Homemade Christmas decorations 

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I am a big fan of getting kids in the kitchen and giving them the opportunity to benefit from everything cooking has to offer. While this recipe isn’t about cooking food to eat and enjoy right away, it is a great opportunity for them to have fun, be creative and make something they will be able to keep for years.

I’ve made a couple of batches already in the lead up to Christmas this year. Here are some examples of the things I have created:

• Ornaments to hang on the tree and round the house
• Gift tags
• Name tags to put around the table on Christmas day
• A ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ garland hung with ribbon

Even if your kids are too young to be stirring the mixture on the stove (which, even with older children, should always be supervised by an adult) they can still help with the kneading of cool dough, rolling, cutting and decorating! I’ve made this a number of times, with and without children, and each time it has been a success.

Tips & hints:

•  While I didn’t paint my ornaments, I believe acrylic and tempera paints should work well.
•  I used an edible food pen to write on my dough before it went in the oven and chose to use coloured ink when stamping dough (before it is put in the oven) rather then painting once dry.
•  You can colour your dough. The best time would be in step one; otherwise you will have to kneed it in to your dough and risk dying your hands!
•  It is ok to leave your cut shapes out on a baking tray if you do not have time to put them in the oven right away.
• Feel free to halve recipe if you think it will be too much.
•  If making a garland, it is best to put two holes at opposite sides of your shape. This will ensure the ornaments hang correctly (front facing forward) when you thread with ribbon or string.

More Christmas Recipes 

• Banana strawberry candy canes
• Strawberry swirl icy ‘North’ poles
• Christmas apple sandwiches
• Santa strawberry hats 
• Gingerbread men 
• Reindeer poop 
• Christmas tree pita bread 
• Watermelon Christmas trees 
• Banana snowmen 
• Salt dough ornaments 
• Christmas cookie tree 

Ingredients

• 2 cups bicarbonate (baking) soda
• 1 cup corn flour
• 1 ½ cups water

Method

Step 1

Place all ingredients in a medium pot on the stove top. -

Step 2

Stir the mixture over a medium heat until it thickens and resembles a consistency similar to mashed potatoes. -

Step 3

Remove mixture from the pot and place in a bowl, covered with a damp cloth and set aside to cool.
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Step 4

Once cool, flour surface with some extra corn flour and knead the dough until smooth. -

Step 5

Preheat oven to a very low temperature, around 75-90°C. -

Step 6

Roll dough on floured surface or between two sheets of baking paper to about 7mm in thickness. I found this works well as if it is too thin the dough can be harder to work with or crack quite easily, and if it is too thick, it will take a longer to dry.
-

Step 7

Use a variety of cutters to cut out shapes and transfer to baking tray lined with baking (non-stick) paper. Using a straw, make a hole in the dough so you can tie your ribbon or string through later. You can also decorate with stamps or write things in your dough at this stage. -

Step 8

Place in the oven. After about 1 hour flip your ornaments over and continue drying in the oven for another hour. You can keep them in the oven for longer if they do not feel firm enough, flip them back to top side up if this is the case to ensure even drying. They will harden further once allowed to cool. -

Step 9

Decorate further using paint, PVA glue, glitter and more. -