7 Inexpensive Christmas Ornament Ideas

Flashback Summer: 7 Inexpensive Christmas Ornament Ideas

As a recently wed, recently graduated, new home renter, I don't have much of a store of Christmas decor built up yet, and I don't have a huge budget to buy some.  However, Jacob already had a Christmas tree from his college days, along with five (yep, FIVE) ornaments!  What a start, right?! Ha.  We needed more ornaments.

Here are some inexpensive ornament ideas I've used on our tree in our home this year.  In fact, I decorated our whole tree using items from my stash and about $20 in new items I bought!

1. Candy Canes
Old school charm, you can get big boxes of these for cheap!  Not to mention, every time you have hot chocolate this season, you can just pop a candy cane off the tree to stir it with!  Food AND decoration!  I got a box of six candy canes for 99 cents at Wal-Mart.

2. Bargain Ornaments
In this time of sales, be sure to check the bargain bins for ornaments!  All the red ornaments on the tree were in a large pack.  Usually plainer, more "generic" ornaments like these are easy to come by, and I paid only $8 at Joann for these.

3. Cookie Cutter Ornaments
There are lots of tutorials for these, and they give you creative license to create ornaments you love!  I used old pictures and scrapbook papers on mine.

4. Old Photos
I wanted to add a little more diversity to the ornament shapes on the tree (after having all globe shaped ones), so I propped some vintage photos I already had here and there all over the tree.  It adds a vintage feel, though I have to explain to every man that sees it that, no, they aren't family pictures or anything.  They're photos of random dead people that look fabulous.  And I like them.

5.  Popcorn Strings
I was going to do this, but I decided against it when I remembered our popcorn-loving dog also lives in our home.  However, although time-intensive, popcorn strings are hugely economical and add a lot of old fashioned whimsy to a tree.

6.  Clothespins
You can also put clothespins on your tree!  They clip right to the branches, and you can leave them plain for a homespun look or decorate them as you like!  They come in bags of multiples in craft stores and are generally offered at a low price point.

7. Paper Snowflakes
Cheaply made and fun to create, paper snowflakes are classic!  You can make them simple or intricate and in any color you can find in a paper!  They're versatile enough to coordinate with any tree or decor theme you may have, and simple enough to churn out a bunch in one sitting.  You can also have kids help you make these!

What other inexpensive ornament ideas have you used or thought of?

Flashback Summer: 7 Inexpensive Christmas Tree Ornament Ideas

Flashback Summer: 7 Inexpensive Christmas Tree Ornament Ideas

Flashback Summer: 7 Inexpensive Christmas Tree Ornament Ideas
Flashback Summer: 7 Inexpensive Christmas Tree Ornament Ideas
Flashback Summer: 7 Inexpensive Christmas Tree Ornament Ideas

Flashback Summer: 7 Inexpensive Christmas Tree Ornament Ideas

Flashback Summer: 7 Inexpensive Christmas Tree Ornament Ideas

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19 comments

  1. The first Christmas that my kids and I were alone I made a big batch of cinnamon applesauce dough and cut out stars for our little tree. They looked cute and smelled delicious. After we moved here to become part of a bigger family I bought some boxes of clear glass ornaments and let all of the kids squirt different colors of paint in them. When you put them upside down the paint swirls around and looks marbelized. They're my favorite ornaments - pretty and sentimental.
    My daughter likes the candy canes that are from Jolly Rancher or Spree.

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  2. When I was little I remember doing a lot of cookie ornaments. We were crazy about the details, like we made these sugar cookies that had lots of holes in them. We then added crushed hard candies in the hole to make stained glass cookies. I remember them being really gross, and most just got trashed instead of eaten afterwards.

    I work at a shop with some ornaments and during the holiday season there isn't enough time to report broken products. So if we get a shipment and some ornaments are broken, I usually can take them home and fix them up. I also like to buy a few nice ornaments every year after Christmas for the sales.

    Another great way to get ornaments is to take a look a your grandparents ornaments. I recently inherited a bunch of ornaments from my Grandma since she is moving out of her old house. Any Granny's that still have their original home probably have tons of older ornaments that might not make it out to the tree.

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  3. When I was growing up, we made chains of colored paper, and also chains of threaded popcorn. They are classic ornaments! Nowadays, I will sometimes go to thrift stores - their ornaments are very reasonably priced - and an amazing bargain if you hit a sale day!

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    1. Paper chains and popcorn really are classic! Great ideas!

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  4. Oh, and I love your vintage pictures!

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  5. These are all wonderful ideas for tree decorations. I am always on a very strict budget, especially around the holidays and I find it hard to spend money on decorations. This year is the first that I've had a tree (other than a ceramic one my mother made me in the 70's) in many years and I only have it because the last tenants of my apartment left it in the attic storage space. Aside from the adorable little wooden ornaments that were already on it, I only have about 10 ornaments that happen to all be hand made ornaments from family members. Today I am making little bows for the tree out of ribbon from my crafting supplies. I may just print out some old pictures to put on the tre as well. Great post, thank you.

    She Knits in Pearls

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    1. I totally identify. I just couldn't justify spending a bunch of money just for decorations. I love your bow idea! That's a simple, stash-busting way to dress up a tree, good idea!

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  6. I can't imagine being in the position of needing more Christmas ornaments (I think I actually need more trees...) but these are lovely ideas. Your tree looks very impressive and so much more distinctive and interesting than it would otherwise be. I have previously made some ribbon fans that were cute, cheap and very easy to do. I'll see if I can find a photo of those.

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    1. Oooo, ribbon fans do sound great! Let me know if you find a picture!

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  7. I love classic, homemade Christmas decorations like these. They speak to an era of strings of popcorn, cutout white paper snowflakes in the window, and substantially less rampant holiday season commercialism.

    ♥ Jessica

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    1. I totally agree! I love a homespun type of tree.

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  8. This is a really lovely idea, I love the sentimental touch that the old photographs bring! Our tree is looking a little bare at the moment too so I am waiting for it to get closer to Christmas when a lot of the ornaments start to get reduced :D

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    1. True story! I venture out and got a lot of these on Black Friday, and for all the holidays this year I've been hitting the sales racks when the holiday has passed to stock up for later times!

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  9. Your tree looks wonderful! A couple of years ago I bought an old readers digest from the thrift store for about 25 cents. I then gave my kitchen the " Elf" treatment. Paper chains and snowflakes hung from my ceiling in massive amounts. I received a lot of ooo's and aw's. 25 cents and some tape went along way.

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  10. Great ideas! Shows you can have a festive holiday on any budget. :)

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  11. what a lovely idea to hang up old photos on the tree!

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  12. So I'm really late reading this, but a suggestion is Terry's Village catalog. They sell many cute ornaments in sets of 12 that are very inexpensive. In past years I have gotten a set of glass cross ornaments and several sets that are country-theme, which is basically how my home is decorated, such as metal reindeer bells. Having a set of 12 of the same item can help fill in spots when you can't afford alot of expensive individual ornaments. At the same time, I like to get one new special ornament each year. This year you need a first Christmas together ornament!

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