History of Christmas Ornaments

If you celebrate Christmas, there is a good chance that you have hung a Christmas ornament on a tree. There are wooden ornaments, handmade paper ornaments, plushie ornaments, plastic ornaments, and many more. An ornament is defined by the English dictionary as “make (something) look more attractive by adding decorative items.’’  So, if you hook something small on a Christmas tree to decorate it, that is a Christmas ornament.  In this article, we will explore the beginnings of the Christmas ornament, the Christmas tree, its history, and how it became a household tradition. 

The first formal Christmas celebration was on December 25, 336 A.D, but Christmas trees according to the National Christmas Tree Association or NCTA were not around until the early 1500’s. The earliest records of Christmas trees the NCTA found were from 1510 and the 1530’s. At this time Christmas trees were purchased and displayed undecorated in the households of many in Alsace, France that at the time was a German Territory. As stated by NCTA, Christmas trees became popular throughout Europe, and foods like nuts and fruits were commonly used as the first ornaments.  

Jumping to the 1600’s as accordance with an Ourworld Christmas article, intricate glass ornaments started to be created by German glassblowers to further add to the beauty of Christmas trees. They were created in the shape of Christmas symbols like stars and angels. They also created ornaments of common items in that area such as strawberries that commonly grown in the German/French areas.  These ornaments were originally called baubles and continued to be crafted and designed in Louscha, Germany by Hans Greiner in 1847 the grandson of the original glassblower Christoph Muller. 

According to the House of Pixen the first publicly decorated Christmas tree was in 1747. Around this time Christmas Trees and ornaments were only really a tradition of Lutheran Christians. Lutheranism is a denomination of Christianity. Around the early 1800’s, many Lutherans and many others immigrated to the Americas causing a small spread of ornaments to the Americas, but what really kicked off ornaments was Queen Victoria of England. 

As House of Pixen stated “Queen Victoria was said to be quite taken with the tradition of baubles and brought them from Germany to Europe in the mid late 1800’s.’’  The royals also were sketched for The London News in 1859, with a tree decorated with finest ornaments. Everyone had their eyes on the royals as these ornaments became ‘all the rage’ in not only England but in America as well. By the 1890’s German glass hand blown ornaments had sales of about $25 million in a Woolworth’s Department Store, an American department store. $25 million is worth almost $900 million in 2026 and was and still is an astronomical amount of money.  

Around this time ornaments became popular around the world, with Eastern European countries and Japan starting to produce ornaments to keep up with Germany and the U.S. Ornaments started to become collectible with Hallmark introducing their keepsake ornaments in 1973.  

Today many families around the world use ornaments to breathe life into their trees. Even with Christmas having passed, many people still collect ornaments such as hallmark’s yearly ornaments. Ornaments can be made from glass, cotton, wood, and much more and could be used to celebrate so much more than just Christmas. So, no matter what or how you celebrate consider looking into buying or making ornaments, you might just find something special.  

Sources  

Findmypast 

National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA) 

Ourworld Christmas 

House of Pixen 

In2013dollars 

Annualoranments