15 Painted Salt Dough Ornaments With Gingerbread Shapes, Tiny Handprints and Rosy Cheeks

Flour, salt, water and whatever is left in the paint drawer: that is the entire budget for this one. No glue gun standoff, no trip to a craft shop that smells of fluorescent lighting. Just a mixing bowl, a rolling pin, and an afternoon that ends with something she will actually want to hang on the tree.

The trick is in the finishing, not the dough. Two dough balls can become a gingerbread man one week and a snowman face the next, and the only thing that changes the whole feel is where the brush lands: a scalloped icing line, a child’s pressed palm, a smudge of rose on a cheek. Fifteen ways to take the same lump of dough somewhere different.

Group them by the look you are after and work through one section at a time. For the mantle itself, 32 Christmas Wreath DIY Builds Grouped by What the Base Is Made Of gives the dough ornaments somewhere proper to hang.

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Gingerbread Shapes

This is the easy entry point: cookie cutters already in the drawer, a palette that reads as instantly cosy, and no pressure for the lines to be perfect because gingerbread forgives wobble. Toasted brown dough, white icing-style paint, the odd dot of jam red. If baking smells of cinnamon are half the appeal of the holidays for her, this section delivers that without a single actual cookie going stale on a plate.

Classic Gingerbread Man Ornament

She already owns the cutter. That is the whole pitch here: a gingerbread man shape from the baking drawer, pressed into rolled dough, no new tool required and no trip anywhere.

Paint him in a rich milk-chocolate brown, then pipe on white dashes with a fine brush along the arms, legs and collar, like royal icing. Three red dots down the middle finish him as buttons. He reads instantly, even from across the room.

If the oven is busy with actual dinner, let this one air dry on a windowsill instead: slower, but it costs nothing and needs no supervision.

Iced Gingerbread Heart

Less jolly, more tender: a heart-shaped cutter instead of a figure, painted in the same warm brown but finished with a scalloped white edge, like a line of piped icing round the rim.

A soft blush pink fills the centre, small enough that it reads as a detail rather than a second colour fighting the first. It hangs well on its own, strung from a loop of plain cotton string rather than anything patterned.

If a tree is not happening this year, a cluster of these in a kitchen window still does the job and costs nothing extra to arrange.

Gingerbread Star with Candy Dot Icing

Mint, lemon yellow and raspberry pink, dabbed as tiny dots across a toasted-brown star: this one borrows its palette from candy buttons rather than icing, and it is the fastest of the fifteen to finish.

A cotton bud does the dotting, not a brush, so there is nothing to clean afterwards and nothing for small hands to get precious about getting wrong.

If she would rather keep the whole set to two colours, drop to just mint and raspberry and skip the yellow; it still reads as deliberate.

Gingerbread House Slice Ornament

The gable end of a house, cut flat, is far less fiddly than it sounds: one simple pentagon shape, a roofline, a door. No actual construction, no icing walls that collapse at 9pm.

A palette knife swipes white across the top for a snow-capped roof in one stroke, a small red square becomes the door, and two tiny green dots either side stand in for trees. The whole thing takes four colours and ten minutes.

If precision is not her strength tonight, the swipe hides it better than any fine line would.

Gingerbread Family Garland Pair

Cut a boy and a girl shape from one rolled strip so they stay joined at the hands, and what she gets is not a single ornament but the start of a garland.

Paint his scarf cream and her dress a soft denim blue, both on the same brown base, and string several pairs along one length of baker’s twine for the mantel instead of the tree.

This is the one to make in bulk on a quiet afternoon while something plays in the background: repetitive, forgiving, and it fills a long stretch of mantel for very little outlay.

Tiny Handprints

These are the ones that get wrapped in tissue paper and kept, not just hung. A palm pressed into dough while a baby is still small enough to let you, a sibling pair overlapping on one disc, even the dog’s paw if she wants the whole household represented. Soft ivory and cream doughs, a single accent colour per piece, nothing loud enough to compete with the shape itself.

If there is a nursery to furnish around the same keepsake instinct, 28 Gender Neutral Baby Shower Ideas That Do Not Default to Beige is worth a look.

Newborn Handprint Medallion

This is the one she will still have out in twenty years. A small circle of ivory dough, soft enough to take a sleeping newborn’s palm without waking anyone, then left to dry flat.

Paint the surrounding rim in thin gold and write a name or a date in blush script across the top, nothing more. The print itself does all the work; the paint is only a frame around it.

Press the hand the same day you make the dough, before it starts to skin over, or the print will not hold its detail.

Sibling Handprint Ring

Two prints, one disc: press each sibling’s hand so they overlap slightly at the centre, like a wreath instead of two separate medallions fighting for wall space.

A soft sage green border painted around the ring edge keeps the whole thing feeling like one object rather than two competing ones. It suits a nursery or a hallway equally well, and it only needs the one disc rolled out.

No need to double a whole recipe for this: one small batch covers the pair comfortably.

Puppy Paw Print Tag

For the household where the dog gets a stocking too: a cream dough disc, a paw pressed gently into the centre while someone else holds the leash, then a grey wash over the print once dry.

A tiny red painted bow at the top loop finishes it like a collar tag, and a ribbon through the hole turns it into something that hangs on the tree rather than sitting in a drawer.

A cat’s paw works just as well if that is the household in question, pressed a little lighter.

Family Handprint Tree

An adult palm pressed firmly becomes the trunk, and a handful of smaller fingertip prints dotted above it become the canopy: this is the one entry that genuinely needs the whole family round the table at once.

Paint each small print a different leaf colour, gold, rust and olive, so the canopy reads as autumn foliage rather than a muddle of thumbs. The trunk stays plain brown.

Get everyone’s hands done in the same sitting while the dough is fresh; a print added an hour later will not match the depth of the others.

Framed Handprint Star

Spread the fingers wide before pressing, so each one becomes a point of a star radiating out from the palm. It is a different silhouette from the usual flat handprint disc, and it photographs beautifully against a plain background.

Paint the fingertips silver and leave the rest unpainted or lightly washed in pale blue, then set the whole thing inside a small embroidery hoop instead of a frame.

If a hoop feels like one extra purchase too many, a simple loop of ribbon through a hole at the top does the job for nothing.

Rosy Cheeked Faces

A cheek dabbed in rose paint turns a plain round of dough into a whole little character: snowman, Santa, reindeer, caroler, angel. One brush, one blush colour, repeated across five faces with a different nose or hat each time. This is the section to hand a nine-year-old with a fine brush and genuinely not worry.

Snowman Face Ornament

White dough rolled into a plain round is the whole base, and everything else comes from the brush: a small orange triangle for the nose, two black dots for eyes, three smaller dots curving into a smile.

The cheeks are what make him feel alive rather than plain: two soft circles of rose blush, dabbed lightly rather than painted solid, so they look flushed instead of stamped on.

If white dough feels like it needs a tint before baking, a drop of food colouring in the mix saves a base coat later.

Santa Face Ornament

A red triangle for the hat, a white flicked texture underneath for the beard, and the same rose blush on the cheeks as the snowman gets: this one shares a face shape with its neighbour but reads entirely differently once the hat goes on.

Flick the beard paint with the very tip of a dry brush rather than a loaded one, so the white breaks up into texture instead of sitting as a flat shape.

A single black dot at the chin stands in for a belt buckle glimpsed below, a small joke that most people will not clock on first glance.

Reindeer Face Ornament

Warm chestnut brown replaces the white base here, with short flicked strokes in a slightly darker brown to suggest fur texture without actually sculpting any.

The nose goes bright red, the blush sits just under the eyes rather than on the cheek proper, giving a slightly different flush than the snowman’s round dots, and two cream-tipped shapes at the top stand in for antlers.

Keep the antlers simple triangles rather than attempting branches: from across a room nobody can tell the difference, and simple survives a child’s hand far better.

Caroler Girl Face Ornament

A cream bonnet shape painted around the top and sides of the face frames it like a hood, leaving just the centre free for features: rosy cheeks, a small holly-red mouth, pale dot eyes.

A single forest-green dot at the collar stands in for a scarf pin, enough colour to anchor the whole piece without crowding the face itself.

She pairs nicely strung alongside the snowman and Santa faces on one length of ribbon, three different characters that still read as one set.

Little Angel Face Ornament

A thin ring of gold paint arcs above the forehead for a halo, floating just clear of the dough rather than touching it, and a soft white collar shape frames the chin like a robe.

Rosy cheeks again, but paired with pale blue dot eyes this time rather than black, for a softer finish than the others in this section.

A faint feathered edge in white, just a few short dry-brush strokes either side, hints at wings without anyone needing to sculpt actual feathers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do painted salt dough ornaments actually last?

With proper drying and a coat of sealant after the paint has cured, they hold up for years rather than months. If you store your finished salt dough ornaments in a cool, dry place, they can last for decades.Many crafters have reported their ornaments enduring for up to 5 years or even longer when kept in ideal conditions.

What is the right ratio of flour, salt and water?

Most versions settle on roughly two parts flour to one part salt to one part water, adjusted with a little extra water if the dough feels dry. The secret to authentic salt dough is the 2:1:1 ratio of flour to salt to water and baking low and slow until completely dry.

What paint should I use on salt dough ornaments?

Reach for acrylic or craft paint rather than anything washable, which fades fast and never looks quite right once dry. Acrylic or craft paint works best to decorate the ornaments, since washable or tempera paint will not last and oil paint is unnecessary and hard to clean up.

Do salt dough ornaments need to be sealed after painting?

Yes, once the paint is completely dry. Since they are naturally porous, it is best to apply a clear sealant to salt dough ornaments to help protect them against moisture, mold, crumbling or deterioration over time.

Can I air dry salt dough instead of baking it?

You can skip the oven entirely if you are not in a hurry. You can follow a no-bake option and allow salt dough ornaments to air dry instead, though they can take 4 to 7 days to fully dry this way.

How do you make the hole for hanging the ornament?

Make the hole before baking or drying, not after, while the dough is still soft enough to pierce cleanly. Using a straw, create a hole for the twine that will hang the ornament.