How to Make Christmas Ornaments for the Birds

Include the wild creatures that inhabit your garden in your holiday celebrations with these tasty treats. They'll add a festive touch to the trees and shrubs around your home.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Onion Mesh Bags
• Raffia
• Sail Maker's Needles
• Birdseeds
• Millet Sprays
• Pine Cones
• Peanut Butter
• Sunflower Seeds
• Paddle Wire

1. Roll pinecones in peanut butter, then in birdseed. Wrap some paddle wire around the base of the cone and attach the treat to trees and shrubs within view of your home.

2. String clusters of whole, raw, unsalted peanuts that are still in the shell onto strings of raffia. (Yes, peanuts can be strung just like popcorn or cranberries.) A large sail maker's needle works well to pierce the tough shell. Pierce two or three peanuts and tie the raffia loosely to branches and twigs.

3. String grapes and tie them into bundles using the same method.

4. String a few kernels of popcorn on raffia, then roll in peanut butter and birdseed. This is a favorite treat of blue jays.

5. Slice apples, pears and oranges and hang with wire ornament hangers.

6. Tie millet sprays to twigs and branches with raffia bows.

7. Cut net onion bags into small squares and fill with sunflower seeds. Tie the bundles of seeds with raffia. Hang with wire ornament hangers or more raffia. The bright colors will look divine and the birds will enjoy the offering.

Tips & Warnings

• Make the strings of fruit, nuts and popcorn short. Long strings are difficult for little beaks and claws to handle. A few inches is perfect.
• Tie the raffia loosely so that the critters can pull the snack away from the garland to eat in peace, if they so prefer.
• You won't know the players without a scorecard. Purchase a good bird book so you know who is enjoying your creative endeavor.

Resources

• Letters To Santa
• Christmas Recipes

[Ndalton]

on 11/17/2007 Please remember that after the ornament is gone, the twine or ribbon, etc. remains and usually falls to the ground. We lost a cat after $800 of surgery trying to remove the twine I'd used when hanging stale doughnuts in the lilac bush. She could smell the doughnut crumbs, ate everything and was unable to pass the twine (string, ribbon, etc.) through her system as in the case of a humane. It was a sad lesson for our family. Now I use florist wire with a FIRM twist to the branch! Nancie 11/17/97

[ellegee]

on 11/25/2006 “Birds have no salivary glands,” said Lee Amigh, an environmental educator at Lancaster County Central Park. That explains why birds can choke on peanut butter, said Amigh, who prefers to mix the bird seed with cornmeal (for traction) or with lard (it’s slippery.) With birds peanut butter is a real danger."

on 1/16/2006 Using a cookie cutter and bread, cut out shapes and paint with egg whites, dip in bird seed, then use a wire to hang on the tree!

on 11/22/2005 I use cookie cutters to cut out millet or dried toast, which I cover with smooth peanut butter and birdseed. Make a hole to tie a piece of raffia through it and hang it on tree limbs. Large cookie cutters are best with this project.

on 11/22/2005 Cut an orange in half. Scoop out the orange, leaving the peel intact. Attach wire through a hole on two sides of each half to make a hanger. Fill it with corn or bird seed or, even better, bird seed mixed with peanut butter. Hang it where birds can reach and eat from the cup.