Christmas Craft: Easy Christmas Reindeer Decorations

For the first two projects, start with a bag of no-roll wooden clothes pins. See picture above. (Some call these the 'old fashioned clothes pins'.) They are readily available at craft stores. (I purchased all my supplies at my local JoAnn Fabric and Craft store.)

In addition to the clothes pins, you will need:

1 small bag of googley eyes. (Actually, they're called Wiggle Eyes.)

1 small bag of small red puff balls.

1 small bag of wooden craft spools.

1 bag of brown craft pipe cleaners, also called stems.

Round Magnets

Glue- Any glue will work, but the low temp glue guns work fastest. Crazy glue will also work.

To make a Reindeer, take one clothes pin and position it on the table in front of you with the pointy ends up. Using the above picture as a guide, glue two googley eyes in place for its face, then glue a red puff ball on as a nose. (Every reindeer has to have a red nose, right?)

Then, trim and bend a piece of the brown pipe cleaner to resemble antlers, and glue them onto its forehead, sort of in front of the pointy ends of the cloth pin. Voila, you have a reindeer head.

Next, again referring to the picture, glue clothes pins for legs on either end of the wooden spool. Make sure they are lined up properly or your little reindeer may not stand up so well. When the glue on the body has stabilized, glue the head onto the body. Take a small piece of the brown pipe cleaner and bend it into a teardrop shape. Glue it on the rear end of the deer for a tail.

You can embellish the deer with a ribbon bow, or some small holly leaves. You can make enough for a team of reindeer, connecting them with a gold braid harness. Attach a small decorative sleigh, and your small Santa will be ready for his Christmas Eve journey.

For a second craft, simply make the reindeer head, and glue a magnet on the back. Now you have small gifts your kids can give their friends or relatives. Or, use them to decorate packages under your tree. Glue some ribbon to the back, and you have an instant tree ornament. Your reindeer heads can also have red or green antlers if you wish... the possibilities are endless!

The third easy Christmas Reindeer craft will make excellent stocking stuffers, package decorations or little gifts for your child's friends. Using the same googley eyes, puff ball noses and pipe cleaners that you bought for the other reindeers, just purchase a candy cane and you're ready to create.

The first step here is to glue two googley eyes close together onto a small piece of scrap paper. Heavy paper is best... I used a piece of the cardboard backing that came as the packaging for the crazy glue. Set them aside to set. Next, glue a red puff ball onto the end of the hook of the candy cane. (See picture.) Next, take a piece of a pipe cleaner and wrap it around the top of the hook as antlers. (You choose the size of the antlers!) Last, glue your 'set' of eyes onto the 'face' of the deer, and you're done. It's that simple. Again, embellish with ribbon or colored antlers as you wish. How cute will these look peeking out of your kid's stocking on Christmas Morning?

When I was shopping at Joann's to buy my craft supplies, I saw a 'kit' for making the clothes pin Reindeer. It had everything you need to make several reindeer in one neat package. The kit cost $7.99. That might be handy if all you are making is the stand up deer. Most craft stores have lots of easy Christmas crafts for kids. Have a safe and happy Holiday Season!

Source: Personal Experience, and JoAnn Fabric and Crafts