Today I am sharing an easy “DIY” Christmas ornament tradition.
Every year we like to make a custom ornament for our Christmas tree. This can either be completely handmade or professionally made. We have a mix of both on our tree.
DIY Ornament Christmas Tradition
This is one of our favorite and newest traditions as a family.
For this ornament, all you really need are some family pics and a Shutterfly account.
If you’ve never heard of Shutterfly, it’s just a website where you can order prints online. It’s great for Christmas cards, photo fridge magnets and even mouse pads. They also have tons of Christmas ornaments to choose from.
Last year we ordered this beautiful metal ornament filled with family pictures to hang on our Christmas tree.
Other DIY Christmas ornament ideas:
- paper ornaments– these don’t have to be perfect. Our kids have made several as projects at school.
- reindeer clothespin ornament— check out the link for our tutorial
- dried orange slices— we did these this year and LOVED them
- cinnamon applesauce ornaments– these smell amazing and are so simple to make! Here is a great tutorial.
If you add one special ornament every year, in no time you will have a tree full of tons of memories!
On our tree, some are picture memories like this one and some are ornaments hand made by our kids.
Family pictures make great picture ornaments, but so do Kindergarten pictures.
Our kids are 2 & 4 right now. One day they will be grown and will be celebrating Christmas with their own families.
I’m sure it will be a bitter sweet moment for me to realize that I don’t get them all to myself anymore, but I know I will love looking back at all our handmade memories together as I decorate our tree.
UPDATE: its been 5 years and look how full our memory tree is now! I think we need an upgrade!
Is this tree perfectly aesthetic? No! But I love it anyway and my kids absolutely love that I saved all their handmade ornaments over the years.
They have so much fun reminiscing about them. Next year I will definitely have to get a larger tree!
Scroll down for many more DIY Ornament Ideas for your holiday season!
Jenny
Sunday 2nd of December 2018
This is something I need to start to do! I love this idea and I've never thought of it before. Someday it will be a wonderful memory as I decorate the tree when the kids are grown.
Lexi @ That Fit Fam
Sunday 2nd of December 2018
exactly! we only have a few special ornaments right now, but I can't wait til we have like 20 of them! so many great memories to come =)
Super Mom - No Cape!
Friday 30th of November 2018
This is an awesome way to keep those memories over the years. They grow up sooo fast.
Lexi @ That Fit Fam
Saturday 1st of December 2018
thank you! they really do!
Marie InteriorFrugalista
Friday 30th of November 2018
My family made one of these for me last year. When we went on our annual sleigh ride, I lost my footing stepping onto the sleigh and literally slid underneath the sleigh while everyone on the sleigh stood up to look. Someone managed to capture the moment and made it into an ornament and captioned it "Grandma got run over by reindeer - family sleigh ride 2018". Hilarious and one of my favorite gifts last year.
Lexi @ That Fit Fam
Friday 30th of November 2018
hahaha oh my gosh! that is hilarious!
Beverly
Friday 30th of November 2018
It's a lovely idea to add one ornament each year that holds special memories. I've done that for a long time and it is such a joy to place them on the tree and remember special moments.
Lexi @ That Fit Fam
Friday 30th of November 2018
so glad that we're not the only ones who do this. it is really one of my favorite traditions =)
Heather
Friday 30th of November 2018
I love ordering photo ornaments from Shutterfly too!!! They make great gifts for the grandparents too! They are so special and I love looking back on them every year. I actually still need to order ours from last year. I'll have to keep an eye out for one of their great coupons!
Lexi @ That Fit Fam
Friday 30th of November 2018
thanks for that tip! they do have great coupons, I forgot!