Forget silvery balls, tinsel, and glittery garland. Jazz up your Christmas tree this year with edible ornaments that you can make with your kids. We've provided a few ideas, but feel free to experiment with other types of cookies, candies, or materials. For treats that require the usage of sharp objects or kitchen appliances, we recommend adult supervision for children.

Gingerbread People Holiday cookie projects: White snowflakes, dreidel trios, and ornaments

Use a toothpick to make holes in the cookies about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the holes will shrink as the cookies bake and puff up a bit. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Meanwhile, color some of your icing in festive colors with food coloring, or use colored sugars. Using a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe a few colorful borders and decorations on the cookies. When set, add more lines of icing in white. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.

Pretzel Garland
String store-bought pretzels, either plain, or chocolate or white chocolate-covered, on brightly colored ribbons. Tie a loop around each pretzel as you string so they won't bunch together when you drape them around the tree. To make this easier, work with shorter lengths of ribbon, and tie the ends together. If you're already knuckle-deep in cookie dough, you can create your own cookie pretzel garland.

Old-Fashioned Popcorn Garland
Thread strong floss, string, or fishing line through an embroidery needle and secure. Carefully string on pieces of air-popped popcorn until you have a garland long enough to wrap around the tree. Make sure to secure both ends of the garland with knots. For color and variety (and taste), try alternating popcorn with dried or fresh cranberries, gumdrops, or other chewy candy or dried fruit.

Fresh Cranberry Garland
To accent the tree's green color, drape a garland made from firm, shiny fresh cranberries on the branches. Like the popcorn garland, string cranberries on a strong piece of string, floss, or fishing line through a needle and secure both ends with knots.

Candy Cane Cookies
Hang wrapped, store-bought candy canes on your tree. Or you can make homemade ones using Sara Moulton’s recipe for Christmas Candy Canes. Hang them directly on the tree, or tie a loop of red ribbon around the crook of each cane for a prettier presentation.