free christmas decorations

monnagran

I've had the same pine cones for about 30 years now. I heap them up in baskets, maybe some greenery as well and sprinkle them with Christmassy pot pourri refresher, orange and clove. I use a lot of that sprinkled on cotton balls and hung behind radiators. I'm not big on sparkle but I love evocative smells.

kboss2010

I made gift tags from holly one year (obv. For the adults, not the kids lol).

Paper chains work well, as do wreaths made from dried autumn leaves (start collecting and drying now to get the pretty colours!)

Pink.

I make lovely natural decorations for either side of my fireplace and a smaller one for the centre of the Christmas table.

They aren't entirely free because they need small dishes (saucers will do) and oasis as a base. I put a tall red candle in the middle, then add holly, ivy, small pinecones other evergreen foliage. I spray the occasional leaf with gold spray which is easily found at this time of year and doesn't use a lot (my can has lasted me five years and still going strong). I also picked up some wired imitation berries cheaply at a market years ago, they add some colour. When using oasis, if you water it every couple of days the decoration will last throughout the Christmas period.

As we now have a Christmas board I've moved your thread over there to see if you can get more ideas.

Pink

DigForVictory

The year we moved, decorations were not high on the priorities. To avoid distress, various toys were given collars of baubles (and in one case, bells). These were popular, and so we "decorated" our windows with various stuffed toys. It was a bit different, but very happy & blessedly easy.
Having the youngest easily locatable by the gentle chiming of bells was useful too. Twelfth Night came too soon....

carlamarie_2

Majority of people here are talking about a natural christmas style with foraged supplies. However you can make decs using the things you already have at home or cheaply bought.

Salt dough can be used to make small oraments for your tree. Or you can use it to spell out works to don a fireplace or windowsill, paint and/add glitter depending on your tastes

Tissue paper (59p in my home bargains for 12 sheets) can be used to make hanging balls for your ceiling. I suppose you could also cut the paper small to make mini ones for your tree.

Paper chains from newspaper/magazines/pack of cheap paper

A doily (or make ur own from paper) And a can of fake snow can or washable spray paint can be used for making snowflakes on your windows or mirrors. Just stick the doily on the window with some blue tack and spray over, remove doily

Baubles in a jar can look really nice. There are loads of ways to make ur own baubles check google or Pinterest

Discarded wood or even foraged wood can be turned into christmas sayings and hung on the wall with a bit of imagination and paints.

Old beaded necklaces in a jar can be really festive

A magazine and gold spray paint can be made into a christmas tree just by folding the pages. As can string and glue, or even thin wire again check Pinterest for these.

Hope some of these ideas are ideal for you

LalaGomay

If you can't find any 'wild' pinecones - I know there aren't any around here - the 99p Shop sold little tubs of them last year.
Not free, but close.

jackomdj

I have picked and dried teazles, then sprayed them silver or gold.

bethl79

I make pomanders for our tree every year, using oranges and cloves. I also bundle cinnamon sticks and tie with some pretty ribbon to hang on the tree.

I am going to try these this year:

http://www.allaboutyou.com/craft/making/Make-cinnamon-stick-Christmas-votives

I think they'll look lovely on the fireplace or window sill.