Have you ever found yourself with a pile of old Christmas cards you can’t bear throwing away? Those beautiful designs, heartfelt messages, and memories of past holidays can be challenging to part with.
But instead of letting them gather dust, why not give them a second life with some fun and creative crafts?
Why Repurpose Old Christmas Cards?
- Eco-friendly: In an age where we’re all trying to be a little kinder to our planet, repurposing old Christmas cards is a fantastic way to reduce waste and have a more sustainable Christmas. Every card you reuse is one less item in the landfill. Plus, it’s a great way to promote recycling and upcycling in a fun and creative manner.
- Affordability: Crafting can be an expensive hobby, especially when buying new materials. But by crafting with old Christmas cards, you’re saving money and making the most of what you already have. It’s a win-win!
- Sentimental Value: Those cards were given to you by loved ones. By transforming them into something new, you’re preserving those memories uniquely and specially.
Christmas Card Craft Ideas
- Ornaments: Cut out your favourite designs or images from the cards. Glue them onto wooden or cardboard circles, add glitter or ribbon, and voilà! You have a new Christmas tree ornaments.
- Gift Tags: This is a great idea for old greeting cards that my family uses. Instead of buying tags, use your old cards. Cut them into fun shapes; hole punch the top, thread a ribbon through, and write your message on the back of the gift tags.
- Bookmarks: For the bookworms out there, turn those cards into bookmarks. Add a tassel or a ribbon at the top for a personal touch.
- Collage Art: Get a canvas or a large piece of cardboard and create a festive collage using elements from your favourite Christmas cards. This can be a fun activity to do with kids, too!
- Jigsaw Puzzles: Glue a card onto a thicker piece of cardboard and then cut it into puzzle pieces. Store them in a cute bag, and you have a personalized jigsaw puzzle ready.
- Coasters: Cut out squares from last year’s Christmas cards and glue them onto cork or wooden bases. Seal with a clear varnish, and you’ve got some holiday-themed coasters.
- Greeting Card Garland: String together several cards using ribbon or twine and hanging them up as a festive garland. It’s a great way to display those beautiful cards!
- Christmas card wreath: Cut out circles from the front of various cards and arrange them in a circular pattern, overlapping slightly.
- Advent calendar: Choose the front of the card with the most appealing design. Arrange 24 crafted pieces in a fun pattern on a larger construction paper or board. Number them, and you can write a festive activity or message behind each number.
- Festive Placemats: Decoupage and laminate cut-out festive images to make fun placemats for the table.
Tutorials Using Old Christmas Cards: Eco-Friendly & Affordable Fun!
Beautiful Christmas ornaments and cute decorations made from old holiday cards.
DIY Personalized Christmas Ornaments
A good use of Tuna cans; use decoupage glue to stick beautiful images from Christmas cards to make these fun ornaments.
Easy DIY Place Card Holders Using Upcycled Wine Corks
Transform wine corks and cherished Christmas cards into personalized place card holders that your guests will adore.
How To Make A Recycled Christmas Card Ornament
These beautiful Christmas ornaments are like a fun puzzle, slotting the cut Christmas card shapes into a 3D ball.
Christmas Card Crafts - Hanging Stars
This is a gorgeous way to repurpose old cards into making star Christmas decorations.
How to Make a Fun Art Project with Old Christmas Cards
If you have a pile of old Holiday cards, you can't bring yourself to part with, this is a fun way to preserve those memories for future Christmases.
Crochet Christmas Card Decorations
Crochet the edges of greeting cards to make beautiful ornaments or gift tags. This is one repurposed Christmas card idea I want to try.!
Recycle Old Christmas Greeting Cards into a Basket | Needlepointers.com
Take the crocheting of Christmas cards up a notch and use this method to make beautiful baskets. These would be fun to fill with sweets for the Christmas coffee table.
How to Make a Miniature Christmas Village with Old Holiday Cards
I adore setting up a Christmas village display on the mantle, and this one holds a special charm—it's crafted from last year's Christmas cards!
DIY Christmas Gift Bags with Recycled Holiday Cards
Refresh those old holiday gift bags by adhering the front of Christmas cards to them. Alternatively, craft your own bags from wrapping paper and embellish them using the cards.
Small Gift Box
Use the pretty images from greeting cards to make the cutest gift boxes.
Make Upcycled Christmas Card Tree Ornaments
This is another simple Christmas decoration and another reason to hang onto your cards for next Christmas.
Gift Boxes from Old Cards
Another way to give new life to last year's Holiday cards. These DIY gift boxes have lids.
DIY Vintage Christmas Card Bowl
A beautiful Christmas bowl made by stitching the cards together with a decorative blanket stitch.
How To Make Repurposed Tin Can Ornament For Christmas
Decorate sardine cans with your favourite images from old Christmas cards to make unique ornaments for next year's tree.
DIY Christmas Coasters
Make fun decorative coasters for your coffee table just using Christmas cards, jar lids and a bit of resin.
How To Make Gift Tags From Old Christmas Cards
This has to be one of the most popular ways to recycle last year's Christmas cards.
Recycled Christmas Card Tree Garland
This recycled Christmas garland is made in a very similar way to my upcycled road map decorations.
How to Make a Geometric Christmas Ornament with Christmas Cards
Make a 3-D vintage Christmas card ornament with cardboard circles and triangle shapes.
Christmas Wine Bottle Gift Tags
Whenever I visit friends during the holiday season, I usually bring along a bottle or two of wine. These tags are perfect for adding that special festive flair to my gifts.
DIY Tabletop Paper Christmas Tree
So simple to make but so adorable. I love these cute little upcycled tabletop Christmas trees.
Use Them As Gift Toppers
Cut out all the wonderful holiday images from your favourite cards and use them to decorate your presents.
Antique Post Card DIY Christmas Trees
These adorable cone Christmas trees would look just as good made from old greeting cards.
Easy DIY Picture Jar Lid Ornaments For Christmas
For sustainable Christmas crafting, combine jam jar lids with pictures from cards to make beautiful ornaments for the tree.
How to Save your Old Christmas Cards: Step by Step Tutorial
Do you want to keep your old Christmas cards as a memory keepsake, this post shows you how to turn them into coffee table scrapbooks.
Turn Dollar Store Christmas Cards into DIY Christmas Puzzles
This is a fun craft to make with the kids or grandkids. They will love trying to put the Christmas pictures back together.
DIY Easy Christmas Plate Collage
Decoupage your favorite festive images onto a plate, and transform it into a unique wall decoration for the holiday season!
Upcycled Christmas Card Bookmarks
This bookmark is cleverly crafted from a repurposed old Christmas card. Whip up a batch for stocking fillers, a fun kids' craft afternoon, or to send a touch of holiday cheer to distant friends.
3D Holiday Star
This is very much like my printable 3D map star but made with old Christmas cards instead of old maps.
How to Make a Paper Magnolia Leaf Wreath DIY
Cut leaves from the front of the Christmas cards either by hand or using a Cricut machine to make a gorgeous holiday wreath for your door.
Cute DIY Christmas Book Ornaments
Use mini Christmas cards or cut larger ones to size and make this fun hanging Christmas book ornament.
DIY Recycled Christmas Card Blocks
Make these wood block ornaments with the festive images on the front of Christmas cards, I think vintage Christmas images work best. You could even make tree shaped ones like these wooden map ornaments.
Wood Slice Christmas Magnets From Cards
Mod Podge the pretty pictures cut from your cards onto wood slices to make festive ornaments for the fridge.
Vintage Style Recycled CD & Christmas Card Ornaments
Wondering what to do with the your old CDs, decoupage them with your cute seasonal images from your old Christmas cards to make fun ornaments for the tree.
Wood Slice Ornaments
My tree is adorned with wood slice ornaments. While some feature printed on wood designs and others are hand-painted, I'm excited to introduce new decoupaged Christmas card ornaments to the mix.
Snowflake Ornaments
Cut up your cards into strips and then use them to construct these pretty snowflake ornaments for the tree.
Christmas Card Rubiks Cube
My son finds solace in solving a Rubik's cube, and he'd be thrilled to find one in his Christmas stocking.
DIY recycled Christmas card advent calendar
Add numbers to the front of the cards and hang them on a frame to make a fun handmade advent calendar.
Recycle Old Christmas Cards with a Cutie Crate DIY
Some people have a traditon of opening a few Christmas presents early on Christmas eve and present them in a cute crate. Last year's Holiday cards would be a fun and quick way to decorate the old wooden crates.
Recycled Paper Chains
One of my earliest memories of crafting Christmas decorations is making paper chains. My children have also embraced this tradition with joy. Repurposing old Christmas cards for these chains is such a delightful way to keep the tradition alive!
DIY Upcycled Christmas Card Topiary
Another fun colourful table top Christmas tree made from cut up cards.
How To Make Paper Pine Cone Ornaments The Easy Way
Punch circle shapes out of the Christmas cards and use them to make pine cone ornaments like these ones.
How To Style A Christmas Vintage Printer Tray
Cut out and use images and phrases from the Christmas cards and them use them to decorate a printer's tray (or Shadow box) for a unique vintage style decoration.
Other Recycled Christmas Ideas
There’s no end to the fun way you can repurpose old Christmas cards for the holiday season. It’s eco-friendly, affordable, and a wonderful way to cherish memories. So the next time you’re about to toss out those old holiday cards, think twice and get crafting! And don’t forget to save all those beautiful Christmas cards for next year.
You might want to check out these ideas for cardboard Christmas decorations and paper Christmas crafts, many of which could be adapted to work with old Christmas cards.
Also, there are many more Adult Christmas crafts on the blogs and fun collections of crafts to sell or gift.
Jeanne
Sunday 22nd of October 2023
WOW, you must have quite the collection of Christmas cards! Beautiful! :)
Claire Armstrong
Monday 23rd of October 2023
Thank, yes I save them every year for crafting.
Michelle
Monday 16th of October 2023
Thanks for all the lovely ideas, Claire. I'll dig out all those Christmas cards I've been saving for years and play around.
Claire Armstrong
Tuesday 17th of October 2023
Thank you. I love all the beautiful and fun images you get on old Christmas cards, they are great free crafting resource.