him to find on the tree. You can also personalize the ornaments to give to friends and family members for the holidays.
We are making up gift baskets and making up family ornaments. The family name and year is going on the front with the name of the family members on the back!
How would you decorate your ornaments?
If you loved this post, make sure to check out these other Christmas craft ideas such as this Winter Glitter Lantern!
Cute Candy Cane Trains
50 Christmas Crafts Ideas
Winter Glitter Lanterns
Amber Edwards says
Those are VERY cute! I didn’t realize just how easy it was to make ornament bulbs like this. I’m definitely going to have to give it a try now!
Crunchy Frugalista says
Thanks, I can’t wait to see how yours turn out!
Ellen Christian says
What a neat idea. Ornaments can be so expensive!
Crunchy Frugalista says
Yes, they can be. This is much more frugal alternative, plus it makes them personal.
Jennifer says
WOW! How fun and easy!! I love this and I am so doing it!
Crunchy Frugalista says
I bet you are going to love how they turn out!
Kara Teel says
These look so cute…and easy to make! My kids would love doing this craft together. I will have to keep it in mind for Christmas. Thanks for the post!
Crunchy Frugalista says
Kara even really little kids can help. Shoot my 13 year old even enjoyed making them.
Rhonda YVSG says
Wow, no more expensive ornaments for me! I’m thinking about a new tradition to start with my Grandkids on tree trimming night. Maybe we can make one new ornament a year. Thanks for sharing how easy and frugal it is to create beautiful and personalized ornaments. 🙂
Crunchy Frugalista says
You are so very welcome Rhonda. We started that tradition this year with my kids. They are all really excited to start making their own ornaments each year.
Kallie Greenly says
What a cute idea. I love that it’s so simple, yet so cute.
Thanks for sharing!
Melody says
Oh my gosh! How adorable! I wish this post had been made a few days ago, so that I could have added it to my ornament post! I love them!
Crunchy Frugalista says
There’s always time 😉 😉
Leila says
This would be a super great project with the kids and let them decorate something on the outside for a teacher or family member! Thanks for the wonderful idea!
Crunchy Frugalista says
Yeah, it’s a great way to inexpensively give someone a thoughtful gift.
Kelly R says
Thank you for the great project idea..
Ronni Keller says
We’ve actually made those!! And, I can absolutely say they are easy and fun! Even I didn’t mess them up!
Crunchy Frugalista says
Wow, you didn’t mess them up Ronni? I am so proud! J/K Girl!
Sadie says
I love these. 🙂 We are working on ours today but you make it look simple… I know ours will be MESSY lol.
Crunchy Frugalista says
Being messy is half the fun 😉
Summer Davis says
This is SUCH a good idea, and I think even my little-little ones could do it! I am all about some glitter, and I LOVE making my own ornaments. TOTALLY bookmarking!
Crunchy Frugalista says
Summer, so glad to hear this is a great project for you! It is so much fun. My kids even enjoyed layering the glitter so you could make them striped with different glitter colors as well!
Desiree says
Wow. Those look so easy to make. I am definitely making these with the boys this Christmas. Thanks for sharing!
Tara says
Thank you so much for letting me use this in my Christmas Crafts/Decor post 🙂
Crunchy Frugalista says
Thanks so much for sharing it 🙂
Krys says
Just wondering how well these hold up over time… can they be reused multiple years? Does the glitter continue to stick to the ornament?
Crunchy Frugalista says
I started making these each year when my kids were little. They are now 13, 11, and 10 and so far the ornaments have all held the glitter.
CeCe says
I’ve made about 100 ornaments this year for gifts. This is a great one to do! I liked using very fine glitter, it turned out really pretty! Also, curling ribbon spirals are cute! And I did lots of acrylic paint marbling in them. Drip it in, give it a shake, let them dry. They look awesome!
Crunchy Frugalista says
CeCe that sounds like an AWESOME idea. We will have to try that. I love giving handmade ornaments for the holidays.
Susie says
Do you know if this will work with the clear plastic ornaments? I teach preschool special ed and want to try this for them to add to their parent gift, but no glass for them…hee…not sure how the cleaner will react with the plastic???
Ashley Sears says
Susie, It should be just fine. The cleaner is more of a soap and just used to coat the inside so the glitter has something to adhere to. We made some plastic ones this year, and they all turned out fine! Hope your students enjoy the craft 🙂
Jodi @ A Mom Having Fun says
These ornaments are absolutely adorable!! I love that the glitter is on the inside, so it does not rub off and get all over the place on the outside. So the kids wrote the messages with paint markers? I have never heard of those. I need to check them out!
Lauren says
I tried this with my son and they looked great at first, but two days later the glitter has come off the walls and is clumping in the bottom. I used plastic ornaments. Anyone have an idea why this would happen? I used the concentrated Murphy’s Oil Soap. Is it too thick? I’m disappointed because these were Christmas gifts for Grandparents and supposed to go in the mail today. Any tips are appreciated. Thanks!
Ashley Sears says
Lauren, you might have coated the walls of the ornament too thickly with the Murphy’s soap. You want a thin layer just enough to coat the ornaments. You also want to put just enough glitter to coat the ornaments and then dump out the excess. Hope this helps 🙂