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5 Pointed Origami Star
Christmas Decorations

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These 5 pointed origami stars are easy to fold and make beautiful Christmas decorations. You can make them from magazines, scrapbook papers or sheet music, whatever you happen to have lying around.

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We don't have our tree up just yet so for now I've put these Christmas star decorations on our mantlepiece.

One of the 5 pointed origami stars is folded from a dictionary scan that I printed from the Graphics Fairy, while the other stars are made from scrapbook papers. I went for vintage patterns but you could equally well use bright Christmas colors.

I also tried hanging them on the mirror in our living room and I think they look quite nice there:

5 pointed origami stars hanging on mirror

Perhaps we'll move them to our Christmas tree once it's up :-)

Credit for this design belongs to Shuzo Fujimoto, who created the design in the 70s. Thank you to Nick Robinson for writing in with that information!

Materials for 5 Pointed Origami Star

All you need is:

a square sheet of paper
some scissors

Origami purists will frown upon me using scissors but hey, this is the 21st century not feudal Japan ;-)

The finished star Christmas ornaments will be about 60% of the size of the square you start with. So a 12" square will make a 7" star, or a 8.5" square will make a 5" star.

Making the 5 Pointed Origami Star

Video vs Photo Instructions

I think it's way easier to learn how to make these stars by watching videos than by looking at photos, so I'm going to start by showing you the videos.

But if you have a really slow internet connection, or you prefer photos to video, then you can skip down to the step by step photos instead.

First up, you'll need to cut a pentagon out of your square. You can either trace my pentagon template, or you can use an origami trick. I prefer using the origami trick because it works for any size of paper, and also it's quicker. Here's a 2 minute video showing you how it's done:

Video 1: Cut a Pentagon from a Square (origami trick)

Once you've got your pentagon, you're ready to fold the star. Here's our little video showing how:

Video 2: Folding the Star

How did you star turn out? Please leave a comment if you've got a question or just want to say hi.

Making the Pentagon (Photos)

Are you sure you don't want to watch my 2 minute video instead? I think it's easier to follow than the pictures.

Got your square of paper? Great! Now we need to cut it into a pentagon shape.

You've got two options:

Option 1: Download and trace my pentagon template
Option 2: Use an origami trick to make a pentagon (instructions below). The advantage of the origami method is that it works for any size sheet of paper, however big or small.

Option 2: Origami Trick to Make Pentagon

Fold the square in half:

origami pentagon step 1

Fold up the bottom left corner to the top, then unfold again.

origami pentagon step 2

Fold the top left corner to the bottom, then unfold again.

origami pentagon step 3

Fold the bottom right corner to the center of the X-shaped crease.

origami pentagon step 4

Fold the top layer in half.

origami pentagon step 5

Fold up the bottom edge to meet the edge of the top layer.

origami pentagon step 6

Turn over the paper. Then fold in half along this line.

origami pentagon step 7

Cut along the edge of the top layer

origami pentagon step 8a

origami pentagon step 8b

Unfold, and you have a perfect pentagon :-)

origami pentagon finished

Folding the 5 Pointed Origami Star (Photos)

Are you sure you don't want to watch my video instead? I think it's easier to follow than the photos.

Video: 5 pointed origami star

Step 1

Start with your paper nice-side-down. Fold the pentagon in half through each of its points and unfold again, so that you have a set of creases like this:

Fold up the bottom edge so that the corners meet the creases you just made:

Unfold again, then make the same fold for all the other sides of the pentagon, so that you have a set of creases like this:

Step 2

Fold in the left edge along one of the creases you just made. Then fold up the bottom edge, at the same time pulling the corner of the pentagon out to the left like this. Squash the fold flat.

Unfold completely. Rotate the pentagon 1/5th of a rotation so that the next side is at the bottom, then repeat the folds as in the image above. Do the same thing for all the rest of the sides of the pentagon. When you've finished you will have a new set of creases that look something like this:

Step 3

Starting with the pentagon completely unfolded, pinch all the corners together and squash them toward the center. With a bit of "massaging" the paper will collapse into a star shape.

Step 4

Turn over the star. Fold in the right edge to the center line, like this:

Working clockwise around the star, do the same thing for all the other arms:

Finished!

Tada! Here's the finished star:

How did you star turn out? Please leave a comment if you've got a question or just want to say hi.

Here's a photo shared by reader Kerrie who says "I made a garland out of my stars and used K&Company scrapbook paper for the stars". Thanks for sharing your photo Kerrie!

Fun fact: The band Coldplay used this origami star design in their set for their live performances of their song "A Sky Full of Stars"! Here's the video