Holiday Decorating on a budget

Decorating for the Christmas doesn’t have to be expensive. You do however; need to decide what you want to decorate.

For example, do you want a tree? If so will an artificial tree work, or do you want a real tree. Real trees can be expensive, so you need to decide before you go out shopping, what kind of tree you want, and how large it should be.

If you have standard 8-foot ceilings you don’t want a tree taller than 6 foot. Once you add the tree stand, and a start or angel on top, you will be very close to the ceiling. Think about maybe getting a smaller tree, so your space doesn’t look overwhelmed once the tree is set up.

Another choice you will need to make is, long needle or short needle. While the long needle trees have a softer look, they are harder to hang ornaments on. Short needles don’t have the pretty sweep of the long needle, but you can actually place ornaments, pretty much anywhere you want to put them.

Real trees and artificial trees are both expensive. If you choose to go with the artificial tree, you can use it for many years. Another way to save money on an artificial tree is to go to thrift shops. When people get a new tree, they often donate the old tree to charities. Such as Salvation Army, and other charities in your area. So look around at different stores before you buy new.

If you choose to use a real tree, you might consider, a live tree. If you have a spot in your landscape that you would like to put an evergreen tree, a live tree would serve two purposes. You can decorate it and use it indoors for Christmas. Then when you take it down, it can be planted in the yard, to grow for years to come.

If you choose a real tree, whether cut or live, be sure to keep it watered. Nothing can spoil Christmas more than, having the tree lose its needles before Christmas.

Many decorations can be made by hand to cut the cost of so many expensive store-bought ornaments. The children will probably enjoy time spent with you making ornaments out of cardboard and foil. You can use old cookie cutters to trace shapes onto the cardboard if you aren’t handy with free drawing.

You can then glue the foil onto the cardboard to make the ornament flashy. Another possibility would be to use pictures of past Christmases pasted on the foil. Everyone will enjoy looking at the old pictures. Use a sewing needle to make a hole in the top of the cardboard to attach a hanger or a string that can then be hung over the branches.

Another low-cost decoration would be to pop some corn and string it on a long thread. You can make this as long as you want. This makes a great garland for the tree.

One other option would be to string raw cranberries on a thread for garland. You can also mix the popcorn and the cranberries together on the same thread. Since cranberries are heavier, you might want to use string for them. Unless you have a very heavy thread, the cranberries might break your thread.

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