Homemade Christmas Ideas
Instead of fighting crowds at the box stores to buy the same thing that all of your neighbors have, why not make some simple decorations with supplies you probably already have in your attack or garage. These ideas are a great way to get your children and the entire family involved in preparing for Christmas this year.
While I was shopping for outdoor decorations this year I found outdoor lights that look like wrapped Christmas gifts. I loved this ideas, the problem was that the display fell apart every time I tried to inspect it in the store. So I decided I could make a much sturdier version at home for much less money. I visited my local grocery store and large super store while they were stocking shelves and was able to take home more empty broken down shipping boxes than I could possible carry and it was totally free. I took the boxes home, assembled them and placed a rock or brick inside each box and taped the boxes with shipping tape. At my local discount super store, I purchased inexpensive foil wrapping paper in red and silver and a couple of rolls of wired fabric ribbon to match. I wrapped each box and tied a bow on each to look like a Christmas gift. I used different sizes and shapes of boxes and stacked them together alternating colors and sizes. I placed them around my front porch and used red and green flood lights to shine on them at night. I spent less than $20 for all of my supplies and I was able to make ten boxes for my front porch. Not only did I save money on my home made decorations, but I also repurposed cardboard boxes that would have been thrown away, and I have a sturdier and more unique decoration on my porch this year.
If you like this idea but do not have a front porch or cannot use them on your porch, use a wagon or old sled and fill it with packages instead or stack the packages to create a pyramid of gifts and tie them all together with one bow like a Christmas present tree. They can be used anywhere inside or outside of your home, even on each side of your front door.
I also found cartoon character Christmas trees this year as I was shopping. I loved this idea for a child’s room, but again the quality of the trees and the ornaments were very poor and they were very expensive considering how poorly they were made. This led me to my next idea; a Teddy Bear tree. All you need to make this tree is three pieces of lumber such as 2x4s, a roll of chicken wire, florist wire, and a few pieces of fresh cut greenery from your back yard. Attach the three pieces of wood together at one end so they crisscross like the top of a teepee. Wrap the chicken wire around the pieces of wood attaching to the wood with nails. It will actually look like a wire teepee at this point and should be stable enough to stand alone. To attach the bears to your tree, tie a long piece of florist wire around each of them preferably in an area that hides the wire. Tie a knot at the back of the bear and twist the florist wire at the end leaving a couple inches of excess wire. This will allow you to attach the bear to the tree. Fill the tree with teddy bears so that very little chicken wire is exposed. Place a bear at the top of your tree as a tree topper. Use your fresh cut pine or greenery twigs to fill in the areas between the stuffed animals to complete your Christmas tree. You can tie bows on the bears or on the greenery and even add strands of Christmas lights to the tree. If you do not have teddy bears, you can use beanie babies, dolls, Santa’s, or any of your child’s favorite characters or stuffed animals, you can even use smaller pieces of wood to make a table top size tree and decorate it with matchbox cars or action figures. The sky is the limit with what you can do with this project. Have your kids come up with the ideas for their own tree in their bedroom and use their favorite toys or collections to customize their very own Christmas tree.
About Jamie Mezzina
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