Shrinky Dink Christmas Ornaments with Free Printable Patterns

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Shrinky dink Christmas ornaments are so much fun. I have fond memories of making Shrinky dinks and watching them shrink up in the oven. You can even make DIY shrinky dinks. (Free printable garden and Valentine patterns in that post)

shrinky dink christmas ornaments being made and done and hanging on a tree

Did you know you can make your own Shrinky dink plastic out of stuff you may throw in the trash? Check out what kind of takeout containers will shrink in the oven and make DIY shrinking dinks just like store-bought Shrinky dink plastic by clicking on the highlighted text with free printables above. You can even use plastic cups to make them if you find the right kind. (the brand is polar)

Making homemade gifts helps you simplify Christmas and enjoy it more!

See how to make a shrinky dink handprint keychain here.
check out St. Patricks day shrinky dink patterns
Or make these fun 4th of July shrinky dinks!
And these super cute Halloween Shrinky Dink patterns are fun too!

Shrinky dinks Christmas

You can make many fun things for Christmas out of Shrinky dinks. Kids can make gifts such as key chains and necklaces. They can also make fun ornaments to hang on the tree like the ones we made here.

You will need:

Sharpie markers or colored pencils
Shrinky dink plastic (for the best kind click here)
A sheet tray
A piece of parchment paper (or aluminum foil)
Fine grit sandpaper
Scissors
Hole punch
Ribbon
Oven
Patterns to use
Christmas ornament printable

Use these printable patterns to make the cutest Shrinky dink Christmas ornaments. Just download the pdf, choose the page you want to print, and print it out.

rubbing shrink paper with sand paper to rough surface

Use sandpaper to rough up surface of plastic.
Lay your Shrinky dink plastic over the top of the pattern and trace the ornament in whatever color you desire.
Color in the designs as desired.
Carefully cut out the designs as close to the marker outline as possible.
Punch a hole in the top of the ornament with a hole puncher.
Lay the parchment paper on the cookie sheet to protect it.
Preheat your oven to the temperature listed on your shrink plastic instructions. If you are using DIY shrink plastic from takeout containers. Try 325 and see if that works well. If you turn the oven up too much, it can make your ornaments curl and stick together, so lower is better. My plastic said 275, so I used that setting.
Arrange Shrinky dink Christmas ornaments on the tray making sure they don’t touch.
Carefully place in the oven and closely watch. It should take 3-5 minutes for the ornaments to shrink.
Allow ornaments to cool.
Thread a strand of ribbon through the hole and tie a knot to make a hanger.

Shrinky dink Christmas ornaments

Remember that Shrinky dinks shrink, so if you want a larger ornament, blow up your pattern a bit larger, maybe 50%. These ornaments are 2-3 inches in height after baked.

Another idea for Christmas ornaments would be to use old Christmas cards and color a design over the top of the one on the card.

Some printers (as long as they don’t use heat) can be used to print right on the shrink plastic, so you could run your sheets through your printer if you have a cool printing printer.

Cat Christmas ornaments

This cute little cat Christmas ornament is one of my favorite patterns. It’s going to be so cute on my tree this year. It’s always hard to find cat stuff in the stores, there are always dogs, but never cats. So, I love that I can make one myself like this one my daughter made. (And she took the photos, Everchange Productions, so photo cred goes to her too!)