10 Stunning & Fun, Budget-Friendly DIY Christmas Craft Ideas

Great Christmas decor and craft ideas for your home.

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Elevate your Christmas spirit with 10 stunning DIY craft ideas. From dazzling ornaments to charming decorations, make this holiday season magical!

Christmas is a year-round thing for our family. We shop year-round. Listen to Christmas music (almost) year-round. And we are always looking for Christmas Decor & craft ideas. This page contains:

How to make a light-up Yardstick Star,    DIY Felt Christmas Tree,    Felt Christmas Ornament Templates,    Homemade Christmas Piñata,    Simple Dough Ornaments,    Elegant & Easy Tinsel Wreath,    Holiday Cookie Recipes,    Poinsettia Pumpkin Seed Ornament,    Delicious Holiday Fruit Cake Recipe Spoof,   Pinecone Lantern, Plastic Grocery Bag Wreath


Christmas Craft #1: Elegant & Easy Tinsel Wreath

An Elegant & Easy DIY Tinsel Wreath that anyone can make as a christmas craft.

This easy-to-make Tinsel Wreath is an inexpensive Christmas decor item to make. It’s a favorite holiday decoration of ours. It makes a beautiful addition to any home and it is an impressive gift too! It is so versatile, if you select a different color or colors of garland, you can easily make this work for the Fourth of July, Easter, Valentine’s Day and so many other holidays.

Watch the video to see how Annette makes it. It’s so simple!

Beautiful Tinsel Wreath Materials: 

Cost: Total Cost: $12 to $18 if you pay retail. But if you pick up materials at garage sales and thrift stores you can make this for between $2 and $5.

Time: It will take about 30 minutes to complete this project once you gather all of the materials.

Tinsel Wreath Craft How-To Video: 

In this video, Annette will walk you through the simple process of assembling a wreath similar to the one she made above.

Tinsel Wreath Cost: 

Your total Cost will be between $12 to $18 if you pay retail. But if you pick up materials at garage sales and thrift stores you can make this tinsel wreath for between $2 and $5.

How Much Time Will It Take?

Once you gather all of the materials it should take you about 30 minutes to complete this tinsel wreath project.

Beautiful Tinsel Wreath Crafting Instructions:

  • Start with a wreath — You can use any number of different wreaths for this project: Styrofoam, straw or grapevine. Size: Select a wreath that is about 18 inches in diameter, and two bunches of metallic tinsel garland.
  • Take two large paper clips and cut them in half so you have four narrow “U” shapes. Loop the end of the garland around a “U” shape and poke it into the wreath to secure the end.
  • Slowly and firmly wind the tinsel around the wreath. When the first string of tinsel ends, make a loop at both ends of the first and second strings and secure them with another “U” clip. Continue wrapping until the wreath is completely covered.
  • Secure the final end with a third “U” clip.

To finish off the wreath, make or buy a bow that has a wired edge. Attach the bow to the top of the wreath (Instructions on how to make your own bows at the bottom of the page). This project will take less than one hour to make and always elicits oohs and aahs from those we give it to.

Finding a Sale on Tinsel

Annette usually finds the tinsel on sale in the weeks after Christmas or at garage sales. She loves to add this to a “My First Christmas” gift that she gives to newlyweds — they usually have so few holiday decorations.

This idea isn’t just for Christmas, you can also make these wreaths for other occasions by varying the color — pink or red for Valentine’s Day or Red, White, and Blue for Fourth of July. You get the idea.

A gold and white tinsel wreath with a golden bow next to a half completed wreath wrapped around brown grapevines.

How to Make Your Own Bow

We have followed these Bowmaking Instructions for years. It’s so simple and easy to do. And if you pick up your ribbon from Michaels Arts and Crafts or Hobby Lobby after a holiday when they’re super discounted, the cost is minimal.


Christmas Craft #2: How to Make a Light-up Yardstick Star

Yardstick star Christmas craft with lights wrapped on it in a window.

Annette saw this light-up yardstick star idea on Pinterest and fell in love with it. It is such a simple Christmas decor item. It cost us about $5 and took about 2 hours to complete.

Materials / Tools:

  • 5 Yard Sticks – we got ours from Home Depot for 75 cents each (price matched Michaels)
  • Spray Paint (your choice of color – we picked silver)
  • 5 machine screws 1 inch long (these are the kind with rounded heads and flat (not pointy) bottoms)
  • 5 nuts (to go on the screws)
  • A 30-foot string of Christmas lights (or longer)
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Drill
  • Screw Driver

Light Up StarCraft How-To Video: 

Watch the video to see how Steve did it.
Note: He did have to wrap the lights 2 times to get it even.

Directions:

  • Spray paint yardsticks
  • Weave into star shape – watch the video to see how to weave it so it holds together without glue.
  • Hot glue the “corners”.
  • Drill each corner and insert a screw.
  • Wrap lights around yardsticks – our formula was 4 wraps on long sides and 3 wraps on inside sections.

Christmas Craft #3: Plastic Grocery Bag Wreath

A Christmas Crafted plastic grocery bag wreath on an oak door.

This is a great way to turn simple plastic grocery sacks into a beautiful piece of Christmas decor.

Materials:

  • 1 metal hanger
  • 30 to 50 white plastic grocery bags

Directions for Grocery Bag Wreath:

  • With a wire cutter, cut off the hook of a cast-off metal hanger leaving about 1” of twisted metal.
  • Shape the hanger into a circle.
  • Take your plastic bags and trim the bottom seam, handles and any logos or printed information from the bags.
  • Cut remaining “clean” plastic sheets into 4” by 8” strips. You can stack several sheets and cut on a cutting mat with a mat knife and ruler to speed up the process.
  • You’ll have a lot of leftover plastic, so put it into another bag and recycle it at your local grocery store.
  • Take 4” by 8” strips and tie (with a simple square knot) onto the hanger. Pull the knot tight. Squeeze as many pieces as possible onto the hanger. The more you put on the fuller the wreath will be.
  • Use a thin piece of wire to hang the wreath on a hook.
  • Decorate with a bow, spray paint or other holiday picks.

Christmas Craft #4: DIY Felt Christmas Tree for Kids

Felt Christmas Tree for Preschoolers, so easy to make, great do it yourself craft project!

A Simple, Fun and Inexpensive Craft: How to make a Felt Christmas tree that kids will love to play with. Annette along with Steve and Daughter-in-law Rachel cut out and assembled this wall mounted tree project. At the end of the video, you can see the “unveiling” as our grandson Stark squeals with glee while he plays with it.

We used materials we had. If we were to do it again, we would use a lighter brown for the gingerbread men. We did add rickrack to the arms and legs of the gingerbread men to lighten up their coloring. And we added white stripes to the red candy canes.

Hanging the Tree:

The tree can be mounted to a wall using thumbtacks, sticky putty or by adhering it to cardboard. We chose the cardboard method, using spray mount. We cut the cardboard into 3 horizontal pieces so that the tree could be folded up and stored. Then we attached a Ziplock bag to the back of the tree so the ornaments could be stored in there.

Felt Christmas Tree Craft How-To Video: 

In the video, Annette mentions needing white felt for the gingerbread men, what she meant was needing white felt for making snowmen ornaments.

Materials:

  • Tree: Large piece of felt: 36″ x 40″
  • Branch height: 5″, 7″, 9″ and 11″
  • Branch width: 2″ outside of the original 36″ x 40″ triangle

Time: It took about 2.5 hours to measure and cut out all of the pieces.

Tip: to make the ornaments and packages stick to the felt better, hot glue small 1/2″ squares of sandpaper to the back of the ornaments.

Felt Christmas Ornament Templates

Page 1:
Wreath, Star, Gingerbread Man, Ornament

Craft Felt Christmas Tree Ornament template #1

Click on the image to download .pdf
8.5 x 11 sheet

Page 2: 
Candy Cane, Dove, 
Snowman

Craft Felt Christmas Tree Ornament template #2

Click on the image to download .pdf
8.5 x 11 sheet


Christmas Craft #5 – Homemade Christmas Pinata

Some Christmas gift ideas we have made in the past. A fun family gift is to make a Pinata and fill it with coins wrapped in foil, candies, and little trinkets. Another gift is to find 2 or 3 cute cookie cutters and wrap them with a bottle of sprinkles and your favorite sugar cookie recipe.

Learn how to make your own simple Pinata here from StudioDIY.com

A green Christmas Tree Pinata with blue and red ornaments.

Christmas Craft #6 – Simple Dough Ornaments

4 dough ornaments hanging by a red ribbon on a brown paper background. An easy Christmas Craft for kids.

These are extremely easy to make and a great craft for younger kids to help with.

Dough Ornament Ingredients:

  • 4 cups flour
  • One cup salt
  • 1 tsp powdered Alum
  • 1 ½ cups water
Meredith Viera with Annette Economides holding a brown gingerbread ornament.

Directions:

Mix ingredients in a large bowl. Roll out dough to 1/4” thick on a pastry sheet with a rolling pin. Use cookie cutters to cut holiday shapes.
Poke a hole in the top of each ornament with a pencil or nut pick.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 60 minutes at 250 degrees. Turn and bake for for an additional 60 minutes until hard and dry.
Let cool. Sand lightly and decorate with paint, marker, or crayons. Once the paint is dry, spray with a clear coat or shellac. Insert the ribbon through the hole and hang on your tree.


Christmas Craft #7: Poinsettia Pumpkin Seed Ornament

Aunt-Annie's Pointsettia Christmas Ornament made from pumpkin seeds
Photo courtesy of AuntAnnie.com

One year, we made Poinsettia ornaments out of pumpkin seeds.

  • Clean and dry pumpkin seeds.
  • Cut out cardboard circles about 2 inches in diameter, then trace a circle about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and another about 1 inch (I think I used a quarter and a nickel to trace mine) – these are your guides to glue the pumpkin seeds.
  • Start on the outer circle and glue the rounded ends all along. Repeat with the next inner circle, and then finally the smallest circle.
  • Let dry, then paint red.
  • Put a blob of glue in the middle and sprinkle on millet seeds (I think we bought them in the bird feed section). Once it’s completely dry, spray it with some craft gloss sealant.

I used a ribbon for the hangers and glued a loop of it onto the back and covered it with a circle of felt.

I made these 16 years ago, and they’re still hung on our tree every year, so they really last!   Tracey Reisch – Denver, CO

If you want to see a step-by-step tutorial visit AuntAnnie.com 

Poinsettia Pumpkin Seed Ornament Craft How-To Video: 

Or watch this video from the Lubbock Public Library:


Christmas Craft #8: Beautiful Winter Pinecone Lantern

Decorative Lantern with Painted Pinecones & Twinkle Lights.

Another part of our annual Christmas decor is a simple craft project that costs very little. For Christmas, we fill our lantern with pinecones and lights. We simply change what we fill the lantern with for each season.

This lantern is used for every season, we simply change what we fill the lantern with and have a new look every time.

For the winter, we picked up pinecones from our backyard and spray-painted them silver, red, and gold. Then we wove a short string of lights (30-50 count) in between the pinecones. Adding a gold ribbon bow on top put the finishing touches on it.

It has a warm and elegant feel to it, doesn’t it?

Winter Pinecone Lantern Craft How-To Video: 


Christmas Holiday Recipes: Cookie Recipes

The NorthPole.com is an excellent site for holiday preparations and ideas. Of particular interest is their cookbook section. They have hundreds of holiday cookie recipes from all around the world. Check it out here   AJ – Chicago, Il

We have more Cookie Recipes on our Dessert Recipe page


Hilarious Holiday Fruit Cake Recipe . . . Spoof

A large round fruitcake with a red christmas ornament in front of it and a clear glass being filled with brown liquid next to it.

We first were exposed to this holiday fruitcake recipe before the invention of the internet by Al Gore. It has been a family tradition to read it every few years . . . when we can remember. It always gets a laugh – we hope you enjoy it.

Hilarious Fruit Cake Recipe Spoof

Ingredients:

  • 1 Cup Water
  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 2 Cup Dried Fruit
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1 Cup Brown Sugar
  • One Lemon Juiced
  • 1 Gallon of Whiskey

Directions

1) Sample the whiskey to check for quality
2) Take 1 large bowl
3) Check the whiskey again to be sure it is the highest quality
4) Pour one level cup and drink
5) Repeat step 4
6) Turn on Electric Mixer; beat 1 cup of butter in a large, fluffy bowl
7) Add 1 teaspoon of sugar and beat again
8) Make sure the Whiskey is still ok
9) Cry another tup
10) Turn Mixer off

More Directions

11) Break two legs and ass to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit
12) Mix on the turner
13) If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, pry it loose with a drewscriver
14) Sample the whiskey to check for tonsisticity
15) Next, sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts
16) Add one table. spoon. of sugar or something. whatevger you can find or see
17) Grease the oven
18) Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees
19) Now don’t forget to beat off the turner
20) Throw bowl out window
21) Get the whiskey again
22) Go to bed

Who the heck likes fruitcake anyway?

More Holiday Ideas

If you’re interested in holiday movies, click here.
And if you like Holiday books, click here.
And finally, if you love Christmas Music, click here!

If you have a tip for saving money on Christmas Decor and Crafts that would help others, please leave it in the comments below and we’ll review it for posting on this page (we may request photos if we use your tip).

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