These festive little wooden reindeer are a mixture of modern and rustic style and only require some tiny branches off your tree. Add twine and a bell and they’re complete! The best part is you can make them any size. And I mean any size. We made small 5″ ones but you could even make them from logs if you were so inclined!  If you enjoy doing this, you might also like our unique little stand up Christmas Countdown from Wood Slices.

Wooden Reindeer Supplies

NOTES ON GLUE: For the tiny reindeer, I used hot glue in the essence of time. This is actually not a good idea if your branches have bark on them as mine did because the sticks will pull the bark off easily. Either use sticks without bark or use larger branches and drill holes to place your sticks into for a firm hold. For larger reindeer I’d suggest a drill and wood glue.

• Small Branches
• Carpentry Hand Saw  OR   Table Saw We have this table saw. It’s fairly inexpensive as far as saws go.
• Hot Glue Gun (Read notes as this does not hold well)
• Wood glue for larger reindeer
• Drill (for long term holding)
• White paint
• Gold paint
• Brown Twine
• Bells

Downloadable Template

Our reference sheet can be helpful when cutting your wood if your making a small reindeer. It’s in pdf format.

Instructions

Grab some branches. Or do like I did and call your dad up and have him cut you a few.

Decide on the length of the deer parts. We’ve included a basic sheet of sizes but you can adjust as desired.

If you are gluing, make sure to cut certain parts that go against the body at an angle.

I just cut up a bunch of pieces to pick from.

If some have rough edges, rub them on a piece of sandpaper.

Glue on your pieces. Remember, I learned that these don’t stick well with bark on the branches. Best to drill holes in that case.

You can see why we angled the leg pieces a bit.

Now to add on the little tail.

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To make the antlers attach better I did drill a hole in the head piece which had the bark removed.

Make sure the antler pieces fit in and then remove them for painting.  If you drill your legs in the same manner they will hold firmly.

Paint the antler pieces gold.

Paint your deer white. Paint the tips of his feet and tail gold.

Grab some twine and bells.

Put his antlers in and tie the twine around his neck and glue on a bell.