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Excess icy-pole sticks at home? Don’t even think about throwing them away! This simple craft project will see them transformed into unique Christmas decorations for this festive season.
Entertain the kids this festive season with this easy D.I.Y. project, using common arts and crafts materials. Using leftover icy-pole sticks, we’ll be creating classic Christmas figures, such as a Santa, reindeer and a Christmas tree and adding our own unique spins with paint, eyes and more!
The flexibility of icy-pole sticks means you can make a huge range of traditional or modern characters, allowing the kids’ imagination to run wild! They can create their own versions of snowmen, stars or holly, or stick to Rudolph and Santa – the options are endless!
These ornaments are the perfect addition to a Christmas tree, or as a wider part of your festive decorations. Best of all, they are super easy to do and don’t require a lot of equipment or specific arts and crafts materials.
Just make sure you lay down some newspaper or a drop sheet so that any potential mess is contained!
Our first decoration will be a Christmas tree. Line up 5 icy-pole sticks and mark each one shorter than the previous with a pencil. You’ll want to start small for the top of the tree and get slightly bigger towards the base.
Cut each stick to length so that you have five different-sized sticks.
Our second decoration is a Santa hat. Measure your sticks and mark halfway with a pencil. Cut on the mark. Cut some brown paper into a small triangle shape (this will be the backing for the triangle hat).
You’ll need your craft glue for this step.
For your Christmas tree, take 1 icy-pole stick and glue the cut pieces onto it. Start with the shortest stick at the top and work your way down to the longest stick to form a tree shape. Leave to dry.
For your Santa and reindeer decorations, cut out two small pieces of paper or card to use as a backing for your icy pole sticks. Each piece of card or paper should be wide enough to back 4 or 5 sticks.
Glue 4 sticks onto the paper for Santa. Glue 5 sticks onto the paper for the reindeer. Leave to dry.
Once everything is dry, it’s time to paint! For your Christmas tree, paint the stem red and the tree “leaves” white.
For the reindeer, paint the sticks brown.
For the Santa, paint the bottom two-thirds of the sticks red, and the top third white. Then add a little pink “blush” for Santa’s face.
While the paint is drying, cut reindeer antlers and round noses from the brown paper.
Now that all the paint has dried, we’ll add some extra embellishments, including stars, Rudolphs and Santa’s nose, buttons and felt to bring these creations to life.
Add stickers and a star to your Christmas tree as its final touches. Glue googly eyes, nose and ears to the reindeer. Finish it off with a pom pom red nose!
For the Santa, glue cotton wool for the hat and beard. Then add black buttons and draw on a nose and eyes with permanent marker. Leave to dry.
It’s now time to hang up your beautiful decorations! Cut lengths of twine and create a loop by knotting the ends together. Stick the ends to the icy pole sticks with glue. Leave to dry before hanging on the tree, or around the home.
Start building your collection of craft materials with our selection of paints, glues, eyes, glitter and more.
Asbestos, lead-based paints and copper chromium arsenic (CCA) treated timber are health hazards you need to look out for when renovating older homes. These substances can easily be disturbed when renovating and exposure to them can cause a range of life-threatening diseases and conditions including cancer. For information on the dangers of asbestos, lead-based paint and CCA treated timber and tips for dealing with these materials contact your local council's Environmental Health Officer or visit our Health & Safety page.
When following our advice in our D.I.Y. videos, make sure you use all equipment, including PPE, safely by following the manufacturer’s instructions. Check that the equipment is suitable for the task and that PPE fits properly. If you are unsure, hire an expert to do the job or talk to a Bunnings Team Member.
