DIY Christmas Decorations

It’s December, which means Christmas has officially started. For some people it starts right after Halloween, for some it starts mid November, for some after Thanksgiving, but I think we can all agree that the latest Christmas will ever start is at the beginning of December. Stores start selling their Christmas collections, cafes and restaurants have Christmas specials, there’s Christmas adverts on TV, Christmas music on the radio, and kids (and let’s be honest, adults too) can start their countdown to Christmas by devouring chocolate from their advent calendars.

So, since it’s now officially holiday season it’s about time to start decorating your house. Here are a couple of DIY Christmas decorations in case you’re feeling crafty and want to make them yourself.

1. Glass Balls
Let’s start with the easiest and most obvious decorations that you can think of. Christmas tree ornaments. If you’re bored of your old ones, or maybe you can’t find them in the shade you want, you can make your own. Just get clear glass or plastic balls. They’re cheaper than colored ones and you can make them look however you want. Fill with glitter, paint them from the inside with acrylic paint, put tiny little stars inside or put some pine branches inside. The possibilities are endless. You can even print out a page of Christmas wishes, cut them into strips and arrange those inside the clear ball. Or paint them with a chalkboard paint and then write wishes on them. Whatever you do, these homemade Christmas tree ornaments are bound to be a conversation starter and might even earn you some compliments.

2. Lightbulbs
Another cool and creative way to decorate your Christmas tree is to use light bulbs. This way you don’t even have to go to the shop, you probably have light bulbs at home. You could go for a hipster look and just leave them clear if you want or use them instead of Christmas lights. You could paint them into different colours, patterns or even make them look like animals. Penguins, snowmen and reindeers are the most popular and easiest options if you want to paint them.

3. Candy Canes and Gingerbread Men
It’s not all about crafts, glue guns and glitter. If you don’t want to play around with crafts you could honour a time old tradition and decorate your Christmas tree with edible treats. Put on an apron and bake some biscuits, cookies and gingerbread men. They will look beautiful on the tree and will fill your house with that delicious smell of baked cookies, plus it’ll be a crowd pleaser for kids, if they want some sweets, then can just take it off the tree. Add some candy canes to the mix and you’re good to go.

4. Sweet Presents
Now that we’ve established that Christmas trees can be decorated with sweets, cookies, gingerbread men and candy canes and other edible treats, why not go the extra mile? Fill those clear balls with sweets, popcorn, coffee or even a hot cocoa mix. It looks great! It will make your house smell wonderful and can also be used as a little creative gift for your friends and family.

5. Homemade advent calendar
Instead of buying generic advent calendars you could make your own. Not only can you make them look way cooler, but you can also make the treats and presents inside better and healthier than just little pieces of chocolate. They’re really easy to make and your kids will definitely appreciate it. For example, you could take an old picture frame and glue a bund of little envelopes or boxes inside the frame. Put little notes, treats and presents inside. You’re pretty much done. Or just arrange boxes of presents into a tree shape with numbers on each box. That way your kid gets to open a present each day for the whole month of December.

6. DIY Christmas Wreath
When it comes to decorations, most of us can’t imagine Christmas without Christmas wreath on our front door. But that also brings back memories of trying to attach it and make sure it doesn’t fall off every time you open the door. In most cases it’s the problem of it being too bulky and heavy, cause that’s how they sell them at the store. So why not make your own? You can make it way lighter, and more unique. All you need is some wire or twigs arranged into a circle, a glue gun and whatever you want to decorate it with. You can use fake leaves, pine cones, holly. If you’re especially crafty you can even make a soft felt one and glue a bunch of felt decorations onto it.

7. DIY Christmas Tree
This is a great option if you want to be environmentally aware and don’t want to kill trees. Or perhaps you don’t have enough space for a big tree. You don’t even need an actual Christmas tree for this. Just fashion one out of things you have around the house. Old rulers can be arranged into a Christmas tree shape and painted or decorated. You can make a cone shape out of old cereal boxes or any other cardboard and then decorate them with paper. The cutest idea that we’ve found is using pine cones as little Christmas trees. Just glue little beads onto them or paint them green and add white for snow. It’ll look awesome! Make your friends jealous, who wants one big Christmas tree if you can have many small ones.

We hope these DIY decoration ideas inspired you and put you in the Christmas spirit. Now blast some jingle bells, make yourself some mulled wine and go crazy with Christmas decorations. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, after all.’