Salt dough is about as simple as a Christmas craft gets. Flour, salt, and water turn into a dough you can roll, cut, stamp, and paint, and the ornaments that come out of the oven can last for years.
The base recipe most makers use comes from Cassie Johnston at Wholefully: 4 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of table salt, and 1 1/2 cups of warm water. Mix the flour and salt, stir in the water a little at a time, and knead for about five minutes until the dough feels soft and smooth. Roll it about 1/8 inch thick for flat ornaments, a little thicker for handprints, cut your shapes, poke a hanging hole with a straw, and bake at 200°F until hard, usually one to two hours.
Below are 18 ways to turn one batch of dough into ornaments worth hanging.
1. Classic cookie-cutter ornaments
Roll the dough thin, press in stars, trees, hearts, and gingerbread people with cookie cutters, and bake until hard. Paint them in plain Christmas colours or leave them bare for a pale, rustic look. Cassie Johnston at Wholefully has made this recipe with her family for years, and her tutorial also covers handprints, paw prints, and sealing with polyurethane spray so the ornaments survive storage.
Credit: Cassie Johnston, Wholefully — Salt Dough Ornaments Recipe
2. Kid-friendly ornaments with gold-leaf bells
Crissy at First Day of Home makes salt dough ornaments with her twin boys every year, and her tutorial is built for families with young kids. Her dough uses 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 3/4 cup of lukewarm water, and bakes at 250°F for about an hour and a half to two hours. The part worth copying is the decorating: she paints bell-shaped ornaments with gold leaf paint, and the result looks far fancier than the effort involved.
Credit: Crissy, First Day of Home — How to Make Salt Dough Ornaments the Kids Will Love
3. Stamped ornaments with markers and glitter
If painting freehand feels daunting, stamps do the hard work. Mischka at Love Mischka presses rubber stamps into the soft dough before baking, then colours in the stamped designs with ultra-fine Sharpies once the ornaments cool. A little glue and glitter over the top finishes them. The key tip is to stamp before baking. After the dough hardens, a stamp will not leave a mark.
Credit: Mischka, Love Mischka — How to Make Salt Dough Ornaments (and Handprints)
4. Fingerprint Christmas tree ornaments
Green dough, a tree-shaped cutter, and a few fingertips are all this one needs. Louise at Messy Little Monster colours her salt dough green with food colouring, cuts out Christmas tree shapes about 1 cm thick, then lets kids press paint-covered fingertips onto the trees as baubles or fairy lights. Bake low for two to three hours, then seal with Mod Podge or a finishing spray.
Credit: Louise, Messy Little Monster — Fingerprint Christmas Tree Salt Dough Ornament
5. Cinnamon fingerprint gingerbread men
Swap a quarter of the flour for ground cinnamon and the dough turns a warm brown and smells like the holidays before it even reaches the oven. Louise at Messy Little Monster uses that cinnamon dough for gingerbread man shapes, then adds fingerprint buttons in paint after cutting. Bake at a low temperature, around 150°C, so the cinnamon does not scorch, and seal with Mod Podge when cool. These make good gifts because the scent does half the work.
Credit: Louise, Messy Little Monster — Cinnamon Salt Dough Ornament, Fingerprint Gingerbread Man Craft
6. Santa, elf, and reindeer handprint ornaments
One handprint, three characters. Kimberly McLeod at The Best Ideas for Kids presses a hand into dough rolled just under half an inch thick, cuts around it with a knife, and bakes it for two hours at 250°F. After a day of air-drying the underside, the painting starts. Fingers down, the hand becomes Santa, with a red hat and a white beard. Fingers up, the same print turns into an elf or a reindeer.
Credit: Kimberly McLeod, The Best Ideas for Kids — Santa Handprint Ornament
7. Baby’s first Christmas handprint ornament
A baby’s first Christmas only happens once, and this is the ornament people keep. Alpha Mom’s tutorial uses a simple dough of half a cup of salt, one cup of flour, and half a cup of water, rolled about a quarter inch thick. Press the baby’s hand in gently, bake at 250°F for two to two and a half hours, then paint. Her approach is relaxed: paint the baby’s hand and stamp it on, paint the print yourself with a brush, or skip paint entirely.
Credit: Alpha Mom — Baby’s First Christmas: Handprint Ornament
8. Personalized name and date ornaments
Salt dough takes letter stamps well, and that is what makes this one feel personal rather than generic. The Festive Dwell’s guide walks through the full process, with an emphasis on names and dates pressed or written into the dough while it is still soft. A skewer or toothpick works if you do not own letter stamps. These ornaments suit gifts: a child’s name and the year on a star, hung on the tree or tied to a present.
Credit: Festive Dwell — Personalized Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments
9. Rustic painted and embossed ornaments
For a quieter look, skip the bright paint. Ashley at Natural Rooted Home cuts stars, hearts, and holiday shapes from a standard dough, bakes them at 325°F for about an hour, and then decorates with paint, glaze, and pressed textures. Her ideas include pressing lace, twigs, leaves, or small stamps into the soft dough before baking, so the pattern stays in the surface even after painting. The finished ornaments suit a natural, wood-and-twine kind of tree.
Credit: Ashley, Natural Rooted Home — DIY Salt Dough Ornaments
10. Classic Christmas icons: snowflakes, trees, and stars
Some ornaments work because the shape does all the talking. Mommy Christmas’s guide covers the classic set: snowflakes in white paint on a blue background with silver glitter, trees, stars, and gingerbread people, all cut from the same dough. Her recipe uses 2 cups of flour, half a cup of fine salt, and 3/4 cup of warm water, kneaded for five to ten minutes, rolled a quarter inch thick, and baked at 250°F for two to three hours, flipped once halfway.
Credit: Mommy Christmas — DIY Christmas Salt Dough Ornaments: A Fun Holiday Craft
11. Photo ornaments and star gift tags
Julie Blanner has made salt dough ornaments with her family for 30 years, and her tutorial is the most thorough one on this list. The recipe is 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 3/4 cup of water, baked at 200°F, and she includes a no-bake option: leave the shapes in a warm, dry spot for three to seven days instead. Two ideas stand out. First, decoupage a small photo onto a finished ornament with Mod Podge. Second, use star-shaped ornaments as gift tags, tied on with baker’s twine.
Credit: Julie Blanner — The Best Salt Dough Ornaments (with Video!)
12. Handprint keepsakes, gift tags, and beads
Otter Play Ideas keeps things practical. Their salt dough recipe makes about 15 to 20 small ornaments, takes 15 minutes to mix, and bakes for two to three hours. The post lists eight uses for one batch: handprint and footprint keepsakes with the year written on the back, Christmas shapes with a ribbon loop, name ornaments, leaf prints, fossils pressed with toy dinosaurs, gift tags, beads, and magnets made by gluing a magnet to the back.
Credit: Otter Play Ideas — Salt Dough Recipe: Easy Ornaments and Handprints Kids Can Make
13. Glitter handprint Santa ornaments
Glitter belongs in the handprint itself. Seasoned Sprinkles makes a batch of salt dough ornaments with her kids every year, and her favourite step is filling the handprint with glue and sprinkling glitter over it. The rest of the ornament stays plain, so the sparkle sits exactly where the print is. Her tutorial covers the full process, from mixing the dough to painting a handprint Santa, and her yield is about 12 ornaments per batch.
Credit: Seasoned Sprinkles — Easy Salt Dough Ornaments
14. Santa handprint ornaments, step by step
Macaroni KID Annapolis lays out the Santa handprint in ten plain steps, which makes it a good first tutorial if you have never made salt dough before. Mix one cup of flour, one cup of salt, and one cup of water. Flatten the dough, press the hand in, poke a hole in the palm with a straw, and bake for two hours at 200°F. Then paint the palm red for Santa’s hat, the fingers white for the beard, and add a skin-coloured face, eyes, and a red nose.
Credit: Macaroni KID Annapolis — How to Make a Salt Dough Ornament
15. Kids’ ornaments and gift tags
Angela at Gnome Angel planned a calm afternoon of salt dough with her little boy and got something better: an honest account of what actually happens when a toddler meets a bowl of dough. He did not want to put his hand in it, so she let him press kitchen utensils into the rolled-out dough instead, then cut around the decorated patch with an egg ring to make a round bauble. Her recipe is half a cup of salt, one cup of flour, and half a cup of water, rolled 3 to 5 mm thick, baked at 200°F for three hours.
Credit: Angela, Gnome Angel — How to Make Salt Dough Ornaments
16. Minimalist stamped ornaments
Salt dough does not have to look like a school project. Hannah Brooks at Clayelle makes ornaments for adults: clean lines, subtle textures, and finishes closer to handmade ceramics than childhood crafts. Her tutorial covers stamped mandala and snowflake patterns pressed into rounds of dough, botanical leaf impressions, and scented ornaments with citrus and spices. The dough is the usual mix, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1 cup of warm water, rolled and cut with a round cutter.
Credit: Hannah Brooks, Clayelle — 12+ Salt Dough Ornaments Ideas: Charming DIYs for Any Season
17. Handprint Santa and footprint reindeer ornaments
One batch, two keepsakes. The Orange County Mom Collective’s tutorial makes a handprint Santa and a footprint reindeer from the same dough. For the Santa, press the hand in like a mitten, four fingers together and thumb out, so the fingers become the beard and the thumb becomes the hat. For the reindeer, press a foot in, cut a quarter-inch border around the print, and add pipe cleaner antlers, googly eyes, and a red pom pom nose.
Credit: Orange County Mom Collective — Salt Dough Ornaments: A Simple Holiday Tradition
18. Paw print keepsake ornaments
Do not leave the pets out of it. Pets Plus Us has a simple paw print keepsake: mix one cup of salt, one cup of flour, and half a cup of water, roll it out, cut circles, and press a clean paw into the centre. Two warnings matter here. Salt dough is not food, and the high salt content can be dangerous to pets if swallowed, so supervise closely, wash paws after pressing, and hang the finished ornaments out of reach.
Credit: Pets Plus Us — Paw Print Keepsake and Ornament
Tips for making salt dough ornaments
The dough. The most-used ratio is 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and 1 1/2 cups of warm water, from Cassie Johnston at Wholefully. Knead for at least five minutes. If the dough cracks, it needs more water. If it sticks, it needs more flour.
Baking and drying. Roll evenly, about 1/8 inch thick for flat shapes and a little thicker for handprints. Uneven dough puffs and cracks. Bake low, 200°F to 250°F, for one to three hours depending on thickness. The ornaments are done when they feel hard all the way through.
Sealing. Paint only after the ornaments are fully cool and dry. Acrylic paint works best. Seal both sides with Mod Podge, clear acrylic spray, or polyurethane so moisture cannot get in. Sealed ornaments can last for decades.
Storage. Wrap each ornament in tissue paper and store them flat in a box with a lid, somewhere cool and dry. Keep them away from pets: even years-old salt dough ornaments can be harmful if a dog or cat chews one.
Frequently asked questions
How do you make salt dough for Christmas ornaments?
Mix 4 cups of all-purpose flour with 1 cup of table salt, then stir in 1 1/2 cups of warm water a little at a time. Knead for about five minutes until the dough is soft and smooth. Roll it out, cut shapes, poke a hanging hole with a straw, and bake at 200°F until hard. This is the recipe Cassie Johnston at Wholefully uses.
How long do salt dough ornaments take to bake?
One to three hours at 200°F to 250°F, depending on thickness. Thin cookie-cutter shapes can finish in about an hour. Thick handprints need two to three hours, and some makers leave the undersides to air-dry for a day after baking. If an ornament still feels soft or cool in the middle, put it back in the oven.
Do salt dough ornaments last?
Yes, if they are dried all the way through and sealed. Julie Blanner says her childhood salt dough ornaments are still in good shape after 30 years. The salt preserves the dough, and a coat of Mod Podge or polyurethane spray keeps moisture out.
What paint works best on salt dough ornaments?
Acrylic craft paint. It covers well, dries fast, and sticks to the baked surface. Paint only after the ornaments are fully cool and dry, then seal with Mod Podge or clear acrylic spray. Markers and paint pens work for names, dates, and small details.
Are salt dough ornaments safe around pets and small children?
The dough is not food. Salt dough has a very high salt content, and even a small amount can make a dog or cat seriously ill. Keep raw dough and finished ornaments out of pets’ reach, supervise children while they craft, and wash hands and paws after pressing prints. Sealed ornaments are safe to hang on a tree as long as pets cannot chew them.
Wrapping up
Salt dough asks for almost nothing and gives back ornaments you will actually keep. Start with one batch, make the shapes your family likes best, and seal them well.
If you want more ornament ideas beyond salt dough, see 20 Handmade Christmas Ornaments to Make This Year for felt, wood, paper, and yarn versions. For projects to make with kids, 20 Simple Christmas Crafts for Kids has more easy ideas. And if some of these ornaments are headed for other people, 20 Edible Christmas Gifts Worth Making This Year pairs well with a handmade ornament tied to the package.
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