There's something special about homemade Christmas ornaments: Not only do they make heartfelt gifts for loved ones, they'll conjure up warm, fuzzy memories for years to come if you keep them to hang on your own tree.
Feeling inspired? Gather up the kids and a few plastic ball ornaments, and try your hand at these stupid easy DIY decorations — there's something for everyone among these sweet and simple holiday crafts.
1. Sesame Street Ornaments
Help your kids bring their favorite TV characters to the Christmas tree by stuffing disc-shaped ornaments with red or blue crinkle-cut paper and gluing on tiny Cookie Monster and Elmo faces.
Check out a full tutorial at Heart of Deborah »
What you'll need: plastic disc ornament ($22 for 12 pieces, amazon.com), red shredded crinkle-cut paper ($8, amazon.com), blue shredded crinkle-cut paper ($10, amazon.com), printable Cookie Monster and Elmo templates
2. Charlie Brown Ornament
DIY decorations don't get much easier than this: Squirt a little paint into your ornament, shake it until the color is evenly distributed, and stick on a zig-zagging strip of contact paper to nail your favorite Peanut's iconic look.
What you'll need: plastic ball ornament ($30 for 25 pieces, amazon.com), yellow paint ($9, amazon.com), black contact paper ($7, amazon.com)
3. Santa's Belt Ornament
Kids will love stuffing this cutesy bauble with fun, fluffy feathers — just make sure you leave the hot-gluing to Mom or Dad.
What you'll need: plastic ball ornament ($30 for 25 pieces, amazon.com), red feathers ($7, amazon.com), black glitter elastic ($8, amazon.com), rhinestone buckle slider ($7 for 20 pieces, amazon.com)
4. Goldfish Bowl Ornament
Real aquarium gravel makes this fish bowl ornament extra convincing. Complete the underwater illusion by threading some fishing line through a vinyl goldfish and using it to suspend him.
What you'll need: plastic ball ornament ($30 for 25 pieces, amazon.com), green aquarium gravel ($11, amazon.com), vinyl goldfish ($8 for 144 pieces, amazon.com), fishing line ($6, amazon.com), funnel ($3 for set of 3, amazon.com)
5. Despicable Me Minion Ornament
This one is guaranteed to be a hit with the kids. Set them up with the right materials, then let them customize their Minions to build a little yellow family.
What you'll need: plastic ball ornament ($30 for 25 pieces, amazon.com), yellow paint ($9, amazon.com), black contact paper ($7, amazon.com), aluminum foil ($9, amazon.com), googly eyes ($8 for 100 pieces, amazon.com)
6. Sprinkle Ornament
Even the littlest kids will have fun with this super-simple DIY: Have them pick out the prettiest sprinkles they can find, then hand them a funnel and let the ornament-filling begin.
What you'll need: plastic ball ornament ($30 for 25 pieces, amazon.com), pretty sprinkles ($18, amazon.com), funnel ($3 for set of 3, amazon.com)
7. Grinch Ornament
All it takes to bring this abstract take on the Grinch to life is a handful of bright-green feathers and a scrap of red felt cut into a heart. (We can already feel our hearts growing three sizes.)
What you'll need: plastic ball ornament ($30 for 25 pieces, amazon.com), green feathers ($9, amazon.com), red felt ($7, amazon.com)
8. Melted Snowman Ornament
The best part about this clever decoration? There's no right or wrong way to assemble it: Just mix up some glitter and table salt, gather your snowman's appendages, and drop all of it in a plastic ball ornament.
What you'll need: plastic ball ornament ($30 for 25 pieces, amazon.com), table salt ($11 for pack of 3, amazon.com), fine white glitter ($7, amazon.com), funnel ($3 for set of 3, amazon.com), whole peppercorns ($15, amazon.com), red felt ($7, amazon.com), orange felt ($7, amazon.com)
9. Water Bead Ornament
Half the fun of this one is the prep: Buy some water beads in your kids' favorite colors, drop 2 tablespoons of them in water, and watch 'em grow before your eyes. An added bonus: This bauble actually sparkles when the light hits it just right.
What you'll need: plastic ball ornament ($30 for 25 pieces, amazon.com), colored water beads ($7, amazon.com), funnel ($3 for set of 3, amazon.com)
10. Melted Crayon Ornament
Older kids will love watching broken crayons turn into tie-dye masterpieces with this trash-to-treasure project. Just make sure they don't direct the hair dryer's hot air right at their fingers ... and of course, use glass ornaments for this craft, not plastic.
What you'll need: glass ball ornaments ($7 for 4 pieces, amazon.com), crayons ($5 for 2 packs, amazon.com), hair dryer
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