What to Draw for Christmas

What to draw for Christmas cards and crafts

Every December someone needs a holiday picture: for a card, a classroom wall, a gift tag or a window. This page helps when you are stuck on what to draw for Christmas by giving you one random festive idea at a time. You might get “A penguin in a Santa hat”, “A snow globe with a tiny village inside” or “Santa relaxing on a beach after the holidays”. The deck has 51 ideas, from quick shapes to cozy little scenes.

How to use it

1. Press Next, the space bar or the right arrow key for an idea.
2. Decide what you are making: a card, a tag, a poster.
3. Sketch the idea lightly, then add color.
4. Press Next for another, or Previous to go back one.

All 51 ideas come up once before the deck reshuffles. The Seen so far list keeps track, which helps when a whole class is drawing.

What kind of ideas you get

• Quick symbols. A candy cane, a jingle bell, a star ornament, a holly leaf with berries.
• Cute characters. A sleepy reindeer, an owl wearing earmuffs, a puppy opening a present.
• Winter scenes. A winter village at night, a sledding hill full of kids, snow falling on a quiet street.
• Funny twists. A chimney with a boot sticking out, a snowman melting in the sun.

Tips for Christmas cards

Plan for the fold

Fold your card first, then draw on the front panel only. Leave space at the top or bottom if you want to write a greeting.

Keep the palette small

Red, green, white and a touch of gold or yellow is plenty. Fewer colors look neater on a small card.

White on dark for snow

Draw on dark blue or green paper and use a white gel pen, white crayon or white paint for snow and lights.

Trace for multiple cards

Draw the idea once on plain paper, then trace it onto each card. Twelve cards go faster this way.

Classroom and family crafts

December drawing calendar

Draw one new prompt each school day until the break. Students keep their drawings in a folder and staple them into a booklet at the end.

Gift tags

Small ideas like a gift tag tied with string or a tiny tree in a pot fit on a luggage tag sized piece of card.

Window art

Pick a winter scene and draw it large with window markers or on paper taped to the glass.

Family drawing night

Each person presses Next once and draws their idea. Hang them all on a string like a garland.

Fair and free

The order comes from your browser’s cryptographic random generator, so every idea has the same chance to come up first. It is free and needs no account. Planning a gift exchange too? The Secret Santa generator draws names. For a holiday party game, try Christmas this or that questions.

Examples from this deck

A few of the 51 ideas you can get above:

• A snowman wearing a striped scarf
• A stocking hanging by the fireplace
• Santa's sleigh flying over rooftops
• An elf wrapping gifts in a workshop
• Mittens hanging on a clothesline
• A cat tangled in tinsel
• A family of snowmen
• A puppy opening a present
• A sleepy reindeer
• A gift tag tied with string
• A toy train circling the tree
• Snow falling on a quiet street