Are Hand-Painted Christmas Ornaments Worth the Price?

Walk through almost any store during Christmas and you’ll find ornaments at nearly every price point. Some cost only a few dollars, while handmade and hand-painted Christmas ornaments can cost considerably more.

So it’s fair to ask:

Are hand-painted Christmas ornaments really worth the price?

We believe they can be—but not simply because someone used a paintbrush to make them.

The real value of a hand-painted ornament comes from the craftsmanship behind it, the people who made it, the ability to make it personal, how long it can remain part of your Christmas traditions, and ultimately the memories attached to it.

At The Nola Watkins Collection, we’ve spent more than three decades making ornaments by hand. Here’s what we’ve learned about what makes a hand-painted ornament worth paying more for.

A Hand-Painted Ornament Should Actually Be Hand-Painted

“Hand-painted” can mean different things depending on the product.

At The Nola Watkins Collection, every single ornament is individually hand-painted.

We have a small team of six painters—affectionately known as Nola’s Elves—who have all been trained under Nola Watkins. Most have been painting with us for at least three years, and our longest-tenured elf has been with us for nearly 17 years.

Because each ornament is painted individually, you’ll notice slight variations from one to another.

A brushstroke may curve a little differently. A detail may be slightly heavier or lighter. Colors may blend just a little differently.

Those aren’t imperfections.

They’re evidence that a person painted your ornament.

There are no two Nola Watkins ornaments exactly alike.

The Work Begins Long Before the Paintbrush

One of the biggest differences between a handmade ceramic ornament and a mass-produced ornament is everything you don’t see when you pick up the finished piece.

At Nola Watkins, we don’t simply purchase finished ornaments and decorate them.

We make the ceramic ornaments themselves.

The process begins with ceramic slip that is poured into molds. The ornament is formed, removed, cleaned and prepared before it ever reaches one of our painters.

From beginning to completion, an ornament is typically fired approximately three times.

Only then does the painting, finishing and final preparation turn it into the ornament you eventually hang on your tree.

By the time an ornament leaves our Virginia shop, it has passed through many different hands.

Someone poured it.
Someone cleaned it.
Someone fired it.
Someone painted it.
Someone finished it.
Someone personalized it.
Someone carefully prepared it for its trip to your home.

Every ornament touches many hands before it ever reaches yours.

That’s difficult to compare directly with an ornament produced by the thousands on an automated assembly line.

Why We Haven’t Outsourced the Process

Could we make ornaments more cheaply if we outsourced the ceramic blanks?

Probably.

Could production be easier if the painting were sent somewhere else?

Probably that too.

But it would completely go against what we’ve spent the last 34 years building.

Making our ornaments this way isn’t a marketing idea we came up with after the company became successful. It is part of the company’s foundation.

When Nola and Bill Watkins began their pottery business, they were working from home, raising a family and making pieces by hand. Nola has described those early days as painting with a baby nearby, dinner cooking and laundry going at the same time.

Even the snowman that became such an important part of the Nola Watkins story grew from snowmen Nola had drawn for years on handmade family Christmas cards.

The business has changed enormously since those early days.

The commitment to making the product ourselves has not.

You’re Buying Something No One Else Has

There’s something interesting about buying a truly hand-painted ornament.

You may choose the same design as thousands of other customers.

But yours is still yours.

The differences created by an artist’s hand mean that the ornament hanging on your tree is not identical to anyone else’s.

Then personalization makes that distinction even greater.

At The Nola Watkins Collection, personalization is always free.

A name.
A wedding date.
A baby’s birth year.
A hometown.
A family name.
A message that means something only to the person receiving it.

Suddenly an ornament that began as one of our designs becomes part of your story.

The Value Often Has Very Little to Do With the Ornament

After meeting customers for years at shows, I’ve realized something.

People rarely get excited talking to me about the ceramic itself.

They talk about what the ornament means.

I’ve met hundreds—probably thousands—of customers over the years, along with their children and grandchildren.

They come back filled with excitement telling us about ornaments they’ve collected through the years.

They remember when they bought them.
They remember who gave them one.
They remember which ornament represents a particular Christmas.

And one of my favorite things to watch is a family coming back to choose this year’s ornament.

At that point, buying the ornament has become part of Christmas itself.

That’s something you can’t easily put a price on.

Some Christmas Ornaments Last for Generations

We still have Nola Watkins ornaments from the earliest years of the company.

More than three decades later, they’re still here.

That’s important when you’re thinking about the value of an ornament.

A $5 ornament and a $25 ornament both decorate the tree this Christmas.

But what happens next?

What happens when you unwrap that ornament 10 years from now?
Twenty years from now?
Thirty years from now?

A ceramic ornament should always be handled with care, but when properly cared for, a quality ornament can remain part of a family’s Christmas collection for decades.

And during that time, something interesting happens.

Its monetary price becomes less and less important.

Its history becomes more important.

The Best Ornaments Mark a Moment

Think about some of the ornaments families hold onto most closely.

Baby’s First Christmas.
Our First Christmas Married.
Our First Home.
An engagement.
A favorite pet.
A family vacation.
A grandparent.
A memorial ornament for someone who isn’t with us anymore.

The ornament becomes a marker in time.

Years later, someone pulls it from the box and immediately remembers the chapter of life it represents.

That’s why we don’t really think of our ornaments as temporary Christmas decorations.

We think of them as keepsakes.

Service Is Part of What You’re Paying For Too

Craftsmanship isn’t the only thing that disappears when price becomes the sole consideration.

Service often does too.

Every Nola Watkins ornament can be personalized at no additional charge, and we take customer service seriously.

When something goes wrong with an order, customers aren’t necessarily routed through layers of an anonymous customer-service operation.

Very often, they’re talking directly with me.

I’m Jesse Watkins, the owner of The Nola Watkins Collection, and I personally answer customer emails and phone calls regularly.

We’re not perfect. No business is.

But when you’re buying something intended to become part of your family’s memories, we believe the people who made it should also stand behind it.

So, Are Hand-Painted Christmas Ornaments Worth the Extra Money?

If you’re simply looking for something inexpensive to fill an empty branch on the tree, a mass-produced ornament may be exactly what you need.

There is nothing wrong with that.

But that’s not really what we’re trying to make.

We’re making an ornament that another human being has created and painted individually.

We’re making something you can personalize for a particular person or moment.

We’re making something that could come out of the Christmas box year after year until one day your children—or perhaps even your grandchildren—recognize it immediately.

We’re making something we hope eventually has a story attached to it.

That’s why, when someone standing at our booth asks me whether a hand-painted ornament is really worth spending the extra money on, my answer is simple:

Every single penny will be worth every single moment and memory you’re about to create with one of our ornaments.

Because someday, you probably won’t remember what you paid for it.

But you’ll remember what it meant.

Nola Watkins