Old Fashioned Christmas Decorations To Make

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When we first started out we didn’t have many Christmas decorations and ornaments for our tree, but since this year we are doing an “old fashioned” Christmas, we thought it would be fun to put together some homemade old-fashioned Christmas decorations that reflect our theme and our own little family traditions.

When we first started out we didn't have many Christmas decorations and ornaments for our tree, but since this year we are doing an "old fashioned" Christmas, we thought it would be fun to put together some homemade old-fashioned Christmas decorations that reflect our theme and our own little family traditions.

Old Fashioned Christmas Decorations

This post is a little collection of some of the fun and simple things we’ve been making to decorate our home with this Christmas season to make it cozy and pretty! I hope you can use some of these old-fashioned Christmas decorating ideas as well to create fun Christmas crafts and decor with your family.

Recipe for Kettle Corn

Old Fashioned Popcorn Strings

What kind of old-fashioned Christmas would we have if it didn’t include Popcorn Strings? Since my little ones are still quite little, this was more of a mommy and daddy project. But if your little ones are old enough to handle a needle you can let them make them with you!

Simply pop some plain popcorn, (I love this microwave popper, no oils or butter needed!) thread a needle on some sewing thread, and start stringing popcorn!

I just read a tip the other day about stringing popcorn for tree garland. It said that stale popcorn holds together a little better, so pop the corn and let it sit out for a day or so before you string it. I had never thought of that, but it totally makes sense!

Erin, Little House Living reader

Tip: Looking for the perfect Christmas breakfast? Here’s a yummy Christmas Brunch Casserole recipe!

Dried Orange Ornaments

Old Fashioned Dried Orange Ornaments

These ornaments not only look pretty, but they will also make your tree smell nice too!

To make these simple old-fashioned Christmas ornaments you will just need a few oranges. Cut the oranges into thick pieces (at least 1/4 inch thick, otherwise they will burn) and place them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 225 degrees.

Bake for several hours and remove when the peels are dried. (The insides will dry more as they sit). Place a small dab of hot glue at the top of each of the pieces and stick them on a looped string to hang them on the tree.

For hangers for the orange slices, you can also use a needle and thread to make a loop to hang them, or even pierce the top of the slice with a ornament hook.
They look so pretty with white lights on the tree behind them- almost like stained glass… 🙂

Juliane, Little House Living reader

Tip: Need gift ideas? Here are 100 Frugal or Free Toddler Gift Ideas.

Simple Mini Pipe Cleaner Elves

We don’t do Santa at our house, so elves are rather meaningless; however, when I was growing up, my Dad had a handful of these little bendable elves that my sister and I loved getting to put somewhere on the tree! I thought they would be a fun thing to make, so here’s what we did!

Take pipe cleaners and bend them in the shape of a little person with a neck. Give them clothes by sewing or hot gluing a few pieces of felt onto the elf. Give them a head by placing a little ball dowel or wooden bead on the top of the person on the neck. Glue a little felt hat on their head and draw on facial features if desired.

Check out the video above for a tutorial that I found on making pipe cleaner elves. Aren’t they cute?

Tip: Struggling with how you are going to do Christmas gifts this year? Here are some simple Family Christmas Gift Exchange Ideas!

Old Fashioned Cranberry Garlands

Now, if you really wanted to, you could string some fresh cranberries and place them around your tree. Just be sure and do this closer to Christmas since they won’t last long. We love the cranberry look but have decided to use wooden beads/berries in place of the fresh. You can find them here.

Tip: Here’s a simple sewing pattern for a Christmas Stocking.

jute ornament

Old Fashioned Jute Ornaments

These are fun little ornaments to make that really have the “rustic” look. They are simple, and you can make them in any shape you want! Just take a piece of tin foil and shape it into any shape. Use jute or any kind of string to wrap around the shape and create the ornament. You may need to add a dab of hot glue here and there to keep the string on the shape.

If you don’t have any tin foil to shape into your ornaments, you can use pieces of styrofoam, old small containers, or anything else that you think might make a cute ornament shape.

Tip: Christmas Gift Baskets always make a good gift!

Cinnamon Oranments

Cinnamon Cut Out Old Fashioned Ornaments

Who doesn’t love some good-smelling cinnamon ornaments on the tree? These are always a fun project for the little ones to make. To make cinnamon ornaments, you need:

  • 6 ounces Ground Cinnamon
  • 1 cup Applesauce
  • Cookie Cutters, Rolling Pin, Parchment Paper

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl, begin by mixing, and then finish by kneading. Your hands will be messy! Roll the dough out in between 2 pieces of parchment paper until it’s about 1/3 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to make ornament shapes in the dough and place the shapes onto a cookie sheet. Fill up the cookie sheet by using all of your dough, and use a straw or something else to put holes at the top of the ornament to be able to hang them up later. Bake them in the oven at 200 degrees for 2 1/2 hours or until dry. You can also let them sit out to dry for several days if you don’t want to use the oven.

I love some of your ideas. We also like a very basic holiday and don’t do the santa thing. we also like to make salt dough ornaments with 1 part salt, 1 part water and 2 part flour. you can add any food coloring and air dry. any ribbon or string that is left over from other crafts works great t ties to hang them with. and you can paint them if you want also with acrylic paint. we also like to make applesauce cinnamon ornaments.

GlueGirl, Little House Living reader

Tip: Looking for more gifts you can make? Here are my favorite Simple Homemade Gift Ideas.

Mason Jar Candle Holders

Something that we don’t make but love to use to decorate our home every Christmas is Mason Jar Candle Holders. My favorites are the taper candle holders, but I love the tealight holders as well. Nothing beats that comforting glow from a good candle in the winter! (Currently out of stock but might be able to find it at Amish stores.)

Tip: Learn how to make  Frosty Beeswax Candles and Winter Wonderland Centerpieces on a Budget

Old Fashioned Christmas ornaments are so easy and usually pretty frugal to put together. With just a few of these DIY items, your house will be looking more like Christmas in no time!

What’s next? Find Old Fashioned Christmas Cookie Recipes or make some of these Sweet Penny Treats for the Holidays.

Homestead Management

Do you decorate with any “old fashioned” Christmas decor?

Me and Kady

Merissa Alink

Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple and frugal life on Little House Living since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to freedom on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.

merissabio

These Old Time Christmas Decorations were originally published on Little House Living in December 2014. They have been updated as of November 2023.

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29 Comments

  1. Thank you so much for all your posts and hard work putting it all together. I love these ideas do you have any pictures of the jute ornaments? I would love to make them with my kids. Thank you.

  2. For hangers for the orange slices, you can also use a needle and thread to make a loop to hang them, or even pierce the top of the slice with a ornament hook.
    They look so pretty with white lights on the tree behind them- almost like stained glass… 🙂

  3. I really enjoy this site. Right now I am bed bound due to an injury. I
    have a lot of time on my hands and enjoy reading about your lifestyle and your values. Thank-you..

  4. I just hopped by from Turn it Up Tuesday to read your post and explore your lovely old fashioned christmas decorations. As I prepare to decorate our home and trim our family tree this year, your old fashioned decorations have inspired me.! Have a Happy Holiday!

  5. love the old fashioned décor , it brings back memories of the time we used what we had the aroma was amazing and the scent of Christmas was very present in those days

  6. What lovely ideas for decorating! I bet your house smells amazing!

    Thank you for stopping by the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop this week. We hope to see you drop by our neck of the woods next week!

  7. I’m also doing a homemade tree this year. I’m crocheting stars and Christmas trees, gathering pine cones and making other ornaments to go on our tree. I just want it to feel homey instead of “store bought”.

  8. I love some of your ideas. We also like a very basic holiday and don’t do the santa thing. we also like to make salt dough ornaments with 1 part salt, 1 part water and 2 part flour. you can add any food coloring and air dry. any ribbon or string that is left over from other crafts works great t ties to hang them with. and you can paint them if you want also with acrylic paint. we also like to make applesauce cinnamon ornaments.

    1. It was just something that my husband and I decided that we didn’t want to do with our children. He didn’t grow up with it and I did so we had experience on both sides. We focus on the advent season instead. We still do one special big gift though, but it’s from mom and dad. 🙂

  9. I make waxed ornaments using old candles or new wax and add a cube of fragrant wax scent so popular today. Melt it in a double boiler on top of stove then dip in cut out shapes from corrugated cardboard such as stars. Dip repeatedly until desired thickness is achieved. These last for years. Added bonus is they are fragrant. Oh. I thread a needle with thread and push thru cardboard prior to dipping in wax. I use this to hold while dipping.

    1. I grew up with doing Santa in our home and my husband didn’t. We decided together that it was something we didn’t want to do with our family since we would prefer to focus on the meaning of the season instead. We celebrate advent and do quite a bit of tradition around that and then we give our children the “big” gifts on Christmas, not Santa. 🙂 Our children also have learned the true story about Santa and St. Nicolas so they are understanding about why others do the Santa tradition.

  10. I just read a tip the other day about stringing popcorn for tree garland. It said that stale popcorn holds together a little better, so pop the corn and let it sit out for a day or so before you string it. I had never thought of that, but it totally makes sense!

  11. Popcorn garlands….the memories persist. Many, many years ago when my sister and I were in HS, we decided to do an old fashioned tree. Gingerbread ornaments, cranberry garlands (found out those don’t last long — they dry out and crowd together showing a bunch of string/thread), and popcorn garlands. Unfortunately, we didn’t get much guidance on the popcorn garlands and chose too heavy of a needle. This resulted in breaking apart the popcorn pieces. When we had laboriously gotten a few popped kernels onto the thread (which we had made way too long) we heard our dad howling with laughter somewhere behind us. We turned around and saw that our foodie Chihuahua had been laying in wait and eagerly scarfing down each piece of popcorn that we’d worked so hard to get onto the thread. We made paper chains instead. Thanks for the memories! LOL

  12. We also make a ‘tree for the birds’ each year as our gift to animals.

    Include pinecones rubbed in peanut butter and birdseed.

  13. What a great idea for the home decor. I always love to visit your website and watch helpful tips
    Thank you for always sharing worthy tips with us

  14. My daughter and I made pinecone ornaments by simple painting them a bit and a few we put some glue on and glittered. Then we used a jute rope to tie around the tip of the pine one to make the loop to hang it. You can also tie a little bow around the tip with the loop. They were fun to collect and make and look so sweet on the tree. We even gave some as little gifts.