What exactly are salt dough ornaments and are they edible?
Salt dough ornaments are Christmas ornaments made out of baked dough. The bad news? You can’t eat them. The great news? They are the perfect easy family Christmas activity. They only require three ingredients: salt, flour and water.
These pretty little ornaments can be used as gift tags, paired with other glitter ornaments for a sparkly tree or given as gifts to your family and friends. Check out how to make our star-shaped salt dough ornaments in nine easy steps below.
How to make salt dough ornaments
As mentioned above, salt dough ornaments only require three main ingredients, all of which you may already have at home. The only additional items you will need are what you will be decorating with.
Ingredients
- 1 cup salt
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup water
Supplies
- Cutting board
- Baking pan or sheet
- Cookie cutters
- Acrylic paint
- String or ribbon
- Paint brush
Step 1: Preheat oven
Preheat your oven to the lowest temperature possible. We suggest 170°F. In our experience, when baked at a higher temperature, the dough got puffy.
Step 2: Mix ingredients
Add salt, flour and half of the water into a bowl and mix with your hands. Then, add the other half of the water and continue mixing. If your dough is still sticky, you can add more flour until it’s smooth.
Step 3: Flour your surface
Then, place the dough on it and knead the dough with your hands before you roll it out.
Step 4: Roll out the dough with a rolling pin
You’ll want a smooth surface to work with. Your dough should be about ¼ inch thick. Anything thicker will cause the dough to bubble up when baking.
Step 5: Cut shapes using cookie cutters
Use your favorite shapes like snowflakes, hearts, stars and more to cut the salt dough. Make sure the cookie cutter pokes through the other side of the dough for an even edge.
Step 6: Make a small hole on top
In order to string a ribbon through your ornament, use a straw to poke an even and wide enough hole at the top.
Step 7: Bake for 3 hours
Remove excess dough around the shapes. Then, put them on a baking sheet and put in the oven to bake for 3 hours.
Step 8: Cool for 1 hour
Once your ornaments are out of the oven, let them cool for another hour. In the meantime, prepare your painting tools. You’ll need a brush and acrylic paints.
Step 9: Decorate your ornament
Once the ornaments have cooled off, paint the bottom half of the ornament with your desired color. Let it dry for 30 minutes. Loop a string through the hole and tie. Repeat with as many ornaments as you’d like.
6 Salt dough ornament ideas
Now that you know how to make salt dough ornaments, the fun part will be decorating them in different ways. We’ve got more ideas like glittered trees, buttons, metallics, hearts and even something to honor your four legged best friend. Check them out below!
With all the holiday crafts out there, salt dough ornaments should be on your list. Not only are they fun to decorate but gifting them to teachers, classmates or grandparents would be a great way to show you are thinking of them during the holidays. Send them along with a perfect Christmas card and make their days merry and bright.
