Before the industrial revolution, gifts were primarily handmade and created with love and care by family members and friends alike. Today, many tree ornaments are still made by hand. Some families make them as a tradition. It is a craft that can be done by all family members, young and old. It generally doesn’t take more than an hour of time, and provides families with quality time together and a sense of accomplishment when the project is completed.

Garland is probably one of the easiest tree ornaments to create, and it can be made from a variety of different things. The most common one is a red and green interlocking paper chain. It is made from equal widths and equal lengths of red and green construction paper cut into strips. Start by taking one strip and gluing the ends together to form a circle. Then proceed to take a piece of the other color and slide it through the first circle and glue the two ends together. There should now be two interlocking circles. Continue to alternate the strips of paper through the previous circle and glue the ends forming one long chain. Make the chain as long as desired. Another popular garland is made from popped popcorn, a needle and a very long piece of thread. Thread the needle and pierce the popcorn, then slide the popcorn down the thread and continue until there is no more thread. This is especially fun to see if there is more popcorn threaded or eaten. The same idea can be done with cranberries making a beautiful red garland for the tree.

The internet has hundreds of ornaments that can be used to decorate a tree. There are also plenty of ideas in Christmas books and magazines.