Christmas Crafts & Making Memories

As my children were growing up over the years, I use to make several crafts with them every Christmas season. One of our crafts would usually include a handprint, footprint, or picture of the kids. These became a great gift to the grandparents, and I did it almost 5 years in a row. I loved doing this with the kids, but as we added to our family, I found it harder to plan and be organized enough to set time aside to do it….and I ran out of ideas over time! :/

As I unpacked our Christmas decorations this month, I found several ornaments I’d made with the kids over the years and remembered how fun and special it was. I’m determined to start doing it again this year and hopefully stick with it in the coming years! I lack on the side of artistic skill so it really requires a lot of intentionality on my part, but is always well worth it! I especially love how the kids enjoy having a part in creating something memorable.

Here are a few of my favorites that we created over the years!

Most of these crafts required very little supplies. Some paint, a hot glue gun, popsicle sticks but most of all some time and creativity. (The creativity part I can't take credit for!)

One of the ornament crafts I've loved creating over the years are salt dough ornaments. The recipe calls for only 3 ingredients. And our kids love making and painting the molds! Just remind them the dough is NOT for eating!! They'll be shocked at the taste and spit it right back out!

The salt dough ornaments are especially fun to do when your babies or toddlers are very young because you can do handprints or footprints and keep the memory alive for many years. Just be careful how you store them because they can become brittle if not stored properly, or even worse, crumble and soften if moisture gets to them somehow. Unfortunately, that’s what happened to several of our ornaments after they’d been in the storage unit for a year while we RVed. :(

Here is the recipe for the salt dough ornaments:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water

1. Mix the ingredients thoroughly until it becomes a firm moldable dough. If it's too sticky, just add a little flour. Coat a countertop surface with a little flour and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.

2. Once the dough is rolled out, you can use cookie cutters to create shapes of any kind. You can also imprint your child's hand, foot, or furbaby's paw and cut the shape out afterward. If you plan to use them as an ornament, make sure to poke a hole for the string to hang it. I like to use a straw. The dough will puff up in the oven, so a hole with a knife won't be big enough.

3. Bake at 250 degrees for approximately 30min-1.5 hours or until hardened and slightly golden brown.

4. Let them cool and then you can paint or decorate the ornaments however you like!

What crafts do you enjoy creating with your kids? I need more ideas now that my kids are getting older.

Comment below if you have some craft ideas you can share!

Merry Christmas!