How to Make Retro Cardboard Christmas Houses

A yellow and white handmade cardboard Christmas church full of glitter. One part of a Christmas village made to look vintage. Displayed on a cakestand with a miniature vintage Jesus in the manger, and cream and green bottle brush trees in the snow.

A week or two before Thanksgiving I like to go through all of my Christmas decorations to see what I have, and make a list of things I might need. This year I was shopping at Target and found three small Christmas houses packaged together. They were so cute and glittery and it reminded me of some of the vintage ones I have, and also ones I handmade many years back. I made a whole village including a yellow and white glitter church. It really motivated me to try and make some new ones this year…and share the process with you! So, how do you make retro cardboard Christmas houses? It’s really quite easy and fun!

A miniature vintage cardboard house with glitter and faux snow. It has painted tissue paper windows and light green bottle brush trees with snow. It's a Putz Mica home made in the pre-war era.

My first vintage cardboard house that I ever purchased made by Dolly Toy Company circa 1940.

A handmade white with green shutters Christmas house. It's 3 inches tall covered in clear glitter to look like snow, and surrounded with cream and light green bottle brush trees and faux snow.

My new handmade cardboard Christmas house that I will show you how to make step-by-step.

materials you will need

Lightweight cardboard – for the house (a shirt box or cereal box)
Heavier cardboard – for the base
Pencil and ruler
Graph paper, tissue paper
Scissors and Exacto knife
Acrylic craft paint (need white and the house color) and paintbrush
Glitter – clear and/or silver and gold (paid link)
Elmer’s Glue and/or Mod Podge
Hot glue gun
Mini bottle brush trees and mini wreaths (paid link)
Faux snowflakes – optional (paid link)
Glitter paper -optional (paid link)

Step by Step – Here We go!

1. Draw The Pattern On The Graph Paper

Draw and measure the pattern on your graph paper…including the chimney, roof, and the house. Don’t forget to also mark the windows and doors. I’ve provided a photo of a pattern, see below…you can make the house smaller or larger if you want. In general, a larger pattern will take a longer time to complete. For this example, I made a house that is about 3 inches tall, and I just love the size.

A pattern for a retro cardboard Christmas house made with graph paper. The pattern shows the walls of the house, roof, chimney, doors and shutters.

2. Cut Out The Pattern

Use the scissors to cut out the pattern of the house, the chimney, and the roof. Then, use the Exacto knife to cut out the windows and the doors. After all the pieces of the pattern have been cut out, lay them onto your lightweight cardboard, and trace around them carefully with a pencil. Once all the patterns are traced, cut them out with either scissors or an Exacto knife. The 2 window square cutouts can be used to make the 4 shutters, while the cutout for the door opening can be cut in half and used as the door. See photo. Use the Exacto knife to carefully score the outside side of the house where the two sides of the wall meet. This will allow the house to fold nicely on the corners.

A pattern of a retro cardboard Christmas house and a flat cardboard cutout of a house ready to be transformed into a glitter Christmas house. Craft supplies and glitter houses in the background.

3. Assemble the Windows

Cut little strips out of the extra cardboard and glue them to the windows. Cut out small squares of tissue paper and glue them to the indoor side of the windows. It gives the house a nice look, especially if you add lighting.

A cardboard cutout of a Christmas house with the windows being made out of cardboard and tissue paper.

A cardboard cutout of a Christmas house with the window panes of glass being made out of tissue paper.

4. Paint It

If you want to paint the house a color, now is the time. Also, you can paint the shutters and the doors. I left my house white, the color of the shirt box. I painted my shutters and the doors a vintage green color. Glue the shutters and door to the house.

A white flat cutout of a Christmas house is being painted. Craft paint, scissors, and a paintbrush are in the background.

5. Make The Structure

First, bend the walls of the house where scored (on the corners) and form into the house shape. Glue the open sides of the house together to make a rigid structure. Second, score the roof, bend it into shape, and glue the roof onto the house. Lastly, score the chimney, bend it into shape, and glue it onto the roof.

A Christmas house in the process of being made. It is assembled and glued to a piece of cardboard and waiting for glitter.

6. Glue The Base, Paint the Base

Glue the house to the heavier cardboard base using hot glue. I painted the cardboard base white…because I wanted it to look like snow. You can leave a part of it plain to look like a walkway.

7. Glitter time!!

Once all of the paint is dry use the Mod Podge to add glitter. Brush a thin coat of glue onto one side of the house at a time, and then shake the glitter onto it. Then repeat for each of the other 3 sides of the house. Add more glitter as desired…you can put it on the base, on the door, on the shutters and the roof…wherever you like!

A white retro cardboard Christmas house completed with paint, glitter, a wreath, bottle brush trees, and green shutters and doors.

8. Adding Embellishments

It’s time for the super fun part, adding the embellishments! Think about adding some bottle brush trees, fencing, wreaths, etc. Get creative! For instance, you can add a little cotton coming out of the chimney, or even Santa!! You could also put twinkle lights around the house or light it from within. If you cut a small hole in the back of the house you could then insert a small Christmas light bulb…which would make it look fabulous in the evening!!

A white retro cardboard glitter house with green shutters, sitting on a cake stand in faux snow, displayed with a large white ceramic reindeer and cream and green bottle brush trees.

The best thing about making your own houses is you can make any design you choose: schoolhouses, churches, and farmhouses. One of my favorites is this pink ranch house which I made 15 years ago. It looks wonderful displayed with my new mini Tudor-style home from Target.

A handmade cardboard pink ranch house displayed on a cake stand with cream-colored bottle brush trees, faux snow, and glitter. Also displayed with vintage ornaments and many larger bottle brush trees in pink and cream with a mini glitter gold Christmas house from Target.

A yellow handmade retro Christmas house. This little house is made out of cardboard and glitter. It's displayed with several cream colored bottle brush trees, silver tinsel trees and a deer in the faux snow.

Retro cardboard glitter houses…what a perfect Christmas decoration! Give it a try…they are easy and FUN to make. It’s sure to put you in a very merry mood! They bring BLING to my buffet and HAPPY to my hutch. I just love them all! So let’s make some vintage houses…and let’s get MERRY…and most importantly…let’s get HOMEY!!!