HOMEMADE HOLIDAY CHEER

October 30, 2025
Sloane Lucas
LIVE

Photography by James River Media

Gather friends and family to craft keepsake ornaments

With so much hustle and bustle around the holidays, finding time to celebrate and spend time with friends and family can be a challenge. One way to create memories — while also being crafty and creative — is to plan a gathering to make your own ornaments. With options for every age and budget, an ornament party can become a fun way to gather to make unique and personalized tree decorations, which can be hung, given as gifts or tied to presents to jazz up the wrapping. You could plan a kids’ party to make felt ornaments, or a girls’ night stacking wooden beads to spend time with friends. It’s also a great add-on to a cookie swap or other gathering. As a host, you supply the raw materials, and everyone can jump in and create their own masterpieces.

WOODEN BEAD ORNAMENTS
Looking to add a little rustic charm to your tree? Opt for chunky wood bead ornaments. With some twine and your imagination, you can create charming and adorable ornaments. An easy option for both kids and adults, it’s especially great for a girls’ night paired with wine and free from glue residue. These can be round or a dangling straight design.

MATERIALS:

Assorted wood beads in various colors, including beads with letters/images
Rustic twine, pipe cleaners or thin wire
Ribbon, both for hanging and for adding as a decorative element
Other decorative items like jingle bells

PROCESS:

Step 1: Choose the beads you want to use and the general shape — round or dangling.

Step 2: Cut twine to the approximate desired length.

Step 3: If creating a round shape, add beads, and then tie the ends tight to bring the beads into a full circle.

Step 4: If making a straight shape, create a twine knot at the bottom to stop the beads from sliding off, and then tie another knot at the top when you are done stacking beads.

Step 5: String your beads, maybe spelling out a name or a word like “Cheer,” or making a snowman. Add ribbon bows, bells or any other items as well.

Step 6: Use colorful ribbon or a string to tie to the top of your finished beading to hang from the tree.

MEMENTO ORNAMENTS
These make for truly treasured gifts, or you can make one every year to keep for yourself as a small time capsule. Memento ornaments do take some advance planning for you and any guests because you need to gather the varied contents ahead of time, but they are easily put together!

MATERIALS:
If planning a gathering, tell guests to bring small mementos. Some ideas include: printed photos, ticket stubs from meaningful events, wine or champagne corks from evenings out, beachy items like sea glass or shells, tiny versions of favorite toys, LEGO figurines or colorful stones from favorite woodland spots.

Alternatively, you can choose themes for your orbs and provide magazines and other print materials to allow guests to take a decoupage approach to the contents (like the popular “junk journaling” trend but in ornament form).

Acrylic round ornaments that can be opened, filled, then closed
High-quality paper and calligraphy pens, for people to write handwritten words or phrases; paint pens to decorate the exterior of the ornament
Assorted ribbons in different colors and materials or string

PROCESS:

Step 1: The fillable bulbs will likely open in half, horizontally, so crafters will fill the bottom and add the top to seal their items inside.

Step 2: Fill with mementos as desired.

Step 3: Choose one or more colorful ribbons or string, and tie to the top for hanging.

Tip: Hot glue the ornament cap on if the contents are heavy.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FELT ORNAMENTS
The most family-friendly option for DIY ornaments are tried and true felt ornaments. Soft and easy to make, they can be suitable for kids of many ages, plus they are easy to put together, alone or with the help of a parent.

Note: These ornaments can also be made without the stuffing. Though flat, they are still colorful and fun!

MATERIALS:

Colored felt fabric sheets
Fabric glue/hot glue gun OR embroidery floss and needle for stitching
Chalk pencil or fabric marker
Sharp scissors
Polyester stuffing
Ribbon
Buttons, glitter glue and other decorative items
Stencils (optional)

PROCESS:

Step 1: Stack two pieces of felt together. Use a stencil or freehand to draw your desired shape on one of the felt sheets.

Step 2: Hold the two sheets together, and cut along the lines to make two identical shapes.

Step 3: Decorate the top shape by gluing on buttons or smaller felt shapes or by using glitter glue.

Step 4: Create a loop with the ribbon, and glue the ends at the top of one felt piece.

Step 5: Line the edge of one felt piece with glue, leaving an opening to insert the stuffing. (Alternatively, you can stitch the two pieces together. Just be sure to leave the opening.)

Step 6: If using glue, put the shapes back together, and press the edges to seal them, sealing the ribbon in as well. Allow the glue to dry.

Step 7: Use the opening to insert stuffing into the ornament.

Step 8: Seal the opening with more fabric glue or stitches.

CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO DOWNLOAD STENCILS FOR THE THREE FELT ORNAMENTS SHOWN ABOVE.

QUILLED PAPER ORNAMENTS
An art form that dates back to the Renaissance, quilling involves a little more patience and planning than some of the other DIY options. But with the investment of time comes the reward of a truly magnificent piece of artwork. Quilling is a technique using long, thin strips of paper whereby the paper is rolled, shaped (if desired), then sealed with a little glue. These smaller coils — which can be tight or loose — are then glued to other quilled pieces to create larger shapes. For example, you could quill dozens of pieces of paper and keep them in their round shape, then seal and glue them all together to form a larger ornament.

The term “quilling” refers to the original use of a feather — or quill — to twist the paper. You can DIY this or half-DIY this project, opting to purchase a quilling set instead of compiling the materials yourself. It may also be helpful to watch some videos online before you start.

MATERIALS:

Specialized quilling needle to twist the paper
Paper cut into strips. You can use both heavier and lighter paper, reserving the heavier paper like cardstock to stabilize the outline of the shape and lighter for the interior. You can also buy pre-cut strips.
Glue with a very narrow tube so only a small amount comes out at a time
Tweezers to help you handle the coils
Ribbon or string for hanging

PROCESS:

Step 1: Have a vision for the end design, be that a large ornament made up of smaller circles, a snowman made of three white circles, a tree or even a snowflake.

Step 2: Using the quilling tool, roll strips into tight or loose coils, sealing the end with a tiny drop of glue.

Step 3: Once dry, you can then gently press to shape those coils into squares, teardrops, crescents, diamonds and more.

Step 4: Lay the finished and shaped coils on a piece of paper as you twist and shape so you can see how your final product is going.

Step 5: Once you have enough for your final shape, glue the coils one-by-one using minimal glue, until you have your final larger shape.

Step 6: Let it dry completely before handling; after drying, quilled ornaments can also be augmented with additional paper shapes or other decorative flair.

Step 7: The final shape can be freestanding, or you can adhere it to paper to create a backing. Add a ribbon or string to the top to hang. ✦

See below for a step-by-step video of how to make the quilled snowflake ornament