There are lots of easy Christmas crafting ideas that you can do together with your children to add a personal touch to your festive celebrations. Not only are they fun and rewarding, but it’s a lovely way to make some memories with your family. And some of these crafts make great gifts for others too.
Today we’re sharing some ideas you can try out at home with things you probably have around the house already:
- Homemade wrapping paper
- Christmas cards
- Snow globes
- Baubles
- Cranberry sauce
- Clay decorations
- Fruit cake in a jar
Homemade wrapping paper
You can make your own wrapping paper using potato printing! This is an easy way to put your own “stamp” on your Christmas wrapping, and can be repeated as much as you need for all your festive wrapping.
To do this:
- Cut a potato in half and draw a design on the flat side. Simple shapes like stars, moons or Christmas trees work well.
- Then an adult can carefully cut away the excess potato around the design to make a stamp.
- Dip the stamp in paint (we recommend washable paint!) or use a paintbrush to paint directly onto the stamp. Then use this all over some plain paper, brown paper or even fabric to create your own design.
- Leave it to dry, then it’s ready to wrap your presents.
Don’t worry about getting messy – that’s part of the fun! But it’s always a good idea to cover the table and wear old clothes.
Christmas cards
Friends and relatives love to receive something handmade from children, and cards are the perfect way to show loved ones you’ve been thinking of them. They’re something children of all ages can get involved with, and it’s a lovely activity to do as a family.
All you need to get started is a folded sheet of card and the craft supplies your child wants to use to decorate it with their design. You can get crafting supplies easily in pound shops and discount shops, but you can also save bits and pieces you might already have around the house. Think pieces of ribbon, buttons, and even clean, dry leaves you’ve collected on walks.
You can also repurpose old Christmas decorations that are no longer up to decorating your home. And keep some of this year’s Christmas cards, so your children can reuse bits next year. They could create a new festive scene, or cut out a new shape from the card such as a tree, bauble or snowman.
Another adorable card craft is for children to paint their hands with washable paint and put a hand-print on paper – you can even decorate this to make a Christmas image such as a reindeer, Christmas tree or Santa. This also offers a wonderful memory of a moment in their lives.
Snow globes
What could be more festive than a wintery scene in a snow globe? Empty snow globes are often not very expensive and can be found in hobby shops, pound shops and online. But did you know you can just as easily make a snow globe from an empty screw-top jar, which you probably already have in your recycling? Just make sure the lid fits well, as you’ll need to turn it upside down. (If in doubt, half fill the jar with water, pop the lid on and turn it upside down over the sink to be sure there are no leaks!)
Then you just need to fill your snow globe. You can decorate the inside with figures, old toys or cake toppers to make a festive scene. And don’t forget the artificial snow – glitter also works well for this. Just make sure that whatever you choose to put in your snow globe is waterproof. If you’re feeling really creative, you could try making figures or buildings with polymer clay (the kind that needs to be baked in the oven, which is what makes it waterproof).
If you’re using a jar for your snow globe, glue the base of a figure or decoration to the inside of the lid. If you’re using an empty snow globe, you’ll attach your figure or festive scene to the base.
Finally, you need to add the liquid. Start by filling it around ¾ with water. For the best results, add glycerin to the water. This is available from chemists and it thickens the water to make the snow fall more slowly. Start by adding two teaspoons, and add another teaspoon if the snow is still falling too quickly. Then top up with a bit more water if needed. Don’t overfill the snow globe with liquid – make sure you leave around ½ cm (roughly ¼ in) so you can shake it up.
Baubles
While you’re in those hobby and pound shops you might want to keep your eyes open for clear plastic baubles too. These are great for low-effort, maximum-reward decorations everyone can get involved with making.
You can take two approaches to decorating baubles:
- fill them with something, such as a family member’s favourite sweets, nuts or sprinkles
- decorate the outside with glue, glitter and markers that draw on plastic.
You could even take some inspiration from the snow globes idea above and create a festive scene that captivates your child’s imagination.
Alternatively, the craft sections of discount, pound and hobby shops also often have festive-shaped blank wooden decorations such as trees and snowflakes. You can decorate these with markers, glue and glitter to make decorations for your own tree or personal gifts for teachers.
Cranberry sauce
For many people, turkey is the traditional food of Christmas dinner – and turkey wouldn’t be the same without cranberry sauce! Since it’s often not used much throughout the rest of the year, families don’t necessarily keep a jar on hand. This makes it a perfect gift for the festive period. It’s straightforward to make, so kids love getting involved. You can also work together to make labels for the jars and to decorate them, making it a fun, child-friendly activity.
Here’s how to do it:
What you’ll need
- 225g frozen cranberries
- 100g sugar
- Grated rind and juice of one orange
- One clean jam jar with label removed
- Gift label and things to decorate the jar
Steps
- Place the cranberries and sugar together in a pan and heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved. If it looks a little dry, add a tablespoon of water.
- Meanwhile, grate the orange rind and squeeze the juice from the orange (children will enjoy helping with the squeezing!).
- Remove any pips and add the juice and rind to the pan.
- Turn up the heat until the pan’s contents are bubbling, then turn the heat down low and cook gently for a further 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- Pour into a clean jar.
- Once the jar has cooled, decorate it with your children.
- Add a label explaining that the sauce should be stored in the fridge. Also add the date you made it, and that it will keep for around a week from that date.
Clay decorations
Another use for polymer clay besides making figures for snow globes is decorations. Polymer clay is easy to sculpt and is hardened by baking in the oven, so it’s a great craft for the family to do together.
You can easily make hanging decorations:
- Roll some clay out so it’s flat and fairly thin (around ½ cm or roughly ¼ in). Note: don’t use a rolling pin you use for food. If you bought the clay as part of a set, it might include a tool for this. If not, you could use the side of an empty jar or something similar.
- Cut out festive shapes like a tree, bell, Santa hat, penguin or star. You can make this easier by using festive cookie cutters – just make sure to only use the cookie cutters for crafts, don’t use them to make cookies afterwards!
- You can leave them plain or decorate them however you like using different colours of clay.
- When you’re finished, poke a small hole in the top of the decoration so you have somewhere to thread the ribbon or twine you’ll use to hang it.
- Bake according to the instructions on the pack.
Then when they’re cool, they’re ready to hang!
Fruit cake in a jar
If you’re looking for an edible gift that can last long past Christmas day, then fruit cake may be the answer. It has legendary staying power and is also cheap to make.
Here’s how to make a fruit cake in a jar to give as a gift:
Ingredients
- 250g self-raising flour
- 500g dried fruit (you could get a ready mixed bag, or make your own mix e.g. 250g raisins, 100g glace cherries, 50g cranberries, 100g mixed peel)
- 125g brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground allspice or a mix of ground ginger/nutmeg/cinnamon
- 1 large clean jar (1 litre) or 2 smaller jars
- Things to decorate the jar (optional)
- A gift label
Steps
- Spoon the ingredients into the jar in layers, starting with the flour. Press down each layer.
- Screw on the lid.
- Let your children get creative and decorate the jar.
- Attach instructions for the recipient, making sure they know to use the ingredients within three weeks. (To bake: place contents in a large bowl. Add 3 eggs, 125g butter/spread, and 60ml milk. Mix well. Place in a greased cake tin and cook at 150°C / gas mark 3 for around 1¼ hours.)
Now it’s your turn…
We hope you enjoy these easy Christmas crafting ideas to try as a family in the run up to Christmas. If you make any of these projects and share them on social media, make sure you tag us in your post. We’d love to see what you create! And if you haven’t already, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram.
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