We had a lot of fun this Christmas making “real food” ornaments for our Christmas tree.
There is something about homemade ornaments that make Christmas feel that much more special.
Dried Orange Christmas Ornaments
I got a box of Mandarin oranges from Chaffin Orchards and I was trying to think of ways to use them up.
Then I saw this post on Pinterest and I decided to give it a try.
They were really easy to make. I just sliced them up and put them in my dehydrator.
Then you just string ribbons on them and hang them on the tree.
In the original post from Pinterest, they said to add powdered sugar. Quite honestly, I did not notice any difference by adding the powdered sugar so you can probably skip it.
Funny, though, my husband found the Tupperware container full of dried orange ornaments, before I had a chance to put ribbons on them and put them on the tree. He ate some of them and later told me they were really good! LOL!
The housekeeper also thought they were garbage and threw them away — we had to fish them out of the trash.
Orange and Clove Pomanders
I saw this pin on pinterest and it took me back to my childhood. My mom and I used to make these decorations.
All you need for this decoration is some oranges and whole cloves.
Pine Cones and Potpourri
Kate and I found some pine cones at one of our homeschooling park days. I put them in a bowl with some Christmas potpourri.
Popcorn and Cranberry Garlands
We also made a popcorn and cranberry garland.
You need some popped popcorn (no added butter), cranberries, some thread and a needle.
Bubbe (Kate’s grandma) worked on it for a while. She’s an amazing knitter but she wasn’t exactly thrilled with this craft. 
Construction Paper Garlands
Stringing popcorn and cranberries turned out to be a little too hard for a 5-year-old, so we decided to make garlands out of construction paper instead.
All you need is construction paper, scissors, and a glue stick or Scotch tape.
We didn’t have the time or patience to finish any of our various kinds of garland, so our tree ended up looking a little “silly” (Kate’s word). But it’s homey and warm and the house smells amazing — like pine and orange and cloves.
Do You Make Homemade Decorations?
Please share in the comments.
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Hey Ann Marie,
These look great. Love them. Now that our kids are older and are more used to doing crafts at school I really enjoy doing things like this as well. The popcorn string and dried citrus fruit always works a treat
We make saltdough ornaments too and we have a Jesse tree for which the kids make the ornaments out of felt. Fun and non-toxic… perfect!
And great photos. Thanks for sharing them!
Heleen
So funny about your orange slices – you thought you were making tree ornaments, hubby thought you’d made snacks, housekeeper thought it was trash, lol! I think it’s a lovely idea though, might give it a try.
Love the look on grandma’s face “she was not thrilled with this project”. Lol
We have made lots of different homemade ornaments but not the oranges or even a popcorn string for some reason. Love the way it looks though!
Kate’s Bubbe’s look is Priceless
)…
You can do the Garlands in Blue & White for a Hanukkah bush.
I love making food-based decorations! In the US, I always made several meters of cranberry garlands, and hung them from chandeliers and across windows. Here in the UK, unfortunately, the cranberries are way to expensive! I also love drying orange slices and gluing star anise in the center of each one. Popcorn garlands and pomanders are always on the list, too, great projects to do while watching a movie by the fire.
We’ve done each of those before, but our favorite ornaments are the cinnamon ones. Mix equal parts cinnamon and unsweetened applesauce, roll (to about 1/2″, I think, maybe thicker – they shrink as they dry), cut out with cookie cutters, make a hole (for string) with a straw, and let dry. They takes days to dry on the counter, or a day in a dehydrator. You can add glitter to the dough to jazz them up, and we often decorated with fabric paints. If you pack carefully, they’ll last years – we still have the first ones we made twelve years ago. I think our favorites are the gingerbread boys/girls – we would decorate them as our ‘children’, and it’s fun to pull out the different ones we’ve made throughout the years.
Too funny! I bet would be tasty… I bought two boxes. Have eaten many, made citrus bitters, a gift basket, and maybe we’ll try drying a few in the oven. They are just so crazy tasty I hate to “waste them” on a tree.
Does your website have a contact page? I’m having problems locating it but, I’d
like to shoot you an e-mail. I’ve got some ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it grow over time.
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