How to Make Paper Snowflakes

Try one of our printable templates, then invent your own. With a little practice, you'll craft a whole flurry.

Updated on November 1, 2023

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One of the easiest and most affordable ways to decorate your home for the holidays is with paper snowflakes. A few quick snips with the tips of your scissors is all it takes to make a whole flurry that you can use to decorate your tannenbaum, gifts, windows, walls, and beyond.

Start with a square piece of paper—then follow our step-by-step tutorial on how to fold, cut, and create a six-pointed snowflake. When choosing paper, remember that lightweight paper (wrapping paper, tissue paper, or crepe paper) is easy to cut but more fragile for decorating. Medium to heavy-weight paper (butcher paper, card stock, or text-weight poster paper) is harder to cut but is more sturdy for decorating.

With supervision, kids can happily occupy themselves by cutting out snowflakes by the dozens. Then adults can step in to help decorate your home. Together, you can watch your family's own blizzard materialize.

What You'll Need

Materials

12" by 12" paper
Craft scissors
Snowflake templates (optional)

Instructions

Gather Your Paper:

Start with a square piece of paper.

To cut a perfect square from a standard 8-by-11-inch sheet of paper, fold paper into a right-angled triangle; trim off excess.
Fold Paper in Half:

Fold paper in half diagonally to make a triangle.
Fold Paper in Half Again:

Fold paper triangle in half so that the pointed corners meet.
Fold Paper Into Thirds:

Fold paper triangle in thirds, overlapping the lefthand pointed corner over the triangle.
Overlap Pointed Corner Over Triangle:

Overlap the righthand pointed corner over the triangle. (Note: You may need to adjust these folds a little to get the sides to match up, so don't crease the paper until the folds are just right.)
Trim Pointed Ends:

Trim the pointed ends so the paper triangle looks as shown.
Cut Out Snowflake:

Cut your folded paper with variations of cutouts. (Tip: The ones with straight lines are easier to make than the ones with curvy lines.)

Optional: If using one of our downloadable templates, scale to your paper size, print, and cut out. Staple template to folded paper in areas to be cut out and use craft scissors to cut uncovered portions and along all solid lines.
Unfold Snowflake:

Unfold it gently. Don't worry if your snowflake isn't exact: No two snowflakes are ever alike.

To smooth out any creases from folding, lightly iron one paper snowflake at a time on a low setting. You can also spritz a little spray starch to stiffen and flatten out the snowflakes.