Homemade Christmas Decorations?!

antonia1

I've just moved in to a flat with my OH and can't wait for Christmas. However, neither of us has any decorations at all! I really want a real tree, so I'm going to try to make our decorations otherwise I won't be able to stay within budget.

I need some help with this though - I have no idea where to even begin! Has anyone else made their own?

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Meadows

You could try Salt dough and Ginger biscuit shapes, Cinnamon sticks wrapped in ribbon, Candy canes or tree chocolates, inflate balloons to make small baubles and cover with Papier Mâche or twine before bursting the balloon, cheap Christmas ribbon tied into bows, small twigs tied with bows, sprigs of Holly etc.

the_why_bird

Cut out paper snowflakes like we made as children. Ribbons tied into bows directly onto the branches.

It's probably worth looking for a shop that has an offer on decorations and picking up at least one tub of cheap baubles. I got a tub for 2.50 from JTF (don't know how many of those are around) which had about 60 decorations in - baubles, stars, tiny presents and some beaded chains. I used them to fill in the gaps and make my nice ornaments stretch a little further. You could do that plus add your home made ones so you don't have to make quite as many (since you don't have that much time left).

Oh, and get them to cut a thin disk from the bottom of your tree. Then you can drill a hole in it and paint/carve your names and the year into it, and have an 'our first Christmas tree' ornament for the rest of your lives.

Are you on pinterest? Worth browsing there for any sort of craft ideas you need.

On the off chance you have left over Christmas cards you could cut out nice shapes from those.

I also use all sorts of things which aren't technically decorations on my tree. Currently we have lots of cookie cutters hanging from it, some baby shoes, a stuffed toy penguin... you get the point. Might be some things around the house that would look nice.

Oh, we also have signs on our tree that look like little arrows and say things like 'Elf Helpers Wanted' and 'To the North Pole'. We bought ours but you could easily make some with some nice card.

All the other ideas I have would probably involve buying craft supplies which would be just as expensive!

tennisfanatic

I've made some dried oranges to hang on my tree and they look lovely especially with fairy lights. 1 bag of oranges will make enough for the tree. Cut them into 1cm slices, blot the excess juice off both sides of them then lie them flat on a wire rack and cook in ove on 100C until they dry out (takes approx 3 hours)

Lynn11

I know you want to make them but I was in B&M today and our local store were selling some glittery cars, swans & other items a pack of 4 shaped baubles for 50p. Only a suggestion for a bit of money.

shimmigirl

no idea how nice these would be to eat after - but - popcon threaded on sewing thread http://www.wikihow.com/String-Popcorn-on-a-Christmas-Tree or stained lass window biscuits http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2511341/EXCLUSIVE-Mary-Berry-Christmas-recipes-Stained-glass-window-biscuits-warming-mulled-wine-perfect-parties.html

mcculloch29

If you can find it locally, sheets of felt are very cheap and you can download templates from the Net to cut out shapes, stuff with cotton wool and stitch with gold thread.
I made a lot of decorations with plaster of Paris from art shops and a mould, painting them with gold, bronze and silver art paints.


This photo of my Christmas tree shows some of my home made decorations. I'm not particularly artistic/creative either, anybody can do it with the right gear.
You can see a white felt bauble top right with plastic iridescent snowflakes stuck on, a red felt bell with star top left and a Santa face made of scraps of felt stuck on to card plus red felt stockings here and there.
I also made a lot of decorations from Model Magic but that's rather pricey, if it's still available.
Don't forget biscuits can have a hole pressed through the dough straight after baking with a bit of wooden skewer for ribbon or thread. I use a ball of Twilley's Goldfingering thread to hang and stitch decorations, it's lasted donkey's years.

Fen1

Paper chains. Use whatever you have handy - wrapping paper, foil, old cards. It's worth getting really good glue rather than cheapo stick stuff. Making really mini-link chains is time-consuming, but very pretty.

Decorated eggs. There are loads of tutorials on the web. You just have to eat omelettes for a while.

Woollen pompoms. Also, Pompoms put together in a circle make gorgeous wreaths. Again, search google for tutorials. Charity shops and pound stores often sell cheap balls of wool. Or unravel an old jumper.

If you can sew a bit, cut up any old fabric and make mini stockings. You could accessories with old buttons, bits of ribbon, bits of OH's ugliest tie.....

loobyloucreations

Hi I make my own decorations
mainly out of felt and then I have been moving onto knitted decorations, Felt decorations look really nice and really give a homemade cosy feeling. They are not really that expensive to make either and you can just keep adding to each year as you get new inspirations

bossymoo

If you have a button stash, or know someone who wants to get rid of some, you can make mini wreaths by glueing in a circle and adding a small bow at the top.

Or if you knit or crochet, there are free online patterns available.

thegirlintheattic

You may find that you can buy cheaper than you can make. We always go down to poundland to get some for the house and some for both our workplaces - and it comes in under £10 most years.