How to Make a Christmas Reindeer from Logs

Last Updated on October 25, 2022

Learn how to make a Christmas reindeer from logs with this super easy tutorial. It is the perfect natural decoration for your outside spaces!

how to make a Christmas reindeer from logs

We love decorating for Christmas inside our house, but we decided this year that it was time to add something fun outside. I am going to show you how to make a Christmas reindeer with a few branches from a tree. It's quick, easy and seriously adorable!

We LOVE to DIY our own decor. I have made lots of fun holiday things along the way like our DIY reindeer art and mini wreaths, and this fun log reindeer is up there as one of my favorite holiday DIY projects.

We chose to make a Rudolph, complete with a red nose, but that's optional! We hope to add one or more a year so that we eventually have Santa's entire reindeer crew.

Check out the full tutorial and you can start your own herd of Santa's reindeer!

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How to Make a Christmas Reindeer Tutorial

Materials Needed:

The Steps:

Step 1. Make the body.

Cut your body to length and remove any smaller branches from the body. We didn't use any specific dimensions, we just used our eyes to judge what scale was appropriate.

Step 2. Cut the legs.

Cut the legs to length and remove any smaller branches from them.

Step 3. Drill holes.

Using a paddle drill bit as close in size to the diameter of your legs as possible, drill a hole for each leg in the underside of your deer body. Then drill 1 hole on the top of the deer body for the neck.

making log reindeer

Step 4. Shave branches to fit.

If necessary, use your pocket knife to shave off the bark from the top of the legs and neck so that they will fit snugly into the holes that you have drilled.

wood leg for log reindeer

Step 5. Assemble the body, legs, and neck.

Assemble all of your pieces so that you can determine how large your head should be. Again, just eyeball it! There is no right or wrong as long as it looks good to you.

log reindeer body

Step 6. Cut and attach the head.

Cut your head to length. It should be flat on the back end and angled where the reindeer's “face” is. Drill a hole in the bottom of the head where it will attach to the top of the neck and put the head on.

cutting log for Christmas reindeer
putting logs together for reindeer

Step 7. Attach the nose.

Now you are ready to attach Rudolph's nose! Make sure to use a shatterproof ornament and remove the metal piece. Drill a small hole for it to sit in on Rudolph's face and secured it with clear caulk.

Christmas ornament for log Rudolph's nose
using caulk to attached ornament nose

Step 8. Attach the antlers.

Drill small holes for your antlers and pop them into place.

Step 9. Attach the tail.

Finally, attach your pine cone tail with some wood glue.

gluing pinecone onto log reindeer

That's it! You have the cutest outdoor Christmas reindeer that you can use year after year. We accessorized ours with a red scarf and he is proudly displayed by our driveway.

how to make a Christmas reindeer from logs
how to make a Christmas reindeer from logs

We can't wait to add to the reindeer family next year! What do you think? Are you tempted to find some logs and branches to make your own? It isn't officially Christmas until the log reindeer has appeared in the yard!

Other posts you may enjoy:

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51 Comments

  1. I love these! I love anything country or rustic and this is perfect! Thanks for the idea – I may have to pass it over to my husband and see what he comes up with. ;) Thanks for linking up! #turnituptuesday

  2. TOO MANY ADS!!!!!! Couldn’t get the page to load without repeatedly stopping (busy) to load ads. Too bad, looked like an interesting tutorial. (took 1 minute to write this comment even) :(

  3. This is really clever. I’d love to feature this, but can’t see if you have a party page or party links anywhere. If you do or could link back somewhere I’d be happy to share it next week. Thanks for linking up to the Craftastic Monday Link Party at Sew Can Do!

    1. Hi Linda! I don’t know the exact finished length, but you can make it any size you want. Just make sure all of the pieces are proportional to each other. We didn’t measure anything–just eyeballed it all! Thanks for reading my blog!