These DIY Santa Sneakers Are Claus-itively Adorable for Christmas

Someone call Santa Claus—these Santa Sneakers are about to sleigh Christmas!

Christmastime is here, which means Santa is loading up his sleigh at this very moment, getting ready for Christmas Eve. Woo hoo! If you read my recent Santa-related post (DIY Letter to Santa Clutch), you probably know that I’m a big fan of the man with the bag. I mean, how incredible is it that he delivers presents to every child in just one night?!

To celebrate Santa Claus coming to town, I created the cutest pair of Santa-inspired shoes that even the jolly, old St. Nicholas himself would give a round of Santa-plause to. Using some fabric paint and a pair of canvas sneakers, these Santa Sneakers are easy to create (it just requires a little extra time). Plus, they will add the perfect dash(er) of Christmas spirit to your holiday outfit, or make a fun gift for that shoe lover in your life!

Read on below to learn how to make your own Santa Sneakers!

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• A pair of white canvas sneakers
• Red, yellow, black, and white fabric paint (I used Tulip Color Brush-On Fabric Paint with Matte Finish)
• Paintbrushes
• Palette for your paint (a paper plate will work, too!)
• A pencil
• Paper to cover your work surface
• Painter’s tape (optional)

How to Make Your Own Santa Sneakers:

To begin making your Santa Sneakers, line your work space with paper to capture any paint. Then, remove the laces from your shoes before you paint. You could always opt to use canvas slide-on shoes if you don’t want to worry about the laces or eyelets while making your Santa Sneakers.

Now that your shoes and work surface are ready, let’s start making some Santa Sneakers!

Using your pencil, lightly draw a square on the toe box of your sneakers to start making the buckle of Santa’s suit. I used the eyelets as a marker for my square, drawing the edge of the square on the far side of the eyelets. Once you have your initial square drawn out, make a smaller square within it to create the frame of your belt buckle, then in the middle of the right line, make a prong for your belt buckle (like shown below).

Next, draw a belt strap on either side of the buckle to complete the belt. Now that the Santa’s belt is drawn out, draw a scalloped edge along the quarter, or heel, or the shoe to mark the beginning of the white, fluffy trim of Santa’s coat (like shown below).

Once everything is draw out, it’s time to paint!

First, paint the belt buckle yellow, allowing it to dry between coats until you get your desired shade. I only did one coat for the yellow paint.

When your belt buckle is dry, paint your belt black. At the point, you can use the painter’s tape to cover the sole so you don’t get paint on it. I had a small enough brush that I didn’t need to cover the sole. Then, paint the remaining borders of the belt buckle with black paint so the buckle really pops. Allow your paint to dry before painting the rest of the shoes.

After the paint is dry, paint the shoes red from the toe to the scalloped edge you drew (I would leave the tongue of the shoes unpainted for now and paint them after the rest of the red paint is dry). Feel free to use a smaller paint brush to paint around the smaller details like the eyelets.

When the paint has dried, paint the tongue of the shoes red. Push the tongues down flat into the shoe to make it easier to paint.

As that dries, take the black paint again, and paint the scalloped edges to make them stand out against the red of the coat and the white of the coat’s trim.

Allow for everything to dry before painting the heels.

Once everything is dry, paint the heel with white paint. I like how this white Tulip Color Brush-On Fabric Paint has a bit of a shimmer to it to make the shoes extra festive. Paint the heels with the white paint to make it extra bright, then allow it to dry.

After your shoes are completely dry, lace them back up, and there you go! You have Santa Sneakers!

Aren’t these the cutest Christmas shoes you have ever seen? I love how they are so festive and unique!

Would you wear these Santa Sneakers for the holidays? Let me know in the comments below!

As always, you can find the video tutorial (with commentary!) for the Santa Sneakers on my TikTok!

This might be a little Santa-mental, but I hope you have the best Christmas ever!