16 Creative Ideas for Clear Ornaments
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Every year at holiday time, I wrack my brain to figure out a gift for the kids to make for their parents. These ideas for clear ornaments are perfect! And they make a unique gift for kids to give.
There are so many ways you can fill clear ornaments. You can use plastic or glass, depending on what your needs may be. You can use a multitude of interesting fillers so they are never the same. There are a million different shapes as well.
Every year my family and I made some ornaments together for that year’s Christmas memory on our tree. We have made many different clear ornaments because I love how they look so much.
Ideas for fillable ornaments
I LOVE how clear ornaments look on the tree. They sparkle and glisten in the Christmas lights with such elegance. My clear ornaments are some of my favorites on my tree.
Clear ornaments can be balls or blocks. They can be angels, snowmen, nutcrackers or Santa. Also, they can be Christmas trees. They can have only the top opening or have a peek a boo hole in the front. Some clear ornaments come apart in the middle as well. Oriental Trading has a ton of fillable ornaments.
This time I ordered ribbons, beads, stickers, jingle bells, buttons, and feathers. Your kids can make a ton of different things out of just these few things, but you can also use so many other things.
Fillable glass ornaments
You can fill your clear ornaments with so many different things. There are many different styles and mixing things can look amazing too. Think about red and green feathers with some white pearls. That would look amazing!
Here are some clear ornament decorating ideas I have done:
Potpourri-There are some gorgeous types of potpourri out there. It’s full of interesting little flowers and leaves. These shapes look so romantic. You can glue some ribbons to the outside of the ball to really set off the look.
Ribbons-You can use small pieces of tiny ribbon or even curly ribbons for a really fun and festive clear ornament look.
Snow scene-Using a pair of tweezers, put some hot glue on the bottom of a tiny miniature Christmas tree, snowman, or Santa. Once the glue has cooled and the figure is firmly attached, you can fill the ornament with a little bit of fake snow or use Epsom salts, which makes beautiful snow. It’s such a cute scene in your clear ornament. You could also make these with the open front ornaments, but you’d have to find a way to glue your snow down a little or it would all be gone after the first year.
Beach clear ornament-You can get some of the tiniest starfishes and small shells at the craft store (or the beach). Place a few shells in the clear ornament and add a tiny sprinkle of sand. We made these one year and they are still some of my favorites.
Jingle bells-Get some tiny jingle bells and place a few in the clear ornament. We ordered gold, red and green ones this time and they are so adorable in the ornaments.
Feathers-Red, green and white feathers make a dreamy filling for clear ornaments. Tie a bow on the top to finish it off.
Stickers-Kids can decorate the outside of the clear ornaments with Christmas stickers like these.
Pinecones-Craft stores have some tiny pinecones that will fit in a clear ornament.
Spices-I have seen cinnamon sticks that would fit as well. I love how it looks to tie three sticks together like a stack of firewood. That would be cute if you could fit it in there. Star anise or cloves would make super cute clear ornaments too. You could even use red and green peppercorns for a festive flair.
Crepe gift filler-Clear ornaments can be filled with those crinkly paper fillers. The little thin sheets of paper that are folded back and forth like an accordion. They come in fun and festive colors but you could even make your own. Run a piece of construction paper or wrapping paper through the paper shredder and accordion fold it yourself to fill the ornament.
Raffia-Natural materials like jute, raffia, or other fibers would make a super cute filler for a clear ornament. You could hot glue a few tiny pinecones to the top of the ornament to finish the look.
Pearls or other beads-I found these beautiful pearl strings on Oriental Trading that fill an ornament with style and grace. You could also use regular strings of beads or pearls, or individual beads or pearls. You can glue a few around the top of the ornament for the finishing touch.
What can I put in clear glass Christmas ornaments?
I found these ADORABLE snowman beads on Oriental Trading’s Christmas page and I am super excited about how they look in the clear ornament. Totes-adorbs! You could even decorate the outside of the snowman ones with snowman accessories like an orange carrot-shaped nose, and black coal face, and buttons. You can use pony beads to fill ornaments and those look cute as well.
Fuse beads-You can choose any art supplies you have in festive colors and put them in the clear ornaments. Fuse beads would make a great filler, as would small scraps of paper, confetti, hole punch circles, or whatever you have that would fit your color scheme you want to use.
Glitter-Clear ornaments can be decorated with glitter. You can either let the glitter lay in the ornament and have some stick to the sides with static or you can put glue in the ornaments and swirl it around until it’s covered and then pour in the glitter and shake. Either way, they are gorgeous.
Painting clear Christmas ornaments
Paint-You can paint clear ornaments in a number of ways. One way is to use acrylics and a paintbrush to paint designs on the outside of the ornament. Another thing that can be done is placing drops of paint into the ornament and swirling them around.
You can hand swirl the outside of the ornaments with spray lacquer. This looks awesome! You just take a pan of water and spray some spray lacquer on top of it, be generous. Then take the clear ornament and swirl it around in the water, it will come out like this.
One more painted ornament idea is dipping a child’s hand in white paint and placing the ornament in their hand so fingerprints go up the outsides of the round ornament. Then you can paint each finger with buttons and a face to make a family of snowmen. Super cute keepsake ornament.
Buttons-There are so many cute shapes, colors, and sizes of buttons that can make an adorable fillable ornament.
Photos-Ornaments can be filled with photos. You can take a small photo and cut out around the person in the photograph. Then simply roll the photo up and put it into the ornament. It will then unroll inside and the ornament makes a frame for the photo. These are great gifts from kids to their parents or families can give them to grandparents. They are very cute.
Click here to see more gifts kids can make.
Click here to see more ornaments kids can make with what you have around the house and sticks from the yard. These Pom pom Christmas tree ornaments are fun too. And don’t forget these Popsicle Stick Snowflake Ornaments.
Click here to see how to make fun and simple superhero ornaments from clothespins.
For more special day ideas, check out these home daycare crafts and activities for special holidays can help make your celebrations fun!
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