Christmas Crafts for Kids- Reindeer Christmas Cards and Ornaments

Chrsitmas on a Budget Series: Check out these easy Christmas craft ideas for kids! Super cute hand and footprint Christmas cards and ornaments.

The holidays are approaching, the stress of the economic climate is still affecting us. Some families are still losing their homes, people are still losing their jobs, and some have been out of work for awhile. The stress is building so this means celebrating is all the more important. Gifts don’t have to mean stress or money, they can be more about being thoughtful and having fun. We are going to bring you many homemade gift ideas that are big on heart and low on investment.

Homemade crafts for the holidays are so much fun and can even bring tears to the eyes of the recipient. The benefits of making your gifts are for the giver and the receiver. Get your family involved, don’t try to go it alone. The children will love helping and giving something that they made with their own little hands. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate than working together to make gifts.

Reindeer!

What makes a better reindeer than your own child’s hand or foot print? Especially if you have a younger child this idea will work perfectly. You not only get a cute craft, but you get the memory of your little one’s handprints and footprint.

Materials needed:
Brown Non-toxic acrylic paint – found at any local craftstore
Card stock paper

Non – toxic Glue

Hole Punch

Red Ribbon

Bobbly eyes

Red, black or pink small pom poms for the nose. The color is up to you.

* You can choose additional adornments like gold sequines for the antlers.

Instructions:

Put down some newspaper in the work area. If you have a very small child, you might consider putting them in their high chair. It will eliminate the number of little prints all over the house.
Paint your child’s foot with the brown paint.
Place it on a piece of paper or cardboard, you might have to put the paper on the little one’s foot. If you do a small rolling of the foot from side to side and front to back you will get a complete print.
Set the print aside to dry for at least an hour.
Once the footprint is dry, place it heel up and put a red nose and some eyes on it.
Now paint your child’s hands brown.
Using the same method you did for getting the foot print – Place their hands at the top of the reindeer head to make the antlers. If you are a little nervous about getting the antlers in the right place, you can print their hands on a separate piece of paper. Once they are dry, cut them all out and place the handprints at the top of the reindeer.
Add a bow and any other adornments and your reindeer is ready.

If you want to make multiple cards for the family, skip the adornment phase or paint on your decorations. When you are done with a flat print, take it to your local copy store for color copies on card stock paper. They can even print and fold them into ready to send cards, along with envelopes. After you have the copies made, let your imagination go wild with adornments. Your child can add the finishing touches to their creations to send to the family!

The best part is that this Holiday card won’t find its way into the trash, you can add a little hole in the top of the card with a small amount of red ribbon loose in the envelope. Provide some small instructions on how to make this card into the perfect ornament for any tree.

By Lori Troyer As a mom of a two year old and a preschool teacher, she has many ideas on how to entertain your children and have fun together. Welcome a new baby into the world in style with the baby clothes, newborn hats and adorable baby headbands of My Baby Clothes Boutique.