View Full Version : OT: Decorating for the Holidays on a Budget
psophia17
11-06-2005, 07:11 PM
I need ideas, and figured I'd share some ideas, too :)
The things I already plan to do are hang holiday cards above the front window in the LR, there's a built-in wooden valance thing going on (not sure if that's what you'd call it, though) that will be perfect. I'm going to hang a wreath of jingle bells or similar on the front door, and probably get some kind of a welcome sign with a holiday theme on the inner door. There will be mistletoe hanging between the kitchen and LR. The tree will be decorated in primarily silver and gold balls and other ornaments (from Ikea - they have TONS of gorgeous stuff out already!) and because DH likes colored lights, that's what we'll go with - I'm hoping the gold and silver balls do lots of reflecting. The tree skirt is going to be a length of white fleece, meant to look like snowy hills, and will probably have a Thomas the Tank Engine railway heading through it Christmas morning.
All that stuff I will be receiving or buying, and now I'm looking for what I can make. I want to make ornaments and have other decorations, but never did this stuff before...any ideas on what I can do to personalize things?
TIA!
brittone2
11-06-2005, 07:59 PM
I like your ideas!!
If you want to do some custom ornaments, you can buy a pen/marker that will write on glass at AC Moore or Michaels. We have some and I think the brand is called "Painty" or something like that. We actually used them to do inexpensive wedding favors for our December wedding several years ago. We wrote our names and our wedding date on there and they came out really cute, and it is super easy. You literally just write and let them dry.
I'm debating what to put on the tree this year as I think my 20 month old (will be 22 months at Christmas) will be obsessed w/ trying to remove the balls and I don't want to have to use something like a superyard. I was debatingi stringing some pine cones, cranberries, etc. since they aren't breakable ;) and trying to stick with mostly non breakable ornaments.
Another tradition we want to start that is inexpensive is to write down all of the things we are thankful for each year on Thanksgiving by putting them onto an ornament. I thought about doing this on a glass Christmas ball but I'm worried it will eventually get broken and that would be sad. I found a paper mache "blank" ornament at the craft store and I'll decorate that, write our things we are thankful for on it, and the date on the back. I'm hoping this will be the first ornament we'll hang on the tree each year. Very inexpensive.
I don't have any other great ideas but those are some I thought I'd share since we need to do things kind of inexpensively this year too.
I hope you are enjoying your new place a whole lot :)
aguinn
11-06-2005, 08:24 PM
unless you think it's way too 80's, you can wrap some of your hanging pictures to look like presents - ribbon, bows, nametags and all! if you have a fireplace/mantle, you can get some crinoline and bows and make a valance on it.
;)amy
momma to DS#1 "Big Brother" (BB) and, finally, DS#2 "Little Brother" (LB)
http://b3.lilypie.com/Eygrm4/.png[/img][/url]
http://b1.lilypie.com/ur0Am4/.png[/img][/url]
"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." ~ Neil Postman
alicia67
11-06-2005, 08:44 PM
I have created quite a few theme christmas trees over the years. My favorites were- I made a bunch of gingerbread men decorated with royal icing and hung them from the tree with red and siver balls, white lights and popcorn/cranberries. I made a red plaid tree skirt and used coordinating ribbon to make bows on the tree. Another year I mad a bunch of salt dough stars in different sizes. I painted them red, white and green and sprinkled them with the same color glitter while the paint was wet- I added some colored balls and probably metallic beads. Our trees are small so it's not that much work and they usually look pretty cute. (of course I've also had some real flops!)
You could make a gingerbread house or wreath, force some red and white bulbs, add cranberries to a clear vase of water and insert sprigs of greenery. Look in some old Martha Stewart magazines for inspiration!
brittone2
11-06-2005, 09:06 PM
Oh yeah, putting a floating candle and some cranberries and or greenery in a hurricane looks really pretty and is inexpensive too. :)
muskiesusan
11-06-2005, 09:21 PM
I hang individual jingle bells around the bottom of the tree so I can hear when the tree is being played with by the curious kids. I also tend to put ornaments that I don't care if they break around the bottom, but knock on wood, it has yet to happen.
Susan
Mom to Nick 10/01
& Alex 04/04
brittone2
11-06-2005, 10:25 PM
Good idea Susan!! Thanks for the tip...last year at 10 months L. wasn't moving fast enough at Christmas time to post a real threat to the tree...this year he'll be 22ish months and it will be a whole new ballgame ;) Errrrghhh....didn't even mean for that to be a pun ;)
psophia17
11-06-2005, 10:55 PM
Do you have a good recipe for salt dough? That sounds like just my speed...and not as likely for DS to try and eat as he would gingerbread ornaments.
DS had been walking for a month or so at Christmas last year, and was a menace to the tree - this year I'm hoping he'll have improved.
psophia17
11-06-2005, 10:59 PM
That is a great idea about the jingle bells! And it'll go with my metallic theme - yay!
brittone2
11-06-2005, 11:12 PM
We're on the same wavelength because I was just browsing and bookmarked this LOL.
I haven't used it yet though so I can't tell you if it is a tried and true recipe
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=10671
I think we're going to do these though:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=10692
I've also heard people say you can do the cinnamon/applesauce ones without glue using equal parts of cinnamon and applesauce (no glue). You can cook them on super low in the oven to dry them faster. Sams, Costco, etc. sell cinnamon in big enough containers to make it economical :) If your DS is into eating the ornaments though this might be too much of a temptation LOL. We made a homemade regular play doh recipe a few weeks ago that was posted. I added cinnamon to it for fragrance and we dyed it orange. DS kept trying to eat it and he usually doesn't put too many things in his mouth. He does have a thing for cinnamon though ;)
ETA: here are directions I came across for doing it without glue: (I guess if you may have an ornament muncher on your hands this would be really tempting though)
================================================== ==
My favorite craft dough is equal parts of cinnamon and apple sauce. Just mix up
a giant batch of
those two ingredients, roll it out (instead of flour on the table top I used
more cinnamon since
the dough is so dark), cut it with cookie cutters, stick a hole in the top, put
them on a cookie
tray and bake them on the lowest oven temp. until they are dry. Sometimes
leaving the oven door
open for a bit while they bake will speed the proccess and your whole house will
smell wonderful.
If you have left the oven door shut for awhile becareful when you open it, you
will be hit with a
big cloud of steam sometimes when you open the oven door.
================================================== =
Obviously with little ones you wouldn't want to leave the oven door open ;)
psophia17
11-06-2005, 11:27 PM
I think I may do that next year - our pictures have been in storage since just after DS was born and only got unpacked two weeks ago, so I'm not done smiling at them yet. But next year it'll work out :)
psophia17
11-06-2005, 11:31 PM
I think I'm going to do the cinnamon applesauce ones, but just with stars - if DS decides to try and eat one, at least it's non-toxic, right?
Or I'll attach the jingle bells to the stars...that'd work :P
Has anyone ever studded an orange with cloves? MIL gave me a bottle of whole cloves that must be 10 years old, if a day, and I'm thinking of doing this...
abigailsmom
11-06-2005, 11:44 PM
I have a couple of ideas to help out maybe...
the cinnamon-applesauce ornaments are great and easy to make. I used to help my mom and her friend make then to sell at a local craft show. Let me know if you have any questions... I think that I could now make then in my slepp. ;)
I used ribbon for garland and alot of my tree decorating. I will post a pic either tonight or tomorrow so you can see what I am talking about. I found a bunch of cute/cheap ornaments over the last few years and I think that my tree is pretty cute (JMHO, of course) When I started getting stuff for my tree I was broke... so I just built it up over the last year or 2.
If you have a mantle or area you would like to highlight... sometimes garland and a string of lights is all you need.
I don't have a picture for tonight, but I will post one tomorrow if you want to see what I did for Abigail and I.
Hope that your holiday decorating makes you as happy as it makes me every year... I become a giddy/silly little girl!
Robyn
Mama to my precious little Pooper, Abigail
bostonsmama
11-06-2005, 11:57 PM
Michaels Craft store is having a huge sale this week (leading up to Veteran's Day), so all their wreaths, swags, and Christmas decorations (especially ribbon) is on sale up to 50% off! I like to get the cheap fake pine swags ($1.99 each) and lay them atop my mantle and nestle pine cones and other Christmas garage sale finds and non-Christmasy decor from the rest of the year in between (like candlestick holders, vases, jars, paper mache santas, etc). I also wrapped pine swags around my staircase banister and attached minature wired ball ornaments ($2 at Michaels for 8pk). Oh, and I got an extra last year and draped it over the curtain rod holding the drapes in my dining room and lit is with a multicolored strand for another buck or two.
I made my own wreath for the door, so I saved there. Also, my tree's decor is a mix-match of all sorts of ornaments. I bought fancy glass balls at Black Friday sales (day after T-giving) so I could have more #s, less price. Anything kitschy came from my mom (I raided her stash last year and asked for any ornaments she didn't need anymore that she wanted to "pass on"...after all, one does collect a lot of ornaments over 50-some years), so those were free. A great way to take up space was with some cheap wired bows (already made from Martha Stewart home collection at Kmart). Also, I alternate fake popcorn and wooden cranberries, which are 100% less messy than tinsel, as garland! Although they were initially more expensive, I haven't had to rebuy any.
Another cute & relatively inexpensive way to decorate the rest of the houe is to get some red bath towels ($5ea at Bed,Bath&Beyond), a set of Christmas sheets ($15 at Linens N Things), or put a mini christmas tree (24" aluminum is $8 at Michaels, plus $1.00 strand of 30-ct lights and $2 pk of mini ball ornaments) on your dresser or in a child's bedroom. I also confess to having done a gingerbread house over the weekend (sigh...I was in the mood) and it is so adorable as a centerpiece on my kitchen table ($5 @ 50% off from Wilton @ Michaels).
OTC (on the cheap) The Dollar Tree has some awesome little decorative items like cookie tins, Christmas mugs, ornaments, figurines, Santa Hats and even wrapping paper. Last year we wrapped shoe boxes we had in our closet and stuffed them with goods to send to our church's mission in Africa. I was so sad to see the pretty packages go that I wrapped some boxes in the garage and placed them in the bathrooms to hold extra toilet paper and cotton balls (cut the top flaps off). Anyways...here's my mantle and tree on a budget. Ignore the single stocking. We couldn't afford matching ones (parents gave us 2 different styles) so I just left it out of the picture:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/30375.jpg
abigailsmom
11-07-2005, 07:12 AM
Your tree is really beautiful!!!!! Your living room looks like part of a Christmas advertisment... it is so picturesque!
Robyn
searchdog
11-07-2005, 08:09 AM
I haven't done this but my sister does this every year at least once and it smells really good.
brittone2
11-07-2005, 10:11 AM
ITA....great tree :)
THe Michaels tip is a good one. We just made a trip there the other night and I picked up several wreaths (faux greenery). The 18 inchers are/were on sale for 1.77 each and the 24 incher was 2.50 or so.
bostonsmama
11-07-2005, 10:57 AM
Robyn, you are so kind. That really perked up my spirits. Sometimes I feel like my tree is mad at me that I don't have yards of ribbon and fancy matching ornaments adorning it....but I guess it's not too shabby. And yes, I really do like that picture. The key is to leave the flash off and slow down the shuter speed. The fisrt pic I took made it harsh and just showed a grey-looking tree, but when you let the fire and tiny lights glow through the lense, it really does capture the mood of that Christmas Eve night.
Larissa
abigailsmom
11-07-2005, 11:10 AM
If I were your tree i would be doing the happy dance!!!
I will have to post a pic of mine later today.
Thanks for the photography tips... I am a serious photographer (wanna-be... that is! ;) ).
Happy Holidays to you! (A little early, but when you love it... it's ok to start early!)
Robyn
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