“A Christmas candle is a lovely thing; It makes no noise at all. But, softly gives itself away; While quite unselfish, it grows small.”
Eva K. Logue
One of the fond memories I have of Christmas growing up was cutting holly from our friend’s tree and getting mistletoe from one of their other trees to sell to people in the neighborhood. We used the money to buy gifts for others for Christmas. Getting mistletoe was sometimes tricky. We would get on the roof of their house and hang over the edge of the roof trying to reach the mistletoe from the tree next to the house. I am surprised we never fell off the roof, although there were some close calls. I have a lot of good memories involving mistletoe. It is an inexpensive, fun thing to have around for the holiday.
Use what you have and be creative. There are so many things you can do, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot to have a home that looks festive and inviting.
Melt old candles and put them in mismatched wine glasses to make candles for your table. If you don’t have old candles or goblets, ask family and friends or find some interesting looking glass containers or goblets at garage sales that are in good condition. Many times people will sell nice glasses because some of the glasses in the set have broken. You can even do layers of different colored wax when you make your candles.
Look at garage sales or thrift stores for cheap or free Christmas decorations. A lady at the doctor’s office overheard me talking to someone about Christmas decorations. She offered her basement full of decorations completely free to the lady I was talking to after hearing she loved Christmas decorations.
Put an ad on Craigslist or in the newspaper asking for free decorations.
Use pine branches, pine cones and some Christmas ornaments you have to make a nice inexpensive centerpiece.
Put a candle in the center of a charger (plate) and put ornaments or nuts in their shells around it for a quick and easy centerpiece.
Find a clean, clear glass container or jar with a lid and put ornaments inside.
Decorate with clear glass jars or containers full of Christmas candy or Christmas cookies. Share them when you have visitors. Save them as decorations until Christmas Eve, and then give the jars away as gifts.
Make your own luminarias from paper bags.
For those on a very limited budget, save fun glass jars from foods and put colored water in them for decoration.
Make edible centerpieces for your meals. Christmas trees out of lettuce with other veggies for the ornaments or a molded Rice Krispie tree with green dye mixed in the marshmallow mixture before adding the cereal. Easier yet, you can stack Rice Krispie treats in the shape of a tree. Red Hots or M&M’s work well for Christmas ornaments on your Rice Krispie tree. Need ideas? Google “edible centerpieces” to see what you can find.
Make a cinnamon roll tree or wreath for Christmas. You can use it as a centerpiece for a Christmas morning brunch.
Make a candy wreath.
Make a wreath or centerpiece from pine branches, ornaments and pinecones.
Make paper snowflakes to decorate all over.
Make some fancy candy apples. They look really nice, especially if covered in white, red and/or green.
Carve vegetables or fruits to make things look really nice without spending a lot of money.
Use your homemade gingerbread house for decoration.
Make a cupcake tree.
These ideas can get you to start thinking about things you can do to decorate your home without spending a lot of money. If you aren’t interested in doing a lot of decorating, then don’t. A minimalist approach to decorating for the holidays is a great idea if that works for you. Make your holiday decorating enjoyable, not a burden.
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