It’s my son’s first Christmas this year, and I wanted to make something to remember and celebrate it. I thought about just doing a simple hand print ornament with paint and paper, but I wanted something that would be sturdier and a bit more detailed. So I decided to do my own salt dough ornaments! There are kits that you can buy rather than making your own dough, but I had all the ingredients on hand and it was super easy to do. I love all the little imperfections that really let you know these were homemade. I can’t wait to hang these on our Christmas tree for years to come (and to do this with future babies as well 🙂
What You’ll Need:
- Flour – 1 cup (125 grams)
- Salt – 1 cup (284 grams)
- Water – 1/2 cup + a bit more (118 – 130 grams)
- Whisk
- Mixing Bowl
- Rolling Pin
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Cookie Cutter or Sharp Knife
- Acrylic Paint + Paint Brush (optional)
- Sealer (MOD Podge)
Directions: Preheat oven to 200°, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk to combine the flour + salt, then add the 1/2 cup of water. If the dough isn’t fully coming together, add a bit more water, one tablespoon at a time. You don’t want the dough to be too wet as it will be hard to work with and take ages to dry out. Once the dough is well mixed and a good consistency, dump it onto a floured surface and flour a rolling pin. Roll the dough out to be about 1/4 of an inch thick (going thinner will cause cracking issues; you can go a bit thicker but it will take longer to bake and dry). Next is the tricky part: taking your little one’s hand/foot and getting a good imprint in the dough! My son is only 10 months old so we had to redo it a few times 🙂 I found the easiest thing to do was place the dough on the parchment lined baking sheet, and then take his hand and foot print so I didn’t have to transfer the shapes after the fact. Once you’re satisfied with the imprints, use a cookie cutter or a really sharp knife to cut out the ornaments (I used a knife because my cookie cutter wasn’t big enough to go around the entire shape of his foot). Use a straw to punch a hole near the top so you can put ribbon or string through it later to hang it from your tree. Remove any excess dough, and then place the baking sheet into the oven. Make sure to flip the ornaments over halfway through baking. Depending on the thickness of the dough and the size of your ornaments, it will take anywhere from 2 – 3 hours to bake them completely! Once done baking, allow them to cool completely to room temp and make sure they are firm. I let mine sit out for a couple of days just to make sure they were completely dry and set. Once cool and dry, you can paint them if you’d like! Our Christmas tree is black with gold glitter accents, and we have silver, gold, nude, and white ornaments, so I painted the outsides of my ornaments gold and left the actual hand + foot prints the natural dough color. Allow all layers of paint to dry completely before adding more and before applying the sealer. Once the paint and sealer are dry, you can take your ribbon or string and tie it around your tree! These are truly the most precious ornaments that will be cherished forever.
