In Michigan, "up north" is less a direction than a place: the cottage, the cabin, the camp that's been in the family for decades. Those places collect small things over the years, and ornaments are some of the best of them. So do first homes, where the tree goes up in an empty living room and there isn't much to hang on it yet.
Here's how to pick a Michigan ornament from our Michigan gifts collection for each of those places.
Three materials
We make Michigan ornaments in slate, wood and leatherette. The designs overlap, so the choice comes down to look, weight and where it's going to hang.
Slate
Dark natural stone with the design engraved in light, in a 3 or 4 inch round, with a pre-drilled hole and a hanging string. The 3 inch sits into a full tree. The 4 inch reads from across the room and can hang on a door, a mirror or a window year round.
Wood
Light natural wood, 3.5 inches across and about a tenth of an inch thick, with the design engraved dark into the grain. A twine hanger comes already tied on. It fits a rustic tree and weighs next to nothing.
Leatherette
A thin 3 3/4 inch disc in black, blue or brown, with a hanging cord. It's shatterproof, so it's the one to hang low if kids or pets are around, and the easiest to mail.
For the cottage or the cabin
A place up north suits the Great Lakes State wood ornament. It puts both peninsulas inside the state outline with a lighthouse and a whitetail buck, plus "The Great Lakes State" and EST. 1837. Wood and twine look right on a tree in a room paneled in knotty pine.
For a cabin that stays open in winter, or one that sees a lot of visiting grandkids, the leatherette version of the same design won't break if it hits the floor. There's also a slate version.
For a first home
For a first house or apartment, go with Home Sweet Home. The state shape stands in for the O in HOME, with "sweet home" in script underneath. It comes on the Michigan slate Christmas ornament, the Michigan wood Christmas ornament and the Michigan leatherette Christmas ornament.
Those three ornaments also come in our other Michigan state designs. A few good ones for a new home:
- Est. 1837, for a first-home ornament with a date on it, even if it's the state's date and not yours
- HOME Outline, HOME with the state outline as the O and no script line
- Classic Outline, a clean outline of the whole state
For a first home in Detroit
If the first place is in the city, the Detroit skyline wood ornament shows the Renaissance Center, the Ambassador Bridge and the river. It also comes in slate.
For sending to the cottage crowd
If the family is spread out and only gathers up north in summer, the Merry Christmas From Michigan leatherette ornament is the easiest thing to mail at the holidays. The words arch over the state shape inside a laurel wreath. It also comes in slate and wood.
Order timing
Ornaments are made to order. Each one is engraved after you buy it and ships within 1 to 3 business days in a protective sleeve. Add carrier transit time, and order early in the season if it needs to arrive by a certain date.
Find every Michigan ornament, along with the coasters, boards and wall art, on the Michigan collection page.
