Store-bought ornaments are fine, but there’s no substitute for decorations you make yourself. Woman’s Day offers 32 clever ideas for do-it-yourself ornaments made out of family photos, felt, cinnamon sticks, toothpicks, yarn, paper, twigs, and other easy-to find materials. Even better, bake up a batch of salt dough ornaments for the family to decorate, and have each artist etch their name and the date on the back. Every time you unpack them from the holiday decoration box, it will inspire the warm feelings of Christmases past.
Tag: christmas decorating
Wow Family and Friends With Christmas Crafts
You can wow your friends and neighbors during the holidays and upcycle at the same time with a few well-placed, handmade seasonal accents. Grab some glitter and the hot glue gun and make fanciful gift toppers, custom snow globes, or sparkly ornaments. Light up your night with an ice lantern or Mason jar candleholder. Or craft a set of whimsical pinecone elf ornaments for the tree and potato-stamp gift wrap for the presents under it. You’ll spread the good cheer and have a one-of-a-kind holiday that provides a lifetime of memories.
Keep the Kids Occupied With Christmas Crafts
It’s always a challenge to keep kids occupied, and during the holidays, your productivity (and sanity) often depend on how busy you can keep them. To get the house decorated and entertain the children at the same time, set them loose on craft projects they can hang on the tree or display on the mantle. Cardboard-and-string ornaments, cookie-cutter wrapping paper and gingerbread cookies are just a few of the ideas Extremely Good Parenting suggests to keep idle young hands busy as you ramp up for the holidays.
Easy Ways to Add a Touch of Holiday Decor
Holiday decorating doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, Apartment Therapy says. Simply fill a decorative bowl with painted pinecones or holiday ornaments for a festive centerpiece. String greeting cards up for display with ribbons and clothespins, and they’ll make a nice conversation-starter without adding to surface clutter. Grab a bough of evergreen and put twinkly Christmas lights and/or jingle bells on it. Or for a holiday touch that will last through the winter, plant a poinsettia in a pot wrapped with shiny paper.
Decorations Need Decluttering, Too
Part of any holiday decluttering should be to get rid of the decorations you don’t want, can’t use or are saving for no good reason. Strings of lights that don’t work, for example, should be among the things you eliminate from your home immediately, Apartment Therapy says; admit to yourself that you probably aren’t going to fix them. Toss those greeting cards from Christmases past, too, and any specialty baking accessories — cookie cutters, colored sugars, etc. — you no longer use. Finally, donate surplus ornaments and holiday tchotchkes to ClothingDonations.org, where they can find new homes while helping fund veterans’ programs.