I pulled out the holiday decor last week and I was excited to stumble across a Pinterest execution craft that I managed to pull off last year. I had completely forgot that I had made the felt Christmas tree that you are probably seeing all over Facebook and the internet right now. I was pretty excited looking through the felt tree ornaments and recalling the fun my friend Megan and I had playing with glue and glitter while our kids napped last year during one of our play dates. How ambitious of us to get into crafting over nap time!
I really enjoyed making this craft! It was quite easy, although Megan who was a little less confident in her crafting abilities might argue that point. Needless to say, her tree turned out amazing! This could be a fun craft that you could do with your older kids. It does require some freehand in drawing a tree shape on a big piece of green felt, but that was probably the hardest part. We cut the tree out with ease using basic kitchen scissors and then it was just a matter of making the felt ornaments. This could be as simple as cutting some shapes out of colored felt or as creative and elaborate as you like. Since I’m a casual scrapbooker, I happen to have a good selection of crafty supplies so I pulled some of it out and Megan and I got creative.
Ideas for felt ornaments:
- make gifts with simple felt rectangles by gluing ribbon to them and tying a bow
- cut out a star for the top of the tree and use glitter glue to line the edge (I recommend stickles brand glitter glue)
- cut out a candy cane shape and use red & white bakers twine in a needle to sew on peppermint stripes
- buy felt with holiday patterns and simply cut around the patterns i.e. snowflakes and Christmas trees
- use glimmer mist or buy glittered felt to add a bit of sparkle
- cut out poinsettia or holly shapes and use decorative brads as berries or as the flower center
- use your holiday stamps and embossing powder in gold, silver, red or green on white felt
- cut out a gingerbread man shape and decorate with glitter glue
- trace a cup to make circles on felt and decorate the balls with glitter glue and ribbon
I’d love to hear your ideas for making felt ornaments for this craft in the comments section below.
These trees weren’t very expensive to make. I hit up Fabricville and bought way more felt than I needed to make the trees and ornaments for both Megan and I and it rang in at around $25. I’ve been using the leftover felt for crafts all year and I still have more! I’m thinking one tree including the ornaments would probably cost less than $15 factoring in things like glitter and ribbon to decorate the ornaments. If you keep it simple, you really only need scissors and felt.
Hanging the tree on the wall required some thought but we ended up using the 3M Command Velcro strips and that did the trick!
The felt Christmas tree was an attractive idea to me because I thought it would be a good alternative to playing with the breakables on the real Christmas tree for my then, just-turned-four year old.
It certainly didn’t STOP Chase from spending some time at our tree but it did offer me a go-to in redirecting him when he got a little too handsy with the ornaments.
I do find it to be a nice addition to the Christmas decor if you appreciate the homemade crafty look and feel.
It didn’t offer hours of play time but Chase would sit quietly and decorate the felt tree in creative ways and play with the ornaments off and on through the day. It is an activity that is always there, ready to go without any set-up or clean-up required and I like tha
t. He was also excited to show the tree to his friends and our adult company when they came to visit. Now that we have a blended family and the number of kids in our home has doubled, this tree will be appreciated even more. Jude at 16 months is still a little too young to play with it. I am sure the ornaments would get lost, ripped and may end up in his mouth so I chose to set it up in a Jude-free area. Chase and Markus are both 5 and they spent some time with it already. Linden, who is 2.5, is who will probably get the most joy playing with the tree this year.
The final score:
Overall, I would say this craft was worth my time and money considering the fun I had making it and the number of kids who will play with it over the years. Don’t expect this to be something to offer hours of entertainment and keep in mind that there is probably nothing other than a gate, that will stop your toddlers from poking at the tree every now and then. Happy Crafting!
difficulty: 1/5
creativity required: 0/5
creative potential: 3/5
crafting fun factor: 4/5
kids fun factor: 2/5
time: 30 minutes + (depending on how creative you get)
cost: approx. $15
