Two Twenty One

Salt Dough Recipe (for Ornaments and More!)

A new tradition Brad and I decided that we want to implement is making a special ornament with Owen each Christmas. Since this is his first Christmas, we wanted to make a salt dough ornament of his handprint. This is such an easy crafting project.
One thing I looked forward to after learning I was pregnant right before Christmas last year was celebrating the holidays with a little one. Friends have told me that Christmas is so much more special once you have a child, and now I can see where they’re coming from.

With the holidays comes traditions, and I’m looking forward to continuing holiday traditions from when I was little and new creating ones with Owen.

One family tradition I plan to continue with Owen involves my white ceramic Christmas tree. My late Aunt Patricia made a tree for both my brother and I when we were little. My mom used to put them in our bedrooms at Christmastime. Needless to say, it’s one of my most treasured possessions.

Since Owen isn’t sleeping in his own bedroom yet, the tree will assume its usual position on our entryway table, but next year I intend on displaying it in his room. I hope this tree will be passed on for multiple generations to enjoy.

vintage white christmas tree with blue lights

Salt Dough Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup salt

3/4 cup lukewarm water

How to Make Ornaments

Preheat the Oven

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Combine the Ingredients

Combine 2 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup salt. Add 3/4 cup lukewarm water. Mix together. Knead for 5-6 minutes. I recommend wearing gloves while you do this because the salt can dry out your skin. If needed, add a bit more water.

salt dough ornament 1

Roll Out the Dough

Roll the dough out with a rolling pin. The dough should be about 1/2 inch thick.

Press the Hands

Press hands into dough.

Note: You may want a little help with this with infants. Brad held Owen and I pressed his hands into the dough. Also, make sure you wash your baby’s hand off afterward because the salt can dry their skin out.

salt dough ornament 2

Cut Out the Handprint

Use a round object to cut out the handprint. I used a biscuit cutter.

salt dough ornament

Make the Hole

Make a hole at the top for the string or ribbon. I used a wood skewer.

Bake the Ornaments

Place on a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Bake for 2 hours.

Allow to cool completely.

I wrote Owen’s name and “2014” on the back of the ornament, followed by a coating of Mod Podge to help preserve it. You can paint your ornament with acrylic paint if you wish.

Here’s our dapper little man with his salt dough recipe handprint ornament. Isn’t he festive looking?

o 2

Perhaps I’m biased, but can you say baby model?

o 1

I had to include a spit bubble shot because it’s Owen’s newest party trick.

o 3

While I was at it, we decided to try to get some photos with Jack and Owen. This one best represented this portion of the photo shoot.

Jack is eyeballing the treat Brad is holding, and he’s clearing looking forward to devouring it, while Owen has moved on to one of his favorite hobbies — chewing on his fingers. But doesn’t it look like he’s intently looking at a piece of art and saying “Hmmm…”?

o 4

I can’t wait to make a Christmas ornament each year with Owen.

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Comments

  1. Gina says

    One of our holiday traditions is making and decorating gingerbread men. This year, my mom is here to do it with my three kids, just like she did with us growing up.

    Reply

  3. Anne Marie says

    Our favorite is making gingerbread houses – Owen may be a little young this year, but next year he will love making one or at least attempting to make one!!

    Reply

  4. Brittany says

    Great idea! My husband and I have decided to do a small gift bag/ basket with a new pair of Christmas jammies, a favorite movie snack for each one and then we will reveal the Christmas movie to watch with it while we’re all snuggled up! !

    Reply

  5. Emilie K says

    My cousin and I have made pioneer woman’s cinnamon rolls every year for the last 4 years a couple weeks before Christmas to give out to family and friends. I always freeze a pan and my little family enjoys them on Christmas morning!

    Reply

  8. Debbie says

    Your son is adorable. I especially like that you dressed in traditional plaid for Christmas. He could not be any more handsome. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

    Reply

  9. Roxanne Workoff says

    We make Swedish Tea Rings every year as a family. I’m hoping my son will continue the tradition with his children. When my children where small we made cute wreath ornaments using baby food lids.

    Reply

  10. Alice Jackson says

    We have a few holiday traditions, two of which go back to my childhood and the other is new and specific to our family. Since I was a young child, my Mom had me and my three older siblings frost cut-out cookies – out of four kids, I’m the only one that has kept up the tradition and now that I have a 6 year old, she and I frost the cookies together. For Christmas Eve, for whatever reason, we ALWAYS get pizza, it has to be pizza, nothing else will do and this dates back to when I was a preteen. A new tradition for our family is that my husband has been asked for the last few years to play Santa on Christmas Eve. So my husband dresses up like Santa, our 6 year old is in the back and we drive him to the houses that have requested him – our daughter gets a huge kick out of it. And everyone always asks “Well then doesn’t that mean she knows who Santa Claus is?” No, we’ve told her that Santa has dads, uncles, grandfathers to help him out but it is a secret and nobody ever knows when they are going to get called upon until the suit arrives on the doorstep.

    Your little Owen is adorable by the way!

    Reply

  11. Sarah Beth says

    We always go through Christmas in the Park. It a lighting display of sponsored by local businesses in one of our parks. This year we went to breakfast with Mrs. Claus at a local church and will be adding that to our yearly traditions!

    Reply

  13. Jessica says

    Christmas jammies are a must. I start shopping Christmas jammies in September, until I find the perfect ones. After church Christmas Eve, my daughter gets to take off her Christmas dress and change into footie jammies and basically it’s the most cozy and adorable ever. We did it when we were kids too, so it’s something I look forward to every year!

    Reply

  14. Brie says

    Cute! I love the ornament idea and your little boy is so handsome. My mom had suggested I create some sort of ornament for my son (8 weeks old) for his first Christmas. Her idea was to paint his hands or feet and transfer his handprints or footprints onto an ornament, but I’m a little wary of using paint with him. I like your idea better. 🙂

    My favorite tradition is driving around and admiring Christmas lights. With a little one now, I’m excited to experience Christmas as a mom … probably even more so next year when he’ll know what’s going on!

    Reply

  16. Liz says

    Is that 1/2 cup of salt? It just says 1/2 salt. This would be a fun project with our almost 5 month old! My favorite tradition is baking cookies together. The result afterwards is pretty delicious too!

    Reply

  17. Lindsay says

    We made salt dough ornaments with our daughter last year, too! Haven’t found the perfect idea for this year…yet. One of my favorite family traditions is going to get the Christmas tree. =)

    Reply

  18. Jennifer says

    We are expecting our first child in March so I have another year to think about some of the traditions we want to start with our little man. I am looking forward to continuing some that my husband and I grew up with and starting a few new ones like decorating gingerbread houses and incorporating community service and giving. Love your idea of making an ornament each year. My late father saved every ornament my brother and I made in school and proudly displayed them each year surrounded by his beautiful antique ornaments.

    Reply

  20. Ashley Bee says

    Our Christmas traditions include staying at our own house for Christmas Day (no traveling!), eating cinnamon rolls after opening presents, driving around the city looking at Christmas lights, and putting up the Christmas tree with Christmas music playing. 🙂 It’s the best season, isn’t it?

    Reply

  21. Rachel says

    That sweet boy! I love the salt dough ornament idea. What a great thing to do together each year! I kind of wish I had started something like this earlier. I like to make Christmas treats with Forrest’s help each year to deliver to family and friends–he loves helping me bake, and he’s always so excited to drop them off at people’s houses.

    Reply

  22. Hannah says

    Since I was little, my sister and each open one present from each other on Christmas Eve and save the rest for Christmas morning. It was always such an exciting teaser for the next day!

    Reply

  23. Brittany says

    We inherited some pieces of a Christmas village so we’re going to make a tradition of setting up that stuff together. Also, we put a small tree in my daughters room. We may open up one present on Christmas eve! I wanna do an advent calendar when Zoey is older and Elf on the Shelf!

    Reply

  24. Bridget Taylor says

    I like this idea! My kids are grown, but I bought them an ornament, usually Hallmark, each year. First the ones that said first Christmas, then daughter or son. When they moved out, I gave them their ornaments to put on their trees.

    Reply

  26. Valerie says

    Every year the kids each make a little foam craft that we glue onto a plain, red, felt tree skirt for our second tree. They always enjoy seeing what they made when they were little.

    Reply

  28. Sarah @ Sarah's Daybook says

    So many great traditions at my house! Christmas Eve, Chinese food, duh. Well, I don’t know if that’s just my area that does that, but we have been doing it every year. Christmas Day: my mom videos Christmas morning. I know that this isn’t anything groundbreaking, but, as amazing as my mom is, she’s not the most “documentative” parent. It’s the only consistent video of my siblings and me. They’re 16 and 17 years older than me, so I love that I have those in my back pocket to watch later. Every year my mom does simple stocking stuffers: jelly beans for my brother, chocolate covered pretzels for my sister, and Lindor truffles for me. Along with something small, like stationary or something. Love me some Christmas! I wholeheartedly agree that simple is best.

    Reply

  31. Stephanie Phelps says

    These ideas are awesome but your little one is so adorable! One thing we do is go out with hot chocolate and get the tree together and then decorate!

    Reply

  35. lynn gragg says

    A new family tradition for you would be when owen gets a lil older you could always start elf on the shelf!! Me and my husband actually don’t have any kids yet and we jus married in September but we starting hiding the elf for each other this year!

    Reply

  36. Nikki says

    Great post! We have a 2 year old and did the same thing for her first Christmas (we made 4 ornaments and gave them as gifts to her grandparents and godparents!)
    Our tradition(s) start at the beginning of the month. We have an activity advent calendar that we really enjoy. It has everything from Writing a Letter to Santa (day 1) to coloring pictures, baking cookies, singing songs, etc. We also have an advent bunting, with pockets for each day, that we hang. Not only are there fun little gifts, but also ‘giving’ ideas as well. We want her to understand the true meaning of Christmas, so we have activities like ‘Read the Christmas Story of the Birth of Jesus’, ‘Let’s donate our unused toys’ or ‘Bake a cake for Jesus’ birthday.’ (This has also been a great way to work on her numbers!)
    While our daughter is a very young 2 and we realize that she doesn’t quite get it, we’ve enjoyed the daily Christmas joy she’s experiencing!

    Reply

  37. Michelle says

    Oh. My. GOSH! Can that boy get any cuter?!? Okay, our Christmas tradition is making my grandmother’s Hungarian Nutcake. An all day project that I’ve now gotten my mom, two of my cousins and three aunts involved in. A totally fun “baking day”!

    Thanks for this opportunity! A Blessed Christmas to you and your family!

    Reply

  38. Elle says

    We love to drive around a certain area near me at night that tends to go all out with beautiful holiday decorations and lights. It’s become an exciting trip each year.

    Reply

  43. Brooke Breon says

    Our holiday tradition is to open one present Christmas eve – it is always new cozy pajamas and snacks for a movie. Then we watch It’s a Wonderful Life together in our new PJs! 🙂

    Reply

  48. Jessie C. says

    One of my favorite traditions is baking sugar cookies together, kids love decorate cookies and we also make gingerbread house.
    tcarolinep at gmail dot com

    Reply

  56. Julie Wood says

    We always love making Gingerbread House together as a family while listening to Christmas music! We also make our Holiday Cut Out Sugar cookies! It is so much fun to make these every year!

    Reply

  66. Lisa Brown says

    I don’t have traditions right now, no kids, just my husband and i. we do have a nice christmas dinner for two 🙂

    Reply

  70. Michelle HIser says

    I absolutely cannot wait to make these with the little ones. My own children and my preschool class. Thank you for sharing these Christmas traditions. Blessings to you and yours this Christmas season!!!!

    Reply

  76. Anne says

    I generally have a hard time at the holidays so I don’t keep a lot of traditions, but one thing my spouse and I seem to do every year is exchange one gift on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas morning, we “surprise” each other with another gift or two. It’s fun to spread the gifting over the two days.

    Reply

  78. Swati says

    Your son is adorable. When we celebrated first christmas with our son last year, we also decided to get a special ornament for him every year. Our little tradition…

    Reply

  82. Denise N says

    We to have traditions. We do the advent calender, and a real tree. I think we need to start the ornament tradition

    Reply

  83. Heather says

    We don’t make ornaments with our kids each year but we do buy an ornament for them each year. It’s fun pulling them all out year to year. 🙂

    Reply

  84. Angie says

    So glad I found this before buying the baby foot ornament kit I saw at the store the other day! Our family also does PJs and socks every Xmas. We watch our favorite Xmas movie while decorating the tree. And we always sing carols together Christmas night before and after dinner.

    Reply

  85. Erika says

    I like driving around to look at Christmas lights, baking cookies, and watching old movies by the glow of the Christmas tree. 🙂

    chambanachik(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

  86. Madeline says

    After opening presents with our kids, we have our whole family over for Christmas Day lunch. It’s my favorite tradition!

    Reply

  95. Matt says

    Decorating cookies with my mom! I really cherish any time I get to spend with her now that we’re both getting older and see each other less often!

    Reply

  97. Tari Lawson says

    One of our favorite little family traditions is sitting by the Christmas tree for about 15 minutes a night listening to Christmas music.

    Reply

  100. Margaret Smith says

    One of our traditions is that we decorate gingerbread houses together. We usually make two and wrap them both in clear display bags. One we keep for our table centerpiece and the other, we choose someone to get each year. Can be a relative, neighbor, friend, etc.
    Thanks so much and happy holidays.

    Reply

  102. Estelle S says

    This is a neat idea! When my kids were younger we usually bought kits to make handprint ornaments like this, but this is cheaper and much more special because it’s truly homemade!

    Reply

  103. Kari says

    When our kids were little, we used to all pile in the car, play Christmas music, and ride around looking at all the pretty Christmas lights. Our kids are older now (14-21) and we haven’t done that for a few years but I think we might have to bring back the tradition this year.

    Reply

  104. Sandy Klocinski says

    We make traditional dishes for our holiday meals and include foods we ate growing up. I ask for recipes from relatives to keep our family food traditions alive.

    Reply

  107. Cathy Truman says

    We get names from the Angel Tree and purchased toys and clothes for the Angels, they pick out toys and
    clothes they like and we take them to the Salvation Army for the names we have gotten from the tree.

    Reply

  109. Stephanie V. says

    I take my little one to pick out an ornament for our tree each year so when he gets older he sees which ones he picked at all the ages.
    tvollowitz at aol dot com

    Reply

  111. ELIZABETH C. says

    Speaking of ornaments…. my sister is very creative so she takes pictures of all the kids every year & she makes us our own ornaments to hang on our tree. Very pretty!

    Reply

  113. Crystal F says

    The only real tradition we have is baking for Santa on Christmas Eve. We choose something different each year to make him. My girls and I are making him cupcakes this year. Thank you!

    Reply

  118. Mary Jenkins says

    I made my daughter’s “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament out of salt dough because I didn’t have the money to buy one! It didn’t store well, unfortunately. I sure wish I had it hanging next to all my much pricier ornaments. It would be a testament to how far we’ve come!

    Reply

  119. Theresa Smith says

    We did this with your recipe with my five year old granddaughter and my 4 month old granddaughter. Their names are Kaitlyn and Maddie. These will be with us forever. What a great idea!

    Reply

  129. Anastasia Falling says

    Our only real tradition is to get everyone bundled up in the car and to drive around town and look at all the lights and holiday decorations 🙂 We love to admire all the beauty and hard work that people put int to their holiday decorating 🙂

    Reply

  133. Terri Moore says

    The ornaments from when my children were little are my favorites! Another tradition is to save all the photo Christmas cards you receive and keep them in a Christmas decorated photo album. I have done this for years and put the family ones together so you can see how the kids have grown each year. It is a precious memory keeper.

    Reply

  134. Lauren Olivia Wood says

    We always bake together as a family: staples like Fruitcake Cookies and Lush Cake are made in our kitchen with all 13 of us putting in our input!!!

    Reply

  137. Taryn T. says

    One of the traditions that I love is finding small presents for the kids advent calenders, and then watching their surprise each morning when they find them!

    Reply

  139. Donna Jacoby says

    My favorite Christmas tradition is, after wrapping the last of the presents on Christmas Eve, we each can pick one present to open. After that, we turn off all the lights–and light the tree to watch the movie marathons and enjoy the magic of the season. Thank you for the giveaway!

    Reply

  141. Beth Klocinski says

    Decorating the holiday cookies the weekend before Christmas. All the kids help out and we have a great family day.

    Reply

  148. krystal wethington says

    Every year we go to the CHRISTmas light show a few counties away.Its always so pretty and we love it every year.

    Reply

  151. Tracy Melhinch says

    The biggest tradition we have is the week before Christmas, on a Saturday, we have a huge family cookie baking day! We have been doing it since we were young(I am 47 now) Now are the kids and grands are included as well. My Mom gets a bit stressed with so many in her kitchen..but we all have a great time,and lots of fun and yummy cookies to take home.

    Reply

  156. angie says

    One of our traditions is to got to a local park and enjoy nature on the Winter Solstice. You can find so much life, even when it seems like everything is dead.

    Reply

  163. Jane H says

    Every year sionce our children were very little, my husband would read The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. Our oldest is now 30 and he still reads it but now it includes grandchildren.
    Merry Christmas.

    Reply

  165. Rosie says

    Our favorite tradition is to decorate our Christmas tree with everything edible! We string popcorn and cranberries, make and decorate gingerbread men and sugar cookies, wrap in saran wrap and hang, candy canes, pouches of gold coins, popcorn balls, seek out treats in the store. It is fun to snitch a cookie – from the back of the tree, of course! and it is almost as fun taking the tree down, the dreaded “End” of the holidays, as everything still tastes great! and makes for good snacking!

    Reply

  166. Kerry says

    We always go to church Christmas Eve and come home after mass and open our gifts. Santa always comes while we are at church:)

    Reply

  169. Becky Moore says

    we read the story of Jesus’s birth on Christmas Eve Eve and then ‘Twas the Night before Christmas’ on Christmas Eve.

    Reply

  170. Tabathia B says

    We usually make a gingerbread house, leave out cookies and milk for santa and we make gingerbread cookies

    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  173. T Michelle Trump says

    We love to get our pajamas on and drive around and look at Christmas decorations and then stop for hot chocolate.

    Reply

  176. Laurie Emerson says

    Our family makes Christmas fruit ornaments every year. We put whole cloves into oranges and use cut cinnamon sticks for a star on top. They smell so good hanging in the kitchen and our children have so much fun making them.

    Reply

  177. Stephanie Larison says

    Baking and decorating sugar cookies with my daughter is our new tradition. I remember doing it and loving it with my mom. We also put the fake tree up the day after Thanksgiving.

    Reply

  179. Sonya Morris says

    We really don’t have any other than going to mass on Christmas Eve. I decided a few hours ago that next year we will start a tradition of wearing matching Christmas pjs and slippers.

    Reply

  186. Betty C says

    When my children were growing up we always made candy cane cookies to hang on the tree. Of course, someone always tried to eat them and they really didn’t taste like cookies.

    Reply

  188. Angela Ash says

    I used to make a different ornament every Christmas and my mom would hang it on the tree. She enjoyed them and now that I’m older I like looking back at all of them and seeing the date so I know how old I was when I made them.

    Reply

  191. joni says

    On Christmas morning, we place a lit candle in a cupcake and put it in front of the manger and sing Happy Birthday to baby Jesus.

    Reply

  193. Rachel V says

    Our kids all write letters or a paragraph about each other. They place them in each other’s stocking to be read on Christmas Eve before they exchange gifts with each other.

    Reply

  194. Karen Deva says

    One of our holiday traditions is baking cookies together. We make pepparkakar, a Swedish ginger cookie, and cut out shapes with cookie cutters and decorate the cookies.

    Reply

  196. saralynns2 says

    My favorite tradition is Christmas eve church service and then driving around town looking at Christmas lights after 🙂

    Reply

  197. Steve Singer says

    We would pick out ornaments at a store like Things Remembered and have the kids names & the year engraved on them .This way they will have enough to start decorating their tree when they move out.

    Reply

  198. Michelle Tucker says

    Instead of a huge Christmas dinner we have about 20-25 appetizers that everyone brings over. Always a hit and a lot less stressful. Everyone loves this tradition in our household.

    Reply

  211. Vicki D. says

    The only holiday tradition we have is getting together with our two sides for Christmas. My husband’s side is usually Christmas Eve. My side is usually the following weekend. Last year, I made cookies and the kids loved frosting them. So, I plan on doing that again. Maybe that will become a tradition.

    Reply

  215. doug gerard says

    We used to have that same ceramic xmas tree…my mom made it in 1965 in her ceramic class.
    I tweeted too and thank you for the opportunity to enter P.S. your ornament is cute!

    Reply

  217. Amy Deeter says

    on christmas eve,we drive around looking at christmas lights and than come home and my 2 children each pick out a christmas movie to watch.

    Reply

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