DIY 2-Ingredient Christmas Ornaments!

DIY 2-Ingredient Christmas Ornaments!

When I was a little girl, my Mom was all about doing simple, kid-friendly DIY projects like this. She introduced me to the 2-ingredient ornament project, and we've been doing it for years. The recipe is pretty standard, and you probably made these way back in elementary school, yourself. But now you're an adult, and you get to totally wow a kid of your own (or just one you like) by being the coolest and knowing how to make your own fancy Christmas Ornaments. I love this craft because its quick to throw together, easily rolled out and cut, and it makes the house smell amazing! You have enough other things to do over the holidays- keep the extra projects fun & simple.

I enlisted the help of my adorably pregnant friend, Maggie, to help me. She's got the perfect round belly for balancing the mixing bowl, so I pretty much made her do all the work (kidding!). But in reality, she's slowly prepping the house for the arrival of that sweet little bundle and pre-proofing the Christmas tree is just one less thing she'll have to do later. These ornaments won't break very easily and are edible, though I wouldn't recommend it.
 (Anyone ever heard of the cinnamon challenge? 'Nuff said.)

I found a pack of single alphabet letters at Target for $1, and we punched little holes in the tops to attach to different stars. They were perfect for personalizing ornaments. Or, use the letters in succession to spell something out. We liked "XMAS", "PEACE", and "JOY", because there were no double letters, but get creative with it.
After the letters, we paid $2 for string, also at Target, and spent about $8 on the cinnamon and applesauce at the grocery store. A grand total of $11 to complete the project from start to finish.
 And I would highly recommend buying the cheap store brand version of the cinnamon and applesauce; no need for organic here, there'll be no consumption and certainly no need to spend extra!

You'll need:
1 cup applesauce
1 1/4 cups ground cinnamon

rolling pin
cookie cutters or free-handing tools
a toothpick or chopstick
string or ribbon, for hanging
decorative letters (optional)

DIY:
In a large mixing bowl, fork together the cinnamon and applesauce until completely combined, forming a cookie-dough like texture. If the dough is too sticky, add a little extra cinnamon. You could also do this in a mixer, but it wasn't hard work mixing it by hand. I made the pregnant lady do it, remember? ;) 
Once the batter is mixed, form it into a ball, sprinkle a clean, flat surface like a counter or cutting board with cinnamon, and roll the dough out. Roll until dough is about 1/4 thick, then use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. We used a 3-inch star cookie cutter and a gingerbread man cookie cutter. Once shapes have been cut, use the toothpick or chopstick to poke a small hole completely through at some place on the ornament. We mostly made holes at the top of the ornaments, but on some of the stars we made holes in the middle. This is where the string will go.
Once all the dough has been cut, lay the shapes onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  We got about 15 or 16 ornaments from a single batch.
Bake ornaments at 200 degrees for 1.5-2 hours, until ornaments have hardened completely, or leave the cookie sheet in a warm, dry place and let them dry out over the next few days.
Once the ornaments have hardened, they're finished! Loop some string through the holes, add decorative letters if you're doing so, and hang 'em on the tree. They make the house smell amazing and they're the perfect, easy DIY to include the kids in. They'll last until next year if you pack them away, but its so easy- why not just make more next year? Enjoy!