Ornament ideas to sell on Etsy all year long

You might think Christmas ornaments only sell well during the holiday season, but this actually isn’t the case. While the holidays are definitely the peak selling period for ornaments, shoppers do buy ornaments year-round.

Shoppers know the holidays come every year. So even if Christmas is a long way away, they know that they or the ornament’s recipient (if they’re buying it as a gift) will eventually get to use it.

Plus, ornament designs don’t have to relate exclusively to Christmas, though. In fact, they shouldn’t. People buy ornaments for a variety of reasons and to celebrate a variety of events.

Ornaments aren’t merely tools used to decorate Christmas trees. They’re also keepsakes used to mark special occasions or milestones or to serve as reminders of special memories or people.

So when you’re selling Christmas ornaments, you should have a variety of designs in your inventory. Some can relate directly to the holidays. But as with all of the products you sell with the Low Hanging System, you want the bulk of your designs to be evergreen so they have year-round sales potential.

Below, you’ll find a list of ornament ideas that people will love to buy NOW and all year long.

Let’s take a look…

Insect and animal ornaments 

All you have to do here is use a site like Pixabay to find copyright-free images of any animals you want. Then, you can add those images to your designs.

Some popular animals you might want to incorporate into your designs include the following:

• dogs
• cats
• birds
• fish
• horses
• butterflies
• ladybugs
• bees
• panda bears
• lions
• tigers
• bears
• elephants
• giraffes
• pigs
• chickens
• rabbits
• sharks
• dolphins
• whales
• penguins
• kangaroos
• gorillas

For several of these animal types (e.g. dogs, cats, birds, etc.), you can drill down into the niche and create designs for specific breeds (e.g. pit bulls, calico cats, cardinals).

Use my Master List to see a much more extensive list of animal types that you can add.

Another idea is to focus on pets and create custom ornaments that let shoppers add their pet’s name to the ornament. You can keep these designs very simple and just include things like a paw print or a dog bone.

Here are some examples of ornaments with animal designs found on Etsy.

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Mythological/legendary creature ornaments

Mythological and legendary creatures are another really fun design idea for ornaments that you can sell all year long. Again, a simple image found on Pixabay (or another copyright-free image website) can work great. Plus, you can always give shoppers the option to customize their ornaments as well.

When it comes to which creatures to focus on, unicorn and mermaid ornaments are especially popular, but other creatures include the following:

• dragons
• gnomes
• trolls
• werewolves
• vampires
• slothicorns
• caticorns
• Pegasus
• phoenix
• centaurs
• Loch Ness monster

(Use my Master List for more creature design ideas.)

Here are some examples of designs featuring mythological or legendary creatures found on Etsy:

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When you look for inspiration, you also don’t have to search only for ornaments. You might find better inspiration looking at other types of products — for example…

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Personalized ornaments

Personalized anything tends to sell really well. Shoppers love being able to add a personal touch to the items they buy, especially Etsy shoppers.

There are a number of different customization options you can give to shoppers for ornaments…

• a name (e.g. their name, a family member’s name, a co-worker’s name, etc.)
• a special date (e.g. birth date, wedding date, engagement date, etc.)
• a personal image
• their own text

Almost any of the evergreen, ornament ideas I present here can also be personalized.

For example, you can personalize animal ornaments and mythological creature ornaments by letting shoppers add a name or date to the ornament. Perhaps they’d like to add their pet’s name to the design or if they have a child who loves mermaids or dragons, they’d like to add their child’s name and age.

Here are some examples of customizable designs found on Etsy:

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Special events/announcements

Even if the special event or announcement isn’t happening anytime close to Christmas, people still like giving this type of ornament as a gift or as a party favor. When Christmastime does roll around, the ornament can be a nice keepsake or reminder of that event or announcement.

Some examples of special events or announcements include…

• graduations
• pregnancies
• births
• engagements
• weddings
• baby showers
• bridal showers
• baptisms
• birthdays
• anniversaries

Here are some examples of designs pertaining to special events or announcements found on Etsy:

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Milestone ornaments

Milestone designs are super popular with Christmas ornaments. People love collecting this sort of thing so they can treasure these memories for years to come each time the holidays roll around.

Popular milestones that make great ornament designs include the following:

• baby’s first Christmas
• “our first Christmas together” as a dating couple, as an engaged couple, as a married couple
• 21st birthday ornaments
• significant anniversaries (e.g. 10th, 25th, 50th, etc.)
• first Christmas as a mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, big brother, big sister, etc.
• first house together
• first car/truck

Other “firsts” that could make good milestone designs might be things like the first Christmas after finishing law school or med school or the first Christmas after graduating high school or college or the first Christmas after getting a new job or promotion.

Here are some examples of milestone designs found on Etsy:

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Occupation ornaments

You can make designs that say things like “Best teacher ever” or “World’s greatest nurse” and put them on ornaments. These types of ornament designs make awesome year-round gifts. You might already have some of these types of designs on other products, like coffee mugs. In which case, you can use those same designs and apply them to your Christmas ornaments.

You’ll find a big list of all different occupations on my Master List. And here are some examples of occupation-related designs found on Etsy:

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Hobby ornaments 

Similarly, you may already have some designs in your inventory that have to do with hobbies like knitting, hiking, collecting stamps, etc. If that’s the case, you can save time by applying those same designs to your ornaments.

Or, if you’re brand new to the Low Hanging System or you just don’t have any designs related hobbies, you can check out my Master List for a big list of hobbies to help get the ball rolling. If you think of just one phrase, you can apply it to the whole list.

For example, your template phrase might be something like “I eat, sleep, and breathe _____” You could fill in the blank with virtually any hobby you can think of, such as “I eat, sleep, and breathe collecting stamps,” “I eat, sleep, and breathe crocheting,” or “I eat, sleep, and breathe playing chess.”

Here are some examples of ornament designs pertaining to hobbies that I found on Etsy:

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Athletic ornaments 

Athletic designs could fall under the category of hobby designs, but I decided to separate the two since there are so many different types of sports and other athletics, including dance, yoga, and Pilates.

Some of the most popular types of athletics include the following:

• baseball
• softball
• basketball
• football
• rugby
• skiing
• gymnastics
• ice skating
• hockey
• field hockey
• lacrosse
• swimming
• volleyball
• soccer
• skiing

To view a more extensive list, check out my Master List.

Here are some examples of designs related to different types of athletics that I found on Etsy:

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Music ornaments 

Music is another popular pastime for a lot of people. Some people play instruments or sing and others have a strong appreciation for the art. You can add simple images of instruments to your designs or come up with text-based phrases about musical instruments or different musical genres, such as hip-hop, country, classical, or jazz.

Some of the most popular musical instruments include the following:

• piano
• guitar
• saxophone
• drums
• violin
• viola
• cello
• bass
• trumpet
• French horn
• trombone
• clarinet
• flute
• oboe
• accordion

To view a more extensive list, check out my Master List.

Here are some examples of music-related designs found on Etsy:

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Geography ornaments 

When people travel someplace new, they often want a keepsake to remind them of their trip and the memories they made. Christmas ornaments are perfect for this!

You can make designs having to do with different countries, states, provinces, and cities. You can show an image of the location or a famous monument found there — for example, the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben. Or, you can include a popular phrase or slogan about different places, such as “Virginia is for lovers” or “I left my heart in San Francisco” (just be mindful of potential copyright infringement).

You can find a big list of places from around the world on my Master List. And here are some examples of geography designs found on Etsy:

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I hope you found this list of evergreen ornament design ideas useful! If you have any other suggestions to share, please leave a comment below. And if you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends and followers!