Christmas is the celebration that everyone impatiently waits for. The Christmas spirit brings the excitement of decorating your home with beautiful lights and ornaments. It brings the aroma of freshly baked ginger breads, the glimmer of the gilded Christmas trees and the impatience of opening presents. But most importantly, it brings families together to do all these things. The best way to celebrate Christmas Eve is by spending time with your little ones, making your own decorations. Here are a few things you can do to make your Christmas even more special
1. Pine cone banners
Pine cones look so much like Christmas trees that they are perfect for Christmas decorations. You can tie them to a thin rope and arrange them anywhere around the house. They will look especially nice around the fireplace. You can even add a bit of color by painting them red or silver. The easiest way to do this is why spray painting. In fact, you can just paint the tips of the pinecones with white or silver to make them look frosted. Now, this is a quick DIY which costs almost nothing but looks very graceful.
2. Mini Christmas trees
Another way to use Pine cones for decorations is by converting them into mini Christmas trees. All you need is small flower pots, some sand, pinecones and green spray paint. Spray paint the pines green and let them dry. Then fill up the pots with sand and place the pinecones with the wider part on the bottom so that they look like trees. Place little stars on the top for finishing touches.
3. Floating snowflake
There are many tutorials out there which teach many other things you can make through paper mache, like snowmen and stars. You can make 3D snowflakes out of light blue or white A4 sized paper and hang them on strings. This requires origami, which is a fun Christmas Eve activity for kids. You can attach lots of them to one string and hang them from the ceiling in front of doorways and other entrances. Or you can attach one snowflake to a small string and hang them on your Christmas tree.
4. Popsicle stick
Do-it yourself decorations with Popsicle sticks is a great idea, too. You can find many ideas on how to use them to make Santa Claus, reindeers, snowflakes, Christmas tree and other Christmas symbols. You can collect Popsicle sticks all year around just for these ornaments or just a buy a packet for a very cheap price. If you have googly eyes and sequin stickers lying around it the house, the pieces you make can look even cuter and interactive.
5. Festive balloons
A very simple but creative Christmas decoration is to get helium balloons and replace the boring plain string of the balloons with battery operated fairy lights or the other strings ornaments you’ve learned to make in the beginning of the tutorial. This makes the ordinary balloons look very festive and special. You can even stick different Christmas themed stickers to the balloons. Another creative move is to stuff the balloons with streamers or glitter before filling them up with air, so that they look fancy and pretty.
6. Massive ornaments
All you need is balloons, string and paper cups to make really cute giant Christmas lights. First, make two holes at the base of the cups through which you can pass the strings. Take a bunch of colorful balloons, or just use balloons of one color. Use glue to attach the knot side of the balloon to the mouth of the cup and Voila! You have a decoration which looks very much like a giant version of the traditional Christmas lights. Isn’t that adorable?
7. Wood slice
Wood slice as an ornament looks both antique and modern at the same time. All you need to do is cut very thin round slices of wood from a tree bark so that they look like flat circles. Now you can drill a hole into each of them and attach a string to it. You can get creative with the wood slice. Use it as a canvas to draw or write whatever you want to. A great way to make neat patterns is by using cookie cutters and stencils to make outlines and filling in the colors
8. Balloon snowman
You can make a snowman made up of strings using a balloons, white string, glue and sugar syrup. You need to blow three different sized balloons as round as you can and wrap a string around them. It is like making a piñata. You can see the full detailed tutorial on how to form a no-melt snow man with minimal material here. You can place this decoration outside or inside the house. The best part, this snow man does not melt, even if you put it right by the fireplace!
9. Crochet time
Paper Mache is not only the way through which you can make your ornaments at home. Another great way to make Christmas decorations is by using Crocheted items of your choice. Although, crocheting is way more time consuming but it is indeed a fun activity that you can enjoy with your family. Other than that, you can save these ornaments and use them later too! They also make great Christmas gifts. After all, what is better than a handmade present?
10. Wreath it yourself
Another fun DIY you can try is making your own Ornament wreath. There are hundreds of traditional wreaths available in the market, especially around Christmas time. Nevertheless you can still make your customized wreath and be very proud of yourself. This is also a good way to reuse broken and old ornaments which you probably won’t use on your Christmas tree anymore. With glue, lots of ornaments of different sizes and a glue gun, you can make an ornament wreath which not only stands out but also helps in recycling!
11. Mason jars
Mason jars are one of the most commonly available and cheap crockery available in the market. You even have lots of them lying around in the house. Why not use them in a unique manner and fill them up with different decorations? You can put flowers, especially white and red ones to give them a Christmas vibe. Moreover, you can fill them up with candy, like candy canes or just ornaments. To make it look prettier, tie different ribbons and threads on the neck of the jars and tie little notes with quotes on it.
12. Finger print
A very heart felt and memorable handmade idea is to make some ornaments using polymer clay. You can make shapes by hand or use cookie cutters to do it. The whole family can make a thumb impression into the clay while it’s soft and then let it dry. It’s like a fossil. It can be placed anywhere in the house or just used as an ornament for the Christmas tree or the fireplace. There are many other ways in which finger printing can be used to creative crafty decorations.
These 12 DIY ideas will surely make Christmas craftier and just the way you want it. The good news is, that it won’t empty your pockets and leave you broke. Most of these cost almost nothing and can be made using things which are already in your house but you haven’t realized how useful they can be.
