I made these salt dough ornaments with Charlie last year, and am planning to make more this week, so I thought I would share my a repost of the original Salt Dough Ornaments post today in case any of you need any last minute gifts for teachers, grandparents, hosts, or friends. Keep in mind, I made these with my (then) three year old – so they aren’t perfect but I think they are so cute.
Salt Dough Ornament Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of flour (all purpose bleached flour gives you the smoother white ornaments but we used whole wheat flour and that worked fine too since we painted ours)
- 1 cup of salt (again, fine table salt makes a smoother ornament, but we used course sea salt and it added a bit of sparkle and texture – so it is up to how you want them to look)
- 3/4 to one cup of water (depending on how dry your dough is – we used 1 cup. If your dough still seems too crumbly, add a little more water until you can knead it)
Directions:
- Mix all the ingredients together by hand.
- Knead it until it’s nice and doughy.
- Flatten by hand or roll dough out with roller
- Use cookie cutters to make whatever shape ornaments you want. I love this set of Christmas cutters, but you could also use a snowflake set like this to make a more winter-themed vs. Christmas themed ornament.
I even have this California shaped cutter that I used to make ornaments for all of our California friends (and myself!) So a state-themed ornament is a really fun idea too.
- Use a straw to poke a hole in the top so you can hang them with a string or hook.
- Lay them out on a slightly greased cookie sheet 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Turn over once after 10 minutes.
- Let them cool after removing them from oven.
- Paint however you like (we spray painted gold due to a lack of time, but you could hand paint, modge-podge and glitter, etc!)
- Using string, jute, or yarn, tie your string to hang the ornament through the hole.
- Write the year on the back with permanent marker so you’ll remember when you made them!
See, ours weren’t perfect! But if you’re giving them from your child to their teacher or grandparent I think it makes them cuter to have a few imperfections – after all, a three year old did help make them. I wrote a little heart, Charlie’s name, and the year on the back of ours. And we kept the Mickey one for ourselves since that’s Charlie’s favorite. I tied them onto his teachers’ gifts (a DIY mason jar snow globe inside a striped favor bag with a pom pom and handwritten note). They were a hit!
And not only did making these allow us to give some handmade gifts this year, but it started a holiday tradition and created some wonderful family holiday memories as well. Do you have any handmade holiday traditions with your family?