ResearchMaking Your Own Christmas Tree Ornaments
What, you actually buy your ornaments? You have kids! They're mooning all around the house for Christmas vacation bored out of their minds anyway. Christmas tree ornaments are one of the few things where you can actually end up with a better final result than the store-bought equivalent. With the exception of the lights - you might as well stick with store-bought lights. Outside of that, any other kind of ornament is easy and fun to do.
Origami is a big plus. Using two different colors of paper in the same piece, you can turn out some decent stars and blossoms with a little zing to them. More advanced forms might be had from a book or on the Internet. Even without origami folding as such, you can still opt for the classic construction paper and glue items. Glitter will add some sparkle.
Another popular paper ornament is the snowflake made with paper and scissors. To get a six-point snowflake, start with a square piece of paper and fold it in half diagonally. Take the two far corners and fold them in past the center at the same time, so you end up with a shape like a flat ice-cream cone with three points on top. Fold this in half vertically, and then cut a pattern from one side. You should end up with a symmetrical six-point snowflake. Search online to see some illustrations if you need further help.
Another good building material is pipe cleaners. If you prowl your crafts store, you should find them in different colors. These can be bent and twisted with different colors together to form more complex shapes easily. To make shiny ornaments, cover the finished shape with aluminum foil.
The typical glass ball ornaments can be made with hollow, plain glass balls bought at the craft store. Put some modeling paint and glitter on the inside of the ball and attach the hanger. Customize to your liking. Perhaps make a set in your local team's colors. Paint the name of each family member on one ball each. You can glue or tie fancy border ribbon around the outside of the ball for an extra bit of flash.
Actual gingerbread cookies can be used. Just be aware that you'll need to make them with structure in mind first and taste second, because they have to hang in there all season and not crumble. Add icing to decorate the shapes, but be careful not to make them too heavy.
A very simple kind of ornament can be made with macrame beads and thread. Start with a section of thread going through one large bead or perhaps a bell. Now take both ends of the thread and pass it through more beads, stacking them on, and when you're done tie it off at the top to a fastener. You can use these themselves like icicles or tie many together to form more shapes.
Garland is easy to make out of just about any material at hand. Popcorn, ribbon bows, bits of foil, or origami shapes can all be threaded onto string with a needle. As for ornament hangers, you can either get batches of the cheap wire hangers, or make your own from paper clips or clothespins.
Making your own ornaments is a fun and creative way to keep the whole family involved. You can even go for a theme that means something special to your family or home decorating style. You can create a warm country theme, a sparkly winter one, a sophisticated urban one, or even really involved styles: how about one that tells the story of each member of the family and the accomplishments they made that year? Have a lot of fun with it, and remember, keeping the kids off the video game system for a few days of the Holidays alone is worth it.