Last Updated on March 3, 2022

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So, I am a TAD bit excited about this project!  It is definitely one of my new favorites.  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 chose to make a Rudolph, complete with a red nose, but that is optional.  We hope to add one or more a year so that we eventually have Santa's entire reindeer crew.

Before you check out the full tutorial, I wanted to let you know that I have some gorgeous Christmas printables in my super affordable printable art shop that I think you will love! You can check them out below:

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How to Make a Christmas Reindeer Tutorial

How to Make a Christmas Reindeer–the steps: 

1.  Cut your body to length first.  Be sure to remove any smaller branches from the body.  We did not abide by any dimensions.  We just used our eyes to judge what scale was appropriate.

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

3.  Use a paddle drill bit as close in size to the diameter of your legs as possible to drill 4 holes for the legs on the bottom of your deer body and 1 hole on the top of the deer body for the neck.

4.  If necessary, use your pocket knife to shave off the bark from the top of your legs/neck on the portion that will slide into the holes that you have drilled.

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

6.  Cut your head to length.  It should be flat on the back end and angled where the deers “face” is.  Next, drill a hole in the bottom of the head where it will sit atop the neck.

7.  Now you are ready to attach your nose.  We used a small Christmas ornament for the nose.  We drilled a small hole for it to sit in and secured it with some clear caulk.

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

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

We accessorized ours with a red scarf and he is proudly displayed by our driveway.  Check out the result.

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?

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out some of my other Christmas posts!

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