DIY holiday gift: handprint ornaments
Since I see most of my family every day, they don’t usually read the blog. That is, except my nana… she’s my most loyal reader 🙂 Since she saw these already, I figured it would be safe to post, and in the occasion any of the other grandparents are here: Merry Christmas, you’re getting a glittery hand ornament as part of your gift!
For someone who isn’t very crafty, I’ve definitely been riding the DIY train lately. I figured it would be fun to make a Livi keepsake for the grandparents, especially since it’s her first Christmas.
We made two different types of ornaments: the glittery handprint ones,
and one using a hand/foot impression kit.
I can’t decide which one I like more… I love how you can see every little hand dimple on the imprint ornament, but think the glitter is especially festive and beautiful. I’m glad we’ll have one of each on our tree.
For supplies, I picked up 7 clear ornaments, Elmer’s glue (it seemed to be the most child-friendly option) and fine glitter. The ornament impression kit was from Buy Buy Baby (a gift from Lisa). Everything else was from JoAnn fabrics, and to the cashier who grouchily told me my coupon expired last week: you can pull them up on your phone. I figured that out yesterday and saved $2 (bringing the total for everything to $11). Take that, sucka.
This is not something I could have done alone. Lisa came over and we had a little assembly line: my computer set up on the patio table playing Elmo ABCs with India Arie, the glue, ornaments and glitter lined up on paper, ready to go.
Lisa helped me put glue Liv’s hand and then we told her to open her hand (she got the hang of it pretty quickly), pressed the ornament into her hand and Lisa glittered the ornament. I thought it might be an interesting experience with glue ending up in Liv’s mouth, in her hair and a quick bath time afterwards, but it was NBD. Glue on the hand, we washed it off and that was it. We got lucky for sure 😉
For the impression kit, we just followed the instructions on the box, making sure to wet Liv’s hand first.
It was an easy, beautiful and inexpensive gift – I hope the grandparents love it!
Any other ideas for fun holiday gifts from baby? I always love to hear your suggestions and what you and your family have done in the past.
xoxo
Gina
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Love them! I’m also feeling extra crafty this year, I blame it entirely on pinterest haha.
What cute ideas!! I’m not planning on having kids for many years but I’m so excited for when I do to get to do stuff like this!
girrrrrrrl, you just saved me about $70! I RAN to my computer to cancel my shutterfly ornament order when I read this haha. This is SUCH a cute idea!! Its Tripp’s first Christmas too, so we thought a photo cube ornament would be cute but this is way better and way cheaper.
What a great idea!
So adorable! You should put her name and the year on the ones you keep. As a kid and still today, I love that I can look back at my homemade ornaments and know how old I was! It amazes me that my parents still have my “baby’s first Christmas” ornaments.
AWESOME!! love these…yay for ‘baby’s first christmas!’
Our daughter was 6 months old last Christmas. We went to a make your own pottery store and stamped her feet onto flat pottery pieces. We then added antlers, eyes, and a red nose to turn her footprints into reindeer. We wrote “Merry Christmas” on the pieces and the year. They turned out super cute and the grandparents loved them.
Another good idea- take the handprint impressions 1 step further. Turn the hand upside down and paint it to look like Santa. The top of the palm to the thumb is the hat, thumb is the Pom Pom at the end of the hat, the rest of the palm is the face, and the fingers are the beard. Another idea- fill a non-glass clear ornament with paint, tape the top closed and allow your little one to swirl it around to make a custom creation:)
I’m doing something similar for all Avery’s grandparents too, thanks to Pinterest.
In reference to the coupon, I know some stores need the printed version but I was able to use the email version at Children’s Place the other day, even though the email said to print it out. And that’s a great store to rack up savings!
We just made the same hand/foot print impressions on Monday! Love how they turned out! Can’t wait to see what other suggestions your readers have for grandparents. I have been trying to think all week. 🙂
I LOVE the imprint idea!
When we were kids, every year my mom made my grandparents christmas ornaments with our pictures on it so every year you can see how we’ve grown. Now that we’re all in our 20s we still make them one every year! Also, when we were in school, my mom kept ALL the ornaments that we made. Now many years later, she still uses them and has a story behind every one.
I made this last year for my little guy’s first- he was only 2 months old, so we used mini ball ornaments and white craft paint – – we turned each finger into a snowman. If you google “five finger snowman ornament” you’ll see how cute it is – there is also a little poem that goes along with it!
Love this idea! It’s something so meaningful and cute.
The cuteness of Olivia’s chubby baby hand on the imprinted ornament melts my heart!
I’m sure people have already mentioned it, but paint the hand prints! That will make them more festive so that you like them both equally 🙂 Cute idea for sure!
Did you do a puppy paw print as well? Too cute!!
yeah, we did bella’s! we knew she wouldn’t care 🙂
I was going to ask the same thing!! Adorable.
I love this! I will have an almost-eight-month-old this time next year so I am definitely planning to make hand-print ornaments. These might be my favorite versions so far. =]
I love this!! I’m going to buy some ornaments to make today for this!!! My daughter will be 6 months old
HA! I love the comment to the grouchy lady at JoAnn’s bc I had the same experience this week with a lady there as well…I couldn’t bring up my coupon and she kept getting impatient with me, I of course turned red with embarressment and missed out saving $4 on my total. I was totally bummed but after seeing your comment, makes me not feel so bad bc clearly it is their lack of cheeriness thats all 😉