Christmas and other “gift giving holidays” are never about the gifts themselves, but the traditions. The old rule that “it’s the thought that counts” certainly applies when you’re making gifts, or giving well-wishes and comfort in place of them, and there’s no reason you can’t decorate with what you have or, if you have a tiny budget, why you can’t deck the halls on the cheap. Ringing in the festivities with the spirit of the season is all you need – and a few simple touches can be enough to do it. Here are five ways to get creative with your holiday decorations.
Thrift It
The quickest and easiest way to get yourself some quality decorations on a budget is to check out a thrift store, yard sale or estate sale. Often, decorations are the last thing to sell, and if you get them off-season, you’ll be coming home with a truckload. Everything from lights, to baubles, to even Christmas trees can be found in the right spot for a pretty low price. Just be sure to make sure everything is wired up and working.
Check Out the Dollar Store
You can decorate an entire house from any dollar store, from their traditional holiday decorations, to their craft section, to their household section. Go for the traditional stuff for around the house, the craft section to make your own, and go to the household section for big stuff you can cover with decorations – two giant salad bowls glued together and covered with tinsel make a perfect giant Christmas bauble.
Gifts as Decorations
Wrapping paper can do a heck of a lot to spruce up the room – or spruce up your spruce. If you’re thin on decorations, let your wrapping paper and/or wrapping skills do the talking! The right festive pattern can set the mood, and you can put presents anywhere (as long as you remember where you put them!). If you’re short on paper, you can learn some creative present wrapping where even brown paper can shine with the right pleating or the right bow. If you’re short on gifts, too? Wrap some empty boxes and put them where you need decorations.
Upcycling
Anything you have around the house that you don’t have a lot of use for anymore has a place in your decorating. Enough hangers strung together make a makeshift wall tree or a Christmas card display. Any old fabric can be cut or torn down and turned into a bow or even a fabric wreath. String, yarn, or twisted fabric can be bound together to make globes for your tree – nothing is off limits with the right creativity.
Paper Craft
If you’ve got construction paper or cardstock sitting around, you’ve got decorations waiting to happen. You can make green and red paper chains, you can make old school snowflakes, a paper doll chain in any shape you want – you can even make a bunch of little trees and houses for a tiny, fun Christmas village that takes up your mantle or all of your windowsills. The more the merrier!