Fantastically Frugal: Conscious Christmas part 6

We have made our homemade gift list, and planned our home baking, so now what to do about the trimmings? Today we will explore frugal home decorating for the holidays. I love the entire holiday season with a passion. My home is completely packed with holiday decorations. Because I have tried to divert most of my available funds for the holidays to presents and experiences for my children, the décor has to be frugal. Frugal does not have to mean sparse or boring!

Everywhere you look in my house it will look like Christmas. Theme trees are in every corner, lights and garlands are in all the doorways. If I didn’t love Thanksgiving so much I would be tempted to put up the Christmas decorations right now.

Jillian and her husband are just starting their family, so they are adding to their decorations every year. Right now she has heirloom decorations from family, and cherished treasures from her childhood that she will someday pass on to her son (due in February).

Each year Jillian and I try to pick an area to expand our décor. One year we purchased Christmas villages from The Dollar Tree. I think the whole thing cost under twenty dollars. One year after Christmas we went into Michael’s and found mini trees for $1.24 (they were 75% off). Those became my theme trees. Every year we add some more trees. I don’t think I have any more room. We are up to 24 trees. Each one is unique, and was very inexpensive.

Michael’s also had the nine foot garlands for around a dollar a piece. I wrap them with white lights and place them around the fireplace, each doorway, and up the stairs. It is such an impact for just a few dollars.

I enlist my children in the planning and the decorating. I have them make paper snowflakes for the windows. It is amazing they still like this as teens! Now they just compete for the best ones. Children can string popcorn or beads for garlands, make ornaments, create the old standby paper chains, and bake and decorate cookies for the trees.

We always have an advent calendar. Ours usually has the little piece of chocolate for each day. This year I am making one that will have tiny token gifts, or experience coupons counting down the days till Christmas. It will become part of the décor. The experience coupons will have things like making candy, light gazing with plenty of hot chocolate in a thermos, game night where the kids pick the game, holiday concerts and more. I have to be careful…they read this.

If you get your tree fresh, ask if you can take some of the cut off boughs. Some tree lots sell these and some give them to you. Place these on shelves, fashion them into swags for your doors, and place them everywhere you want to see and smell the holidays. Be careful though they will dry out fast and need to be handled accordingly.

Find some glass hurricane candle holders. I found mine for fifty cents at the Salvation Army on Folsom Blvd. I change what is surrounding the candles seasonally. For Thanksgiving I have acorns I gathered at my daughter’s soccer game. I know…I am a geek. I’m alright with it! For Christmas I will have tiny pine cones gathered from a neighbor’s tree, and peppermint candies.

Right now at all the thrift stores you can find holiday decorations very inexpensively. Start a collection. It sometimes has more impact to have a few similar items grouped together. We watch for the items we collect while thrifting throughout the year. I collect snow men, angels, snow globes, and Santa’s. Jillian collects Santa’s, music boxes, and Disney Christmas items.

Look for sales after the holiday is over. You can build your decorations and collections for 75 to 90% off. This is also a fantastic time to buy all of your gift wrap, bows, and trim for next year.

Really all it takes for frugal Christmas décor is your imagination, and a little determination to create holiday magic. How do you create that magic for your families?

Until tomorrow,
Brandy and Jillian

Similar Posts:

• June 15, 2010 – Fantastically Frugal: Summer Fun

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Posted by Brandy Barris on Nov 18 2009. Filed under Viewpoints. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.