Salt Dough Santa Hand Ornaments
Decorating the tree with handmade ornaments that the kids made from scratch is one of my favorite traditions. These salt dough Santa Hands are a fun way to measure the passage of time, and how much our kids have grown and changed over the years. They’re super simple to make, and fill the kids with plenty of holiday entertainment and joy.
In our family, it was important to teach our kids that Santa comes in many shades and colors. When my husband grew up, Santa was one of his Uncle’s dressed up and handing out gifts on Christmas Eve. His idea of Santa was “brown Santa,” who strangely mimicked someone oddly familiar. Although, he changed a bit from year to year, he was always super jolly and generous. Must have been all the treats! None the less, the D’Silva celebration was and still is all about family, food, games and enjoying each other’s company. Most of the gifts came in envelopes that were filled with cash, or as my husband calls it… the gift of choice.
On the other hand, in my family Santa was almost always depicted as Caucasian. He was a bit of a mystery to us, though I’m certain I heard his reindeer jiggling on our rooftop from time to time. He arrived once the children were “fast asleep,” slid down the chimney, downed a plate full of cookies and a mug full of eggnog, and he left copious amounts of presents piled high into a mountain for us to wake up to.
Both of us did Christmas quite differently, but both of us remember it fondly. With our beautiful mixed-race children, we want them to see Santa however they want to. We want them to see Santa not by the color of his skin, but by the magic that he creates and his spirit. Christmas really has become a wonderful blend of two totally different families coming together to create new traditions that are truly inclusive, and capture the true meaning of what this holiday is all about.
Salt Dough Santa Hand Ornaments
10
minutes2
hoursIngredients
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Salt
3/4 Cup Warm Water
Twine
Acrylic Paint
Card Stock
Pencil
straw
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 200 °F.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, mix together flour and salt until combined.
- Add warm water and stir until it starts to form a dough. If it feels dry, you can add more water, one tablespoon at a time. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour.
- Knead the dough until it forms a soft ball (5-10 minutes). With a rolling pill, role to 1/4 inch thickness.
- Using a pencil trace around your children’s hands on to the card stock. Cut out to use as a template. Place onto rolled dough, and trace around with a sharp knife.
- Once you’ve cut out your hands, use a straw to cut out holes near the tops for hanging.
- Bake for 2 hours, or until fully dried. You may want to flip them half way to speed up the drying process. Allow time to cool.
- Using acrylic paint, hand paint the ornaments as desired.
- Once the paint has fully dried, thread twine through the holes and knot at the top. Have fun decorating your tree with these beautiful ornamental keepsakes, or use them as gift tags for Grandma and Grandpa. Better yet, make a batch every year and see how your kids have grown from year to year.
