Hi I’m new to selling crochet , I was wondering about Christmas tree ornaments , what do I need to know legally ? I am not selling crochet toys ,to put on labels - not suitable for under 3 years , not near heat sources candles or naked flames on the labels but is this enough ? I welcome any advice I’m stuck in the mud 
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Hi, fellow crocheter here, I’m not able to answer as i don’t make smaller items, mainly garments, but I just wanted to wish you good luck with your shop 
If your crochet ornaments look like animals, dolls, or characters that a child under 14 would want to play with (e.g., a cute crochet reindeer or snowman plush), Trading Standards may view them as toys. If classified as a toy, you must legally comply with the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011, perform physical/flammability/chemical testing (EN 71 standards), and affix a UKCA mark along with technical documentation. Keep clear labels and a technical file for 10 years.
Product Safety (The General Rules)
- General Product Safety: Since snowflakes are clearly purely decorative, you do not need to worry about UKCA toy safety marking. However, under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, you are still responsible for ensuring they are safe.
- Choking & Sharp Hazards: Ensure any added beads, sequins, or hanging loops are securely fastened and will not easily snap off.
- Chemical Safety: If you use fabric stiffeners, glues, or spray starches to keep the snowflakes flat and rigid, ensure these chemicals are non-toxic, skin-safe, and fully dried before packaging.
All that for a bit of crochet, huh? But hey ho. I think strict labelling is paramount even if you make adult items. I make adult hats and my labeling is washing instructions, yarn type, keep away from direct heat, contact details, etc.
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I asked ChatGPT for you and below is it’s response. As always with AI, do your own checking of any and all advice before you accept it at face value, but the content here does match with my own research on decorative items I make myself. Good luck and hope you enjoy making them! One thing I’ve noticed on some Pins I have on Pinterest is that people tend to love free standing Christmas Trees, so you might want to look at doing some of those too (I think there are patterns on Raverly) 
Chatgpt response:
You’re not stuck in the mud! 
The first thing I’d establish is that if these are genuinely Christmas decorations and not products intended for children’s play, they don’t automatically become toys just because a child might pick one up. The Toy Safety Regulations apply to products designed or clearly intended for play by children.
That doesn’t mean there are no legal requirements, though. In Great Britain, a handmade Christmas decoration is still a consumer product and therefore needs to comply with the General Product Safety Regulations. The basic requirement is that it must be safe under normal and reasonably foreseeable use.
I would also be a little careful about using “NOT A TOY” as the main way of establishing that it’s a decoration. The wording on the label doesn’t determine what the product legally is — the design, presentation and intended/foreseeable use matter. I’d describe it positively as something like:
“Handmade Christmas tree decoration – for decorative use only.”
Then I’d have appropriate safety information, for example:
Keep away from young children.
Keep away from candles, naked flames, heaters and other sources of heat.
I wouldn’t use “not suitable for under 3s” as your main warning either, because that’s wording associated with the toy safety regime. If it’s genuinely a decoration, I’d concentrate on explaining what it is and how it should safely be used.
The other thing I’d do is a simple risk assessment for each design - just write it up for yourself and tuck it away somewhere in case you need it in the future. Think about the particular things you’ve put into it: could beads, buttons, bells, eyes, stuffing, hanging loops etc. come loose? Are there long loops or cords? Is anything sharp? Could the decoration reasonably be pulled apart by a child? What would happen if somebody put it too close to a Christmas light or heater? You don’t necessarily need laboratory testing just because it’s handmade, but you do need to make the product safe and consider foreseeable uses and risks. The GPSR specifically requires producers to provide information about risks that aren’t obvious and to take appropriate measures to ensure safety.
There’s also a bit of boring-but-important traceability stuff: under the current GB rules, where reasonably practicable you should have your name and address and a product reference or batch reference on the product or its packaging. I wouldn’t worry about getting ALL this on a hang tag for something sold online - you can pre-print notes to tuck in the packaging when you send them out.
So, in short: your proposed warnings are sensible, but they aren’t the whole legal requirement. The important thing is that the item is genuinely designed and marketed as a decoration, is safely constructed, and has appropriate safety information. And don’t panic about this being the same as making a crochet toy — it isn’t.
And just to avoid another rabbit hole: the new product-safety framework being discussed by the Government isn’t the law that applies today. The current GB framework is still the General Product Safety Regulations 2005; the proposed changes are a separate matter.
Looking ahead to the Government’s proposed new product-safety framework, I don’t think this fundamentally changes the approach above. The proposal is for all products to have a baseline level of safety, with producers taking a proportionate approach to assessing risks. The Government specifically recognises that simple, low-risk products shouldn’t require an extensive assessment.
One significant proposed change is that product information could increasingly be provided digitally — potentially via a QR code — rather than everything having to fit on a physical label. A product/batch identifier would still need to be physically provided, but contact details and safety information could potentially be digital.
However, these are currently proposals rather than rules you need to comply with. The consultation has closed and the Government is now considering the responses before bringing forward regulations, with further guidance promised.
So for now I’d concentrate on getting the current requirements right rather than trying to second-guess the new system. And actually, if you’re making a simple, genuinely decorative crochet ornament, the proposed new framework shouldn’t turn it into a huge compliance exercise — the Government has specifically said the safety assessment should be proportionate to the product and its risks.
Hope that helps get you out of the mud!
Thank you so much for this advice , it was really useful and I’m grateful for the time you went to in order to answer my query
Anne Byng xx
You don’t have a shop here, are you selling elsewhere?