In 2008 at this time of year I was in the middle of a remodel and did no decorating for Christmas. It was a relief and at the same time I missed being festive and buying/making fun things for the holiday season. My remodel took my house to a totally different color scheme and style, and I knew my old seasonal decorations weren't going to work for me. So I gave all my old stuff to my brother who had just recently purchased his first home and began brainstorming on how I could decorate really cheap for the next Christmas. (I was feeling very poor because of my remodel!)
The first tip I would like to pass along is to buy your decorations right after Christmas. I know it's no fun because they are picked-over and no use to you for a year, but they are also 75% off! That year I found 3 silver trees and some great ornaments for a fraction of what they were originally priced. It's also a good idea to buy wrapping paper and ribbon. I covered many pictures on my wall making them into "presents." It's cheap and festive.
The next inexpensive
thing I did was make paper chains for
garland. Yes, it was time-consuming initially, but I have saved them from year to year carefully in plastic garbage bags with all of their decorative danglies intact, and they go up quickly every year.
I saw a cool idea in the windows of Anthropologie and thought I would try and duplicate it because, again, it was inexpensive--and, yes, time-consuming initially. I saved packaging from stuff that was mailed to me; I saved white plastic grocery sacks; and I bought some white tissue paper and created all these "puffs." Some I sprayed with glitter spray. Some of the packaging that was thin foam disks I added a few small ornament balls in the middle. I tied all these to my stair railing. Sometimes I've added paper chains and silver, beaded garland and sometimes just lights.
This year I added some decal ornaments to the wall (that I got last year 75% off at a bookstore). My daughter had the idea to "hang" them from some cheap, silver, gift ribbon.
One year I made this table center piece out of a small, dead branch that I spray-painted white, added some origami stars and birds and hung some small, ball ornaments.
I also made some "trees" out of old phonebooks by folding the top edge and corner of each page to the center of the book and then the bottom corner up at a diagonal to meet the first fold and create a point. (I seem to remember making these as a kid with my cousin Suzee when my family would visit my grandparents at Christmas time. I remember it being a long project; it is. Phone books have lots of pages :0)
Well, I've got more to say and show but am so bugged with Blogger and how it places my pictures and messes up my text that I'm going to end. Last but not least, I'm one of the fortunate few that get to have a reindeer hanging on the wall, and yes, he does turn into Rudolf at Christmas time.
Some places I found great bargains were:
*"Dollar" stores--I got some great snowflakes to hang in my windows, wrapping paper, and random stuff to decorate presents with.
*Big Lots
*TJMaxx
*Target--one year I found stockings and ornaments all in my crazy color scheme!
*Down East Home--stockings
*Some higher-end furniture stores and nurseries after Christmas when all their cool left-overs are on sale--Don't spend all your money before Christmas!
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