DIY Seasonal Front Door Decor with Kids
Learn how to DIY seasonal front door decor with kids using cheap wood cutouts. Budget-friendly, reusable, and proudly homemade. See our simple system
MOM LIFEHOME DIY & DECOR
9/12/20264 min read
Why My Front Door Looks “Homemade” On Purpose (And How We DIY It Seasonally with the Kids)
Our seasonal front door decor is a DIY wood cutout painted by my daughter and swapped each season. We buy plain shapes for $5–$10, repaint them year after year, and hang them with a ribbon. It’s cheaper than a wreath, takes one afternoon, and kids love seeing their art on the door.
And if you drove past my house right now, you'd see a wooden pumpkin hanging on my front door that is, objectively, a little lopsided. One side has way more orange paint than the other. There's a thumbprint in the corner that I'm pretty sure isn't even part of the design. And I love it more than anything I could've ordered off a "front porch fall decor" Pinterest board.
That pumpkin was painted by my daughter. Two months ago it was a butterfly for summer. Come winter, it'll be a snowflake or a Christmas tree. Spring will probably bring a flower or a rainbow, because those seem to be her go-to's right now. Every season, we swap it out, and every season it's a little different — a little more her.
The 5‑Minute System for Seasonal Front Door Decor with Kids
Honestly, it started because I wanted something for our door that didn't look like every other house on the street, and I did not want to spend $40 on a seasonal wreath I'd have to store in a bin for nine months a year. So a few years ago I picked up a couple of wooden cutouts from Target — pumpkin, snowflake, that kind of thing — for somewhere between $5 and $10 each, handed my daughter some paint, and let her go to town.
That was it. That was the whole system. And it's stuck around because it solves about four problems at once:
It's cheap. We're talking a fraction of what a "designer" seasonal door hanger costs.
It's an actual activity, not just a decoration — something to fill an afternoon that isn't a screen.
It's not one-and-done. The same blank shapes can be repainted or replaced year after year as her skills (and her opinions about color) change.
It makes her genuinely proud. She points it out to anyone who walks up to our door. "I painted that." Full stop, no qualifiers.
Where to Find the Wooden Cutouts
You don't need anything fancy here — this isn't a Michaels custom-order situation. A few options that have worked for us:
Target's seasonal aisles — this is where I've grabbed most of ours over the years, usually $5–$10 depending on size and season.
Amazon — if you want to stock up on multiple shapes at once or can't get to a store, there are plenty of similar unfinished wood cutouts available. This is honestly the easier route if you want a whole set ready to go for the year instead of grabbing them one season at a time.
Plain/blank cutouts — if you'd rather skip the pre-cut pumpkin-or-snowflake shape entirely, plain wood circles, squares, or stars let your kid design whatever they want instead of coloring inside someone else's lines. My daughter has done a few of these when she had a specific idea in her head that didn't match anything shaped like a holiday icon.
If you're new to this, I'd say don't overthink the first purchase. Grab one shape that matches whatever season is coming up next and see if it's something your kid actually wants to do more than once. Ours turned into a full rotation basically by accident.
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Step‑by‑Step: Paint, Dry, Hang (Without the Stress)
Pick a seasonal shape (pumpkin, snowflake, flower)
Set up paint + smock; let kids choose colors.
Paint one side, dry, add more paint if needed
Add name/date on back
Attach ribbon or twine; hang on door hook
Store flat in a bin with tissue between pieces or hang on a hanger in your storage closet
Honest Notes From Someone Who's Done This on Repeat
Let them pick the colors. I know the "correct" pumpkin is orange. Mine has some purple on it. It's fine.
Don't correct the technique. This isn't the place for "hold the brush like this." It's genuinely more fun for both of you if you just let it be theirs.
Keep the blank shapes on hand ahead of time. If you wait until the week you want to switch out your door decor, you'll be scrambling. Grab the next season's shape a few weeks early and just leave it out with the paint.
Expect it to look "homemade." Because it is. That's the whole point.
If your front door has been feeling like it needs "something" for the season, skip the store-bought wreath aisle and hand your kid a paintbrush instead. It costs less, it takes up an afternoon, and it turns out to be one of those small things that ends up mattering a lot more than it looks like it should.
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AngelaMarie@mommakeshome.com
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