It’s that time of the year again — a time filled with as many rosy cheeks as there are ugly sweaters. It seems that the festive feeling in the air is almost contagious as everyone wants to take part in the century-old traditions celebrated during the holidays.

While some may like to cook or visit with family, others enjoy the simple art of craft-making. Sometimes, it can be hard to find the time to sit down and make these crafts. No matter the reason, I have four easy holiday crafts that you can make at home with ease.

Let’s start with the simplest craft.

Candy Cane Tree Ornament

Begin by laying two pipe cleaners of different colors side by side. Next, start to twist the ends together on one side. Continue this all the way up the pipe cleaners to give the swirly look of a candy cane.

Simply snip the loose end at the top, curve the top into a hook, and you now have a gorgeous and (more importantly) cheap Christmas ornament.

Reindeer Antlers

Take a piece of paper (preferably construction paper, but any paper will do) and cut two equal-sized strips from the bottom. Take these two strips and staple them into a ring that fits on or around your head. Then, trace your hands on a brown piece of construction paper and cut them out.

Proceed to staple the hands to the rim of the ring at the same point across from each other. Voila! You have reindeer antlers that you can wear at parties or even family dinners.

Plant Pot Snowmen

For this next craft, you need two cotton balls, a toothpick and a Sharpie marker. Take one cotton ball and tear it into two smaller cotton balls, making sure one is slightly smaller than the other. After that, take your three cotton balls and stack them from largest to smallest upon the toothpick.

Use the Sharpie to create a face for this snowman. Feel free to add googly eyes and toothpick shards as arms if those are on hand. Your little snowman can now be stuck in the dirt alongside your plants to keep them company or even, if you’re feeling lucky, the small holes in a speaker.

Snowflake Decorations

This next craft is sort of a two-in-one craft. For this, all you need is a sheet of paper and a pen, as well as four pipe cleaners. For the first craft, fold your paper in half and on the side with the crease start to draw a half snowflake.

Once your desired style and shape has been achieved, cut out the snowflake, still folded in half. When finished the paper will open into a symmetrical snowflake. For the second snowflake, option take your four pipe cleaners and arrange them into a star.
Make sure all the spaces between the cleaners are even. Then start folding them over each other so that they form an inverted version of their original shape; however, now they are held together by each other. Use scissors to cut the ends off, about two to three inches down.

Take those pieces you just cut off and tie them to the tips to look like a snowflake. These work great for decorating walls or even your tree itself!

Now you have four amazing gifts that you can keep for yourself or gift for someone special. Happy crafting!