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How to make salt dough Christmas decorations

Salt dough Christmas decorations on a table

How to make salt dough Christmas decorations

Rachel Beckwith

Spruce up the Christmas tree with easy homemade salt dough decorations. It's a wonderfully festive activity to do on a cosy winter evening.

Whether you wish you decorate your own family tree with the kids or give these away as gifts, simple salt dough decorations are so easy and fun to make. Follow our guide and learn how to make salt dough, then use the steps below to decorate and hang your own beautiful Christmas decorations.

Makes 10-12 decorations

You will need
1 quantity salt dough
plain flour, for dusting
rolling pin
biscuit cutters
piping nozzle (optional)
acrylic paints or felt-tip pens
thin ribbon

Method

1. Roll the salt dough out onto a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of about 5mm.

2. Use the biscuit cutters to cut shapes from the dough – we chose Christmas trees and snowflakes.

3. Press the tip of a piping nozzle into the top of each shape to make a neat hole. If you don’t have a piping nozzle, you can use a sharp pencil to poke a hole through the dough. Choose the position carefully – the hole needs to be near the top of the design, but not so close to the edge that it breaks.

4. Set your oven to its lowest heat. Put your shapes on a lined baking sheet and bake for 3 hrs, or until solid. Leave to cool completely.

5. Once cool, paint and decorate as you like. We found that acrylic paint works best, but you could also colour them with felt-tip pens, glitter or festive stickers. Leave to dry. To finish, loop the ribbon through the hole and tie at the top, ready to hang on the tree.

Ideas for salt dough decorations

• Baby’s first Christmas Make a new family keepsake by rolling out a circle of salt dough and helping a child gently push their hand into it to make an imprint. Decorate as you’d like, adding the year to the back of the decoration.

• Tree shapes Cut out a single large tree shape, bake for a little longer (4-6 hrs), leave to cool, then paint green. Younger children will now be able to help decorate with star stickers, pieces of tinsel or pom-poms.

• Names on the tree For a fun family activity, each of you can add your name onto a decoration using a glitter pen.