Make Your Own Father Christmas Ornament

As Christmas approaches, it’s nice to get the children involved in making decorations. Handmade ornaments and decorations for the home and tree give a personal touch, and something to keep as children get older.

A simple yet cute idea is to make a Santa from an old coffee jar. Younger and older children will find making this fun and exciting on the lead up to the big day. It is quite easy to do and can be made using cheap materials from around the house.

With a little supervision from an adult, this will keep the kids busy in the Christmas holiday!

• A large empty coffee jar, washed
• Red crepe paper
• Black sugar paper
• Cotton wool
• Thin card
• Felt tip pen
• PVA glue

Put some newspaper down before you start to avoid mess.

Start by measuring around the coffee jar with the red crepe paper. Cut a piece which fits all the way around the jar, but covers from the neck of the jar down to the bottom.

Stick the red crepe paper to the jar. If it is a little transparent, stick another layer over the top.

Next unravel a strip of cotton wool. This will be the trimming of your Father Christmas coat. Glue some around the bottom of the jar then up to the neck.

Cut out some round buttons using the black sugar paper. Glue these down the coat next to the cotton wool.

At this point your Santa Claus will start to take shape, as he will have a body with a red coat. You will need to make a head, a face and a hat.

As the coffee jar is smaller at the top, make a cylinder shape with your thin card. Make it the same width as the body and glue it together and onto the body of the coffee jar.

Next you will need to make the hat. Do this by cutting a longer piece of crepe paper which will fit around the face to cover it, and leave a longer piece to make the end of the hat.

Glue the red crepe paper to the card face. Gather the end and stick a ball of cotton wool to create the hat.

Using a piece of pink or white paper, cut into a square shape. Draw a face onto the paper however you wish. Even make him have red rosy cheeks!

Glue the face onto the card which is covered in crepe paper.

Lastly you will need to make the trimmings on the hat and make a beard. Unravel more cotton wool and stick around the face, the bottom of the hat and cover the back of the head.

Just let your Father Christmas dry out and you have your very own decorative Christmas ornament!

Make as many as you wish!

You can make the Santa using different sized jars, depending on how big or small you want it to be. If you don’t have a coffee jar, use a jam jar for a smaller version.

Be creative and make a snowman as well! Just cover your jar in cotton wool and stick on buttons, a face and make a hat out of black card.

Have a happy Christmas!