These are the best Christmas DIY ideas - 2025

December is the month of hot chocolate, crackling lights, and… getting creative! Whether you're enjoying an afternoon to yourself or enjoying a meal with the kids, making something yourself for Christmas is the perfect way to unwind (in what can often be a busy time) and create something unique to add a cozy touch to your home.

In this blog post, I share fun and easy ideas that fit this time of year: not too difficult, wonderfully relaxing, and guaranteed to create a pleasant atmosphere.

Casting Christmas houses

These charming (light) houses are a real bestseller in my shop and the great thing is: you can easily make them yourself and within 30 minutes you can remove the houses from the mold.

What do you need?

• Plaster, I use Casting Powder Raysin 100
• A silicone casting mold with houses
• Possibly color pigment and/or glitter/gold flakes

This is how you make them:

1. Mix the casting powder with water as described in the instructions.
2. Carefully pour the mixture into the molds.
3. Let it harden for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the houses from the mold and decorate them with acrylic paint if desired.

Styling tips:

• Place them on a shelf or make a bunch and line them up with mini LED lights behind them.
• Combine different heights for a mini Christmas village. Add trees and/or figures between them.
• Also nice: spray them a light gold for a chic look.

Gold metallic foil Christmas ornaments: elegant and stylish

Metallic foil ornaments: you see them everywhere these days, and they're so addictively fun to make. With homemade metallic foil ornaments, you can give your Christmas tree that extra touch of glamour.

What do you need?

• DIY Metal Foil Kit
• Small illustrations to trace
• Piece of cardboard to place under your foil
• An (embossing) pen or pencil

This is how you make them:

1. Place your (Christmas) illustration on the metallic foil and trace it with a pen.
2. Remove the paper and trace the lines of your image again with a pencil or embossing pen (this is also included in my kit).
3. Fill your image with stripes, scribbles, leaves, dots, etc. This creates relief and makes your ornament stand out even more.
4. Cut out the shape with fine sharp scissors.
5. Poke a hole in it.
6. Attach a pretty ribbon to the ornament and hang it on the Christmas tree.
7. Or… make it into an atmospheric Christmas mobile like I did.

Variations:

• Combine gold with silver for a modern look.
• Make a whole garland of stars for above the dining table.
• Turn your ornaments into a cool gift tag.

These ornaments will give your tree a warm, festive look, perfect for the festive month of December.

Fill Christmas balls with Christmas branches or dried flowers

Do you love a quick and easy DIY? Then this is one you definitely need to try. By filling clear Christmas ornaments with dried flowers or Christmas branches, you can create a truly personalized Christmas ornament in just a few minutes. This is also great fun to do with children and a great gift for a teacher, for example.

What do you need?

• Transparent plastic Christmas balls that can be opened or where you can remove the cap
• Mini Christmas branches, eucalyptus or pine green
• Dried flowers
• Possibly artificial snow

This is how you make them:

1. Open the Christmas bauble and fill it with a few twigs or flowers.
2. Do you have a small hole? You can use a skewer to arrange the sprigs a bit more.
3. Using an acrylic marker and beautiful letters, write the name on the Christmas bauble.
4. Close the ball and hang it up immediately.

Make a macrame Christmas tree: a perfect DIY for your Christmas holidays

Diving into my own Christmas DIY archive, I came across these timeless macramé pendants, and they're too cute not to share. I made these tutorials seven years ago, and it's my very first time using video. Yet, they're still incredibly fun to make, so I'm happy to share them with you. They might look complicated, but once you get the hang of the knots, they're really not difficult. This is also a lot of fun to do with kids.

What do you need?

• Macrame cord
• A wooden stick or branch (or a cinnamon stick for a lovely scent)
• Possibly wooden beads
• A sharp pair of scissors
• A clipboard

Here's how to make it:

1. Cut a 50cm piece of cord and a 2m piece of macrame cord
2. Tie the 50cm cord to the stick with the loop.
3. Use the 50 cm cord and tie square knots. Leave a bit of extra thread between each square knot so you can create a loop. I explain this in this video.
   
4. Is your Christmas tree tall enough? Then tape the ends of the long wire to the back and trim it short.
5. Optionally add a wooden bead at the bottom.

These pendants look great on the Christmas tree, but also work well as napkin rings or as key rings.

So, hopefully you've now got enough inspiration to make your December extra cozy. In these busy months, I think everyone could use a little relaxation, and in my opinion, that goes hand in hand with a fun DIY project. Have fun, and will you get started? Then share it with me via @happlify and @imakinnl!

The author: Marjanne Bruins

Marjanne Bruins is the creative mind behind IMAKIN . With her love of DIY and years of experience leading workshops, she inspires others to make things themselves, relax, and be proud of their creativity. She writes fun DIY blog posts for Happlify. Marjanne's blog posts >