20 Adorable Christmas Handprint Crafts for Kids to Make as Keepsakes This Year

Little hands grow up fast. One December they barely reach the table, and the next they are asking for the car keys.

Christmas handprint crafts for kids freeze that tiny size in paint, clay, or salt dough. These projects cost very little and use supplies you probably own already.

Most take under an hour, so even a busy weekend has room for one. Kids love the messy part. Parents treasure the finished piece that comes out of the ornament box each year after.

Below you will find 20 adorable handprint keepsakes to make this year, each one easy to date, gift, or hang.

1. Six Character Handprint Ornament Cutouts

• Materials: White cardstock and washable paint in red, green, black, brown, and peach.
• Make: Paint the fingers one color and the palm another, then press down firmly.
• Finish: Add eyes, cheeks, noses, and scarves with a fine brush or paint pens.
• Display: Cut around each print with a white border and punch a hole for string.

This set turns one hand into six different friends. Fingers become a Santa hat, an elf cap, a snowman’s top hat, reindeer antlers, or tree branches.

Flip the hand upside down and black paint makes a penguin with a white belly. Each cutout keeps a thin white edge, which makes the shapes pop on a tree.

Kid friendly: Brush both colors straight onto the hand with a sponge brush. Little ones find the tickle funny and tend to hold still longer.

twotolove_bairantwins_1.jpg

2. Pom Pom Tree and Reindeer Canvas Panels

Best for: Twins, siblings, or a matching pair of gifts for grandparents.

Canvas boards give these Christmas handprint crafts a sturdier home than paper. Two green handprints become trees, each topped with a gold glitter star and dotted with tiny pom poms in every color. A red painted base sits under each tree, tied with a twine bow so it reads like a wrapped gift.

Brown prints on the third panel turn into a reindeer pair. Googly eyes and big red pom pom noses sit on the palms. Thin black lines weave between the fingers, and small pom poms hang from them like string lights.

Accent upgrade: Hang all three panels in a row on a hallway wall. Matching canvases make separate prints look like one planned set, which helps when two kids craft at once.

3. Simple Handprint and Footprint Card Set

Sometimes one clean print says more than a pile of glitter. These four cream cards keep things minimal, with one bold shape per card. A red handprint points down to form Santa, and his face, beard, and hat are painted right on the palm.

Feet join in, too. Heel at the top, a brown footprint becomes a sleepy reindeer with drawn antlers and a red nose. Yellow paint and a small foot make an angel once you sketch wings and a halo in black pen. Green fingers spread wide create the tree, finished with red and yellow dots.

Plain backgrounds keep the focus on the child’s real hand size. That matters years later, when the print is the whole point. Mix hands and feet across a set so every card in the batch feels a little different.

4. Three Hand Christmas Tree Card

Three green handprints stack into one full tree on bright red paper. One print sits upright at the top, and two more fan out below to widen the branches. Fingertip dots in red, blue, and purple act as ornaments, while a brown painted trunk and a gold glitter star finish the shape.

Why it works:

• Overlapping prints hide smudges, so a wiggly toddler still gets a neat tree.
• Red paper skips the need to paint a background.
• The handwritten “Love,” at the bottom leaves room for a name or scribbled signature.

Grouping tip: Use the same hand three times for one child, or let each sibling print one layer for a shared family keepsake.

5. Cut Out Handprint Wreath with Fingerprint Berries

You’ll need: White paper, green paint in two shades, red paint, scissors, and a glue stick.

Lots of green handprints make this wreath feel full and leafy. Two shades of green, one darker and one brighter, give the ring some depth. Each print is cut out with a slim white border, then overlapped in a circle with the fingers pointing outward.

Berries come from red fingertip dots pressed in groups of three. Small paper circles hold each cluster, which gets glued on top of the leaves. Spread them around the ring rather than bunching them on one side.

Time needed: Plan two short sessions. Printing takes about 20 minutes, but the paint needs to dry fully before anyone starts cutting.

6. Reindeer Family Handprint Page with Doodle Lights

Five brown handprints share one sheet, each turned into a reindeer face. Fingers stretch up as antlers, and tiny black dots make the eyes. Only the middle reindeer wears a red nose, so Rudolph stands out from the herd.

Pen tip: Draw the light strings with a fine black marker after the paint dries. Colored dots along the line are easy for kids to add with dot markers or a cotton swab.

Holiday twist: Print one reindeer per family member on a single page. Size differences become the fun part when you look back years later.

Paint tip: A warm, orange leaning brown reads softer than dark brown and lets the black eyes show clearly.

7. Printable Handprint and Footprint Templates

Best for: Babies and young toddlers who can only manage one quick press.

Printed templates do half the art for these handprint keepsakes. Each card has an illustrated scene, and the child’s print fills in the missing piece.

A light blue handprint becomes an angel’s wing, a yellow one shines as the star above a nativity scene, and a brown hand turns into a smiling reindeer under drawn antlers.

Footprints get their turn as well. One becomes a gingerbread man, another a snowman in a knit hat, and two green feet sit under a red bow as mistletoe. Labels across the bottom name each design, so the set works as a keepsake series.

Budget swap: No printer? Sketch the hat, wings, or antlers yourself in pencil, then trace over them with a black pen once the print dries.

8. Glitter Hat Santa Handprint

• Materials: White paint, tan cardstock, red glitter paper, cotton balls, googly eyes, a red pom pom.
• Make: Print the hand in white on tan card, fingers pointing down for the beard.
• Finish: Glue on the glitter hat, cotton trim, eyes, and a fuzzy nose.
• Display: Tape it to a gift as a tag or clip it to a card string.

Santa’s beard here is just a white handprint with the fingers pointing down. Above it, the tan paper appears to stay bare as his face, so no skin colored paint is needed. Fluffy cotton along the hat brim and a cotton ball pom give it real texture that kids love touching.

Make it easier: Precut the hat shape for little ones, and let them stretch and stick the cotton themselves.

9. Layered Handprint Tree Plaques with Name and Year

Rows of small green handprints build each of these tall trees. Prints start with one at the top and widen to four or five across the bottom, like real branches.

Each board carries a gold glitter star, colorful fingerprint ornaments, a brown pot, and the child’s name with the year.

Why it works:

• The name and year turn a sweet craft into a real keepsake.
• Repeating one small hand many times shows its size clearly.
• Striped ribbon loops on top make each board ready to hang.

Classroom tip: Make a batch for a group by setting up one green paint tray and printing rows in turns. Kids add their own dots once the branches dry.

10. Reindeer Handprint with a Keepsake Poem

A short poem lifts this reindeer from cute to sentimental. The green label in the corner reminds the reader how small these hands once were, and that idea hits hard a decade later.

Brown paint covers the whole hand, which is then cut out with a slim white edge. Googly eyes sit on the palm, and a fuzzy red pom pom becomes the nose. Spread fingers act as antlers, so there is nothing extra to draw.

Mounting the cutout on bright red paper frames it like a little poster. Print the poem on green paper to match the holiday colors, or handwrite it if your child is old enough to help copy a line.

This is one of the most meaningful Christmas handprint keepsakes you can tuck into a memory box.

11. Handprint Tree Poem Page

One green handprint, fingers up, makes this little tree. Bright dots in red, orange, yellow, and blue cover the palm like ornaments, with a yellow star painted on the tallest finger. A brown smudge at the base serves as the trunk, and a printed poem sits underneath.

Copy this setup: Print a simple border and a short verse before painting, so the hand lands centered above the words.

Skill level: Easy for preschoolers. Dots can go on with fingertips or the eraser end of a pencil dipped in paint.

What to avoid: Overloading the wet palm with dots right away. Let the green dry first, or the colors blur into brown.

12. Hanging Mistletoe Handprint Art on Kraft Paper

You’ll need: Kraft paper, green and white paint, a black fine liner, and a short length of ribbon.

Fingers pointing down give this mistletoe its droopy, hanging shape. Several green handprints overlap from one point at the top, fanning out like a real bunch. Thin black lines run down each hand to suggest stems.

White paint dots in pairs and threes become the berries. A cream ribbon bow with gold edging gathers the bunch where the prints meet.

Around the edge, a loose white painted border frames the kraft paper, and a tiny heart marks the corner.

Color note: Kraft paper makes green and white look softer and more vintage than bright white card does. Use it when you want art that blends with natural decor.

13. Traced Paper Handprint Characters (No Paint Needed)

• Materials: Colored cardstock, cotton balls, googly eyes, pom poms, and small felt pieces.
• Make: Trace the hand in pencil, then cut it out of tan, white, or green card.
• Finish: Layer on paper hats, cotton beards, felt scarves, and paper light bulbs.
• Display: Line them up along a mantel or tape them to a bedroom door.

No paint touches these Christmas handprint crafts for kids, which makes them great for a clean table day.

Five traced shapes become an elf, Santa, a reindeer, a tree, and a row of tiny snowmen standing on each finger. Fluffy cotton, felt scarves, and bright paper bulbs bring the texture.

Beginner shortcut: Let your child hold still while you trace, then save all the cutting for an adult.

14. Handprint Wreath for the Front Door

Best for: A bedroom or front door that needs a cheerful welcome.

Green handprints circle the ring with fingers pointing outward, like leaves on a real wreath. Behind them, a white base looks like a paper plate with the center cut away, though the exact backing is hard to confirm from the photo.

Clusters of three sparkly red pom poms act as holly berries. A red glitter ribbon tied into a bow sits at the bottom, and a matching loop hangs the wreath from a doorknob. Painting both hands at once doubles the prints in half the time.

Seasonal swap: Save the wreath and add one new handprint each year. The ring slowly fills with a record of growing hands.

15. Upside Down Reindeer and Footprint Tree Pair

Turned upside down, a handprint makes a whole new kind of reindeer. Orange palms sit at the top as faces, the thumb pokes out as an ear, and the fingers point down.

Brown marker antlers, round sticker eyes, and a red sticker nose finish each one, while light green footprints nearby become trees wrapped in a swirly garland.

Why it works:

• Sticker eyes and noses skip glue, so small kids finish fast.
• Warm orange paint pops more than brown against a gray or dark backdrop.
• One child can make both shapes, giving a matching pair of ornaments.

Texture note: Shiny holographic dot stickers on the trees catch the light and look like real baubles.

16. Handprint Tree Card with Drawn Fairy Lights

Fine black lines do most of the decorating on this card. A single green handprint, fingers up, forms the tree.

Around it, a hand drawn string of lights loops across the palm and fingers, ending in a tiny plug at the bottom.

Each bulb is colored red or yellow, keeping the palette calm. Kraft paper cut into a star sits above the middle finger. Mounted on a slightly larger green card, the white panel gets a crisp border with no extra effort.

Greetings can be written in any language. This one says Joyeux Noël in a mix of script and bold letters, a sweet nod to a family’s own traditions. Kids who are learning to write can trace the words over light pencil lines.

17. Sparkly Pom Pom Handprint Tree

You’ll need: Green paint, white paper, tinsel pom poms, brown and yellow paper, and white school glue.

Two green handprints overlap at the palms to make a short, bushy tree. Fingers fan out in both directions, so the branches look wide and full. A brown paper rectangle forms the trunk, and a yellow paper star sits on top.

Tinsel pom poms bring the sparkle. Each one has metallic threads mixed into the fluff, so they shimmer more than plain pom poms.

Kids can pick their own colors and place them anywhere, which is half the fun of this holiday handprint art.

Glue tip: Squeeze small dots of liquid glue and press each pom pom down for a few seconds. Glue sticks often fail to hold fuzzy pieces.

18. Kraft Paper Handprint Christmas Card Collection

Brown kraft cards tie this whole batch together, even though every design is different. A pink handprint reindeer, two elves, a red Santa, teal trees, and a pink hand turned into four candles all sit on the same warm base. White paint pen lettering and tiny dot borders frame each one.

Lettering tip: Light paint pen lettering stands out on kraft paper where black marker would look muddy. Older kids can write the greeting themselves.

The detail to steal: Turn the fingers into candles by adding painted flames at the tips and a few green sprigs at the base.

Scale note: Postcard size cards suit one small hand each and slide easily into standard envelopes.

19. Hand Painted Christmas Eve Plate for Santa

Four kids share one speckled ceramic plate here. An orange hand stands for the mince pie, a pale one holds a circle labeled milk, a brown hand becomes a reindeer, and a footprint turns into Rudolph’s carrot.

Arrows link each print to a handwritten note and name, with the year in the center.

Why it works:

• Using the plate every December keeps the prints part of the tradition.
• Different hand sizes on one surface show the age gap between siblings.
• A red dotted rim and holly sprigs tie the scattered prints together.

Safety note: For a plate that holds food, use a pottery studio with food safe glaze and kiln firing. The exact process is not visible here, so ask the studio before booking.

20. Personalized Handprint Christmas Mugs

You’ll need: Plain white ceramic mugs, paint made for ceramics, a fine brush, and a paint pen for names.

Three white mugs each carry one child’s print and name. A Santa made from a downward handprint wears a red hat, with the year painted beside him on a mug with a green handle.

Bella’s mug shows a tan reindeer with branching antlers, while Nico’s footprint becomes a tree strung with colorful lights.

Colorful painted dots scattered around the outside tie all three together. Mugs like these make lovely Christmas handprint gifts for grandparents, who see that tiny hand every morning with their coffee.

Care tip: The method used here is not clear from the photo. Follow your paint label for curing, and hand wash the mugs to keep prints from fading.