Budget Christmas decorating ideas for a high-impact, low-cost Christmas

Budget Christmas decorating ideas for a high-impact, low-cost Christmas

If you’re looking for budget Christmas decorating ideas, then you’ve come to the right place.Whether you disagree with spending so much on festive accessories or you’re just plain broke – for all of the above, we have a suitable budget answer. Who says you have to spend to be Christmas in style

Decorating your home for Christmas doesn’t have to break the bank. Follow our purse-friendly designs this year for easy updates that are on budget (but look far from it

1. Forage for foliage to make a wreath

Maxwell Attenborough

Trees, wreaths, garlands, sprayed twigs – nature is cool at Christmas, and it’s free. Get your wellington boots on and get foraging for holly, pine cones, herbs, sprigs and twigs before getting home and twisting and turning them into botanical masterpieces. There is no reason why you can’t do Christmas on a budget!

Above is a wreath from our Christmas shoot 2019, fashioned with fragrant herbs, pretty baubles and decorative dried flowers. A cost effect way to dress a front door in style.

2. Make your own fragrant fire lighters

TI Media

Creating the perfect festive ambience is as much about the aroma as it is the visual. Signature scents can instantly conjure feelings of fun festivities, those such as dried fruits, nutmeg, cinnamon and pine cones.What could be better than setting the scene with a roaring fire? Making that roaring fire a fragranced one, that’s what. Make our own scented budget-friendly firelighters by gathering aromatic materials such as cinnamon sticks and woodland finds. Bunch these together in squares of upcycled newspaper, roll up and tie with jute at either end – to look like mini crackers.

3. Dry fruit for decorations

Maxwell Attenborough

Christmas tree decorations don’t get much more cost effective than oven-dried fruits. Clementines are a Christmas classic, due to the seasonal scent. They are therefore the ideal fruit to dry and attach to the tree, to add a splash of warm colour and rich fragrance. Multiple cuts around the outside, from top to bottom will be sufficient enough to allow the fruit to dry out quicker, and emit more of the sweet fragrance.Simply thread string through the top to fashion a loop, for hanging on a tree, wreath or garland.

4. Create unique garlands from recycled materials

Image credit: Ti-Media

If you are looking to decorate your tree with something other than tinsel, but don’t have the budget to invest in a pre-made garland try making your own. You can string together anything from popcorn to pine cones. Why not give your Christmas a vintage spin by upcycling old vintage lace and crocheted doilies into a unique garland.

5. Make your own gift wrap

Photo credit: Annie Sloan

Keep the budget down by making your own gift wrap. Hand printed patterns create a beautiful authentic paper to add charm to your gifts. Slice a large potato in half and carefully score a festive motif. Cut away the potato on the outside of the scored section, so the shape is raised. Dip this side into a thin spread of paint (use the underside a tin lid as a palette), avoid making it too heavy otherwise it will be blot. Stamp onto a sheet of brown paper, or better still on the reverse of an upcycled sheet of paper.

Stamp several times before re-coating with paint and repeat until the paper is covered. Leave to dry.

Visit Annie Sloan, the home of chalk paint.

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6. Fashion trees for festive place settings

Max Attenborough

Creating a charming festive statement by dressing the table with mini trees as place settings. You can cheat this effect by making homemade mini trees. Simply take cuttings of branches from a real fir tree, and place them in a tealight votive. If you have a real tree as your main tree you can easily snip branches from the back, they won’t be missed.

Add a further touch of personality by dressing the ‘trees’ with mini baubles, that are otherwise lost on the big tree.

7. String up socks as an alternative garland

Joanna Henderson

If you’re on a budget, what could be better than using socks to form an advent garland? You simply need to find 24 socks and some form of ribbon or string. Put a tiny stitch in each to get the socks in place, securely along the length of ribbon. Next you need to add numbers onto a card tag, and attach them using mini wooden pegs – which you can pick up super cheap in most craft shops. All that’s left to do is fill each one with a treat for every day of advent.

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8. Do it yourself

Image credit: Simon Whitmore

Go back to basics with a fun little garland made from string and old-fashioned luggage tags – you can hang it across the mantel, along some shelving or at the end of the bed so Santa will know where to stop. Using a new tag for each letter, write out a family member’s name, a Christmas message or a personalised greeting, then string the tags on a length of twine with mini pine cones in between to separate each one.

9. Make twig trees

Image credit: Tim Young

These will bring a modern woody touch to a side table. Take two long, sturdy twigs and join with a hot glue gun. Twist with wreath wire to support. Now, cut and lay out the crosswise twigs. Starting at the top, cut two short twigs of equal length and lay side by side. Repeat and cut two more, slightly longer, a finger space below the first two. Continue, with the twigs gradually getting longer, until you have two triangular shapes, but leave enough trunk to push into a pot.

Fix the cut twigs on to the trunk, working on one side first with a hot glue gun, according to the original layout. Cool, turn over and repeat. Push oasis into a pot, then push in the cooled tree. Top pot with moss and berries, and decorate the twigs with twine or wreath wire.

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10. Countdown to Christmas

Image credit: Brent Darby

Simple to make, this lovely alternative advent calendar can be used each year. To make your own, buy 24 plain brown envelopes and emboss or print each one with a number, from one to 24. Then, fill each envelope with a sweet treat or a simple written clue to where a small present is hidden. Peg the envelopes onto four short lengths of cord and fix onto your wall. Use red ribbon and stripy string for an extra festive touch.

Will you be using any of these budget Christmas decorating ideas this year?