Do-it-yourself Christmas tree ornaments

Do-It-Yourself or DIY Christmas Tree ornaments are fun and easy to make, even with kids. Besides the fun, your tree will be personalized and not look like your neighbors' as you can do it up slightly differently with your decorations than from those bought off the shop.

The DIY part is also great for family bonding and for teaching your kids and the value of money, talents and self-worth.

Moreover, if you are having a Christmas party, make extras and let your guests pluck off any from the tree as party favors - the kids will love you for allowing them to do the absolute no-no of taking things off other people's trees, I'm sure to the dismal of some parents though. For the peace of these parents, you may hang them up on a pole, the window frame or anything 'unchristmassy' for them to remove theirs from.

Moreover, you can control the size of the decorations to suit the size and shape of your Christmas tree.

These are some cheap and foolproof ideas that you can try, foolproof because they worked for me and I am a worse craftsman than my ten-year-old school students.

1. Crystal Balls:
This is the easiest - believe me! Get foam balls of various sizes. Consult the crafts shop sales personnel for the appropriate glue and paint if you are not sure which will not melt the foam balls but will color the balls well. Go for the glossy paints so that you need not need to gloss them up and do double paint work. If you feel rich, you might want to try the glass balls. Plastics are another alternative but not as easy to work with. Buy colored pens, twinkle dust and tinsel to do up the balls. Get ring screws and string or hook screws to attach the balls to the tree branches.

Follow the instructions below:
- Dip the balls in the colors you want. Simplicity can be beautiful too. You might want just one solid and bright color to go with the uni-colored lights that you have too.
- Lay the balls out to dry for several hours.
- If you are using gold or silver, you may leave the balls as they are.
- Attach the ring or hook screws. You can hold on to them for the next step.
- Adorn the colored balls with the tinsel or twinkle dust by painting the glue on the balls first. If you use twinkle dust, shake off the excess after pouring it onto the glue.
- You may want to write the names of your party guests on the balls and get them to hunt for them!
- Leave to dry several hours again before putting them on the tree.

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