38 Easy Handmade Christmas Ornaments

We put our Christmas tree up on the weekend and it was the best day ever!! The four of us went down into the dark corners of the basement while our 1 year old was napping (which is amazing itself…), and wiped the dust off all of the Christmas decorations. My 5 year old and 3 year old carried armfuls of decorations, I carried the ornaments, and my handsome and strong husband dragged up the tree. (Artificial trees are heavy!!)

For the first time ever, my girls are old enough that they were excited about putting up the Christmas tree AND they actually wanted to help decorate it. My 5 year old dug through the ornament box, excited to find all the crafty little doo dads she made last year in junior kindergarten. And my 3 year old dug through the box yelling, “Oh look! There are teddy bears! There are snowflakes! Ooooo… There’s a STAR!!!”

While I was feeding their baby brother his snack in the kitchen, they took the ornaments and hung them ALL on the low branches on one side of the tree. I almost burst out laughing when I walked in and saw them all in one spot! (And I may or may not have cringed on the inside…) I could totally relate to this quote I saw on Facebook the other day, “I didn’t know I had OCD until I watched my kids hang ornaments on the tree wherever they wanted.” haha YES!

These handmade Christmas ornaments are so beautiful! I love the awesome keepsake ones! They'll make you smile ever year when you take them out of the box!

Luckily, about 5 minutes after they got the ornaments onto the tree, they pulled all of the ornaments off the tree, and put them in a big pile in the corner behind it. In stealthy mommy fashion, I grabbed as many as I could from their pile and spread them out evenly. And the tree actually looked pretty good when we were done! Handmade ornaments and all! In my husband’s words, our tree is “just the right amount of tacky!” Ha!

When we were done decorating – for the first time ever – we all sat down and watched a movie as a family! I’ve dreamed of having a day like that my entire life! To have kids excited to help me decorate the tree! And kids that will sit still long enough to watch a movie! Ahhh… such a great day!

38 Handmade Christmas Ornaments

Homemade ornaments don’t have to be tacky. I mean, some of them definitely are (especially if you have young kids), but those are usually the ones with the best memories! Just like my husband’s description of our Christmas tree, this list has “just the right amount of tacky” ornaments. There are lots of beautiful ones you can make yourself, and then some super awesome keepsake ones that will make you smile ever year when you take them out of their box. Enjoy!