Let’s be real. Your baby’s first Christmas (or second, or third) is more for you than it is for them, right? You want those picture-perfect moments, the tiny handmade ornaments, the proof that yes, you are a fun and crafty parent. But between the feedings, the diaper changes, and the general baby chaos, who has the time for complicated projects? I feel you. That’s why I’ve rounded up 27 incredibly simple, baby-safe, and downright adorable baby Christmas crafts. No advanced degrees in glitter-glue required.
1. Salt Dough Handprint Ornament
This is the ultimate keepsake craft. You only need flour, salt, and water to create a moldable dough. Gently press your baby’s hand or foot into a flattened piece of it.
Bake it at a low temperature until it’s hard, and you have a permanent, precious memory. You can even paint it after, but let’s be honest, the raw dough look is pretty charming on its own.
2. Jingle Bell Sensory Bottle
Grab a clean, plastic water bottle and fill it with a handful of colorful jingle bells. Add some glitter or colorful ribbon scraps for extra visual fun.
Superglue the lid on securely (this is the most important step!), and hand it over. Your baby will love shaking their very own, less-annoying Christmas instrument.
3. Painted Pinecone Christmas Trees
Go for a nature walk and collect some pinecones. Lay down some newspaper and let your baby go to town painting them with non-toxic, washable paint.
Once they’re dry, they magically transform into tiny, spiky Christmas trees. A little glitter glue dabbed on the tips? Chef’s kiss.
4. Edible Peanut Butter Playdough Decorations
Mix peanut butter, powdered sugar, and honey for a completely baby-safe “playdough.” Roll it out and let your little one use baby-friendly cookie cutters to make shapes.
The best part? If they take a bite, it’s totally fine. It’s a craft and a snack—parenting win.
5. Ribbon-Wrapped Wreath
Cut the center out of a paper plate to create a wreath form. Then, cut various green and red ribbons into short, manageable strips.
Show your baby how to dip the ribbons in a glue stick and stick them all over the plate. It’s a fantastic fine motor activity that results in a festive decoration.
6. Footprint Reindeer
Paint the bottom of your baby’s foot with brown, washable paint and carefully press it onto a piece of paper, toes pointing down.
After it dries, add a red thumbprint for the nose and two googly eyes above the heel. Voilà! You have the cutest reindeer in all the North Pole.
7. Christmas Light Finger Painting
Draw a simple string of Christmas light outlines on a large piece of paper. Pour a few different colors of washable finger paint onto a plate.
Let your baby dip their fingers and dot color into each bulb. It’s messy, sensory, and makes a vibrant masterpiece for the fridge.
8. Contact Paper Stained Glass Window
Tape a sheet of clear contact paper to the window, sticky-side out. Cut up small pieces of tissue paper, festive cellophane, or even colorful magazine clippings.
Your baby will love sticking the pieces onto the contact paper, creating a beautiful, light-catching “stained glass” effect without any glue.
9. Pasta Wreath Ornaments
Use cardboard or a paper plate with the center cut out. Provide your baby with wagon wheel or bowtie pasta and a cup of green-tinted glue.
They can stick the pasta all over the wreath form. Once dry, it has a wonderful textured look. Add a red ribbon bow for the final touch.
10. Santa Handprint Card
This is the perfect grandparent gift. Paint your baby’s palm (but not the fingers) with peach or light pink paint and the fingers with white paint.
Press their hand onto the front of a folded card, with the fingers at the top. The palm becomes Santa’s face, and the white fingers are his beard. Add details with a marker.
11. Sensory Christmas Bag
Fill a gallon-sized freezer bag with red and green hair gel, glitter, and a few small Christmas-themed trinkets. Seal it tightly with strong tape.
Tape the entire bag to a highchair tray or window. Your baby can squish and smoosh it without any mess. It’s like a holiday-themed stress ball for infants.
12. Toilet Paper Roll Candy Cane
Flatten a toilet paper roll and let your baby paint it white. Once dry, you can help them wrap red ribbon or paint red stripes around it.
Bend the top to form the classic candy cane hook. So simple, and it uses something you were just going to throw away anyway.
13. Sparkly Pom-Pom Ball Ornaments
Get a pack of inexpensive, clear plastic ornaments. Take the top off and let your baby fill them with colorful, sparkly pom-poms.
They’ll love dropping them in and watching the ornament fill up. It’s a great activity for practicing that pincer grasp.
14. Christmas Tree Smash Art
Cut a Christmas tree shape out of paper and place it inside a gallon-sized ziplock bag. Squirt blobs of green and yellow washable paint on top of the tree cutout.
Seal the bag and tape it to the table. Your baby can smash and squish the paint without getting a single drop on themselves. Genius, right?
15. Yarn-Wrapped Stars
Cut star shapes out of sturdy cardboard. Give your baby short pieces of red, green, and gold yarn.
Show them how to wrap the yarn around the star, tucking the ends under other pieces of yarn. The texture is fantastic for little hands.
16. Baby’s First Christmas Ornament
Buy a simple, clear plastic ball ornament. Carefully roll up a copy of your baby’s birth announcement or a photo from their newborn shoot and slip it inside.
Add some fake snow or iridescent confetti, and you have a deeply personal ornament you’ll treasure forever.
17. Popsicle Stick Snowflakes
Glue three popsicle sticks together in a star shape. Once the glue is dry, hand over the glue stick and a pile of cotton balls.
Your little one can stick the fluffy cotton balls all over to create a soft, textural snowflake. Dab a little glitter glue on it for a frosty sparkle.
18. Edible Cranberry & Popcorn Garland
This is an old-school classic for a reason. Use a blunt, plastic needle and some yarn. String popcorn and fresh cranberries together.
Your baby might not get very far, but they’ll love the process of poking and threading. Plus, the birds will enjoy it if you hang it outside later!
19. Paper Plate Tambourine
Take two paper plates and place a handful of dried beans or jingle bells on one. Staple the plates together around the edges.
Let your baby decorate the outside with Christmas stickers and crayons. Now you have a festive noisemaker for your holiday dance party.
20. Fingerprint Christmas Lights
Draw a light string across a piece of paper. Dip your baby’s finger in different colors of washable paint and have them make fingerprints along the string.
After the paint dries, you can draw a little squiggle above each “light” to connect it to the string. So colorful and cute!
21. Felt Christmas Tree Wall
Cut a large Christmas tree shape out of green felt and stick it to the wall. Then, cut out simple ornaments, a star, and even a “garland” from other colors of felt.
The felt will stick to itself, so your baby can decorate and re-decorate their very own tree all season long. No mess, all fun.
22. Cinnamon Apple Sauce Ornaments
Mix 1 cup of applesauce with 1.5 cups of cinnamon until it forms a stiff dough. Roll it out and use cookie cutters to make shapes.
Use a straw to poke a hole for hanging. Let them air dry for a few days. They smell amazing and make your whole house feel festive.
23. Muffin Tin Christmas Sort
This is less of a craft and more of a learning activity. Place different Christmas-themed items in a muffin tin—a jingle bell, a red pom-pom, a green bow, etc.
Give your baby a second set of the same items and watch as they try to match and sort them. It’s a fantastic cognitive game.
24. Sticker Christmas Tree
Draw or cut out a simple tree shape from green paper. Give your baby a sheet of colorful dot stickers.
They will have a blast peeling the stickers and placing them on the tree as “ornaments.” It’s the easiest clean-up in the history of crafts.
25. Footprint Christmas Tree
Paint your baby’s foot green and press it onto paper, toes at the top. This creates a perfect, foot-shaped tree.
After it dries, they can use their fingers to add fingerprint ornaments and a yellow star sticker at the top (the toe part!).
26. Shaving Cream Marbling
Spray a layer of shaving cream on a tray. Drop dots of red and green liquid watercolor or food coloring on top.
Let your baby swirl it with their fingers. Then, press a piece of cardstock on top, lift it, and scrape off the shaving cream to reveal a beautiful marbled print for gift tags or artwork.
27. “Baby’s First Christmas” Onesie Decorating
Get a plain white onesie and some fabric markers or puffy paint. Help your baby make handprints or footprints on it.
You can then write “Baby’s First Christmas” and the year. They’ll wear their craft with pride (or, more likely, drool on it, but that’s the point!).
And there you have it! 27 simple, joyful, and memory-making baby Christmas crafts that are more about the experience than perfection. The paint will get on the floor, the glitter will end up in their hair, and the salt dough ornament might have a cat hair baked into it. But that’s the real magic, isn’t it? You’re not creating a Pinterest-perfect gallery; you’re creating moments of connection and joy during this special season. So pick a craft, embrace the beautiful mess, and make some memories. You’ve got this, superstar parent. 😉