by Frances Stanford

Created on: November 07, 2010

Nothing beats the look of handmade Christmas ornaments hanging on the tree or as decorations on the fireplace during the holiday season. They are also welcomed as gifts and will be treasured for years by the ones you choose to grace in this manner. There is a wide variety of Christmas ornaments that you can make on your own that require some skill, such as wood working, crochet or knitting. However, there are also many different kinds of ornaments that are easy and inexpensive to make and that the children will enjoy making with you.

Popsicle Stick Treasures

You can purchase bags of popsicle sticks at craft stores, where they may be called craft sticks. You can glue these sticks together to make all kinds of unique ornaments and paint them in all the colors of the rainbow. For example, you can use three sticks to make a triangle and paint it green to become a Christmas tree. You can glue a handful of sticks together and paint them white to make a snowflake.

Craft Foam Ornaments

Craft stores carry packages or loose sheets of thin colored foam. You can cut this in all kinds of shapes. Children will love using a cookie cutter to press an imprint into the foam and then cut out the shape with scissors. The foam can be used to make doorknob decorations or window decorations – whatever suits your fancy.

Wirer Christmas Ornaments

Thin craft wire and beads of all colors make beautiful unique Christmas ornaments. You can bend this wire into all kinds of shapes, such as stars or candy canes. Use cookie cutters as the templates for the ornaments you want to make. Wrap the wire around the cutter and then thread the beads onto the wire. Continue until the whole shape is covered with brightly colored beads. Then use pliers to twist the open ends at the top and bottom so that you seal the ornament and keep the beads from slipping off. This ornament, when hung next to the lights on a Christmas tree, reflects the colors making the lights seem to be much brighter than they actually are.

Bubblegum or candy garland

Buy two or three large packages of large colored bubblegum or candy. Use a needle and thread to make a garland by sewing all different colors of gum and candy together. Wrap these strings of goodies on the Christmas tree as garland. This works especially well if you have a tree just for the children.

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