7 Days of Frugal & Easy Christmas Decorations

Frugal Christmas Decorations that you can make from materials that you probably already have in your home

Christmas in South Africa is a lot different than in the Northern Hemisphere.  For one thing, it’s summer here, not winter.  Folk here do not go as big with decorating for Christmas either, for most people one tree is enough.  We don’t have Christmas tree farms as fir trees are not indigenous.  The market is flooded with unrealistic plastic trees, and the real-looking ones are expensive and uncommon. 

I’ve built a lot of creative Christmas trees over the years because the plastic trees just did not feel at home here in SA’s heat.  But these last couple of years, I’ve really wanted to get myself a big, realistic Christmas tree.  Luckily we have a Christmas warehouse close by where I found my tree, but that pretty much took the entire budget I had for Christmas décor.

So what do you do when you have no money to spend on Christmas décor, but need some more decorations for the 1.8m tree you just bought?  You DIY, of course!  And you try and use materials that you already have on hand, or buy inexpensive items and spruce them up a to spare your budget.

7 Days of Frugal Christmas Decorations – how to use materials you have at home to make inexpensive Christmas Decorations

Join me for the next seven days for great ideas on how to make frugal & easy Christmas décor!  Each day I will use a different material to show you the different possibilities to show you that the options are endless.  For this series, I will focus on tree décor specifically, but they can be used in other applications as well.

Day 1 – Paper

You can make Origami figurines to use as frugal Christmas decor! I give all the details in this post. I made swallows, but you can make anything you like!

Day 2 – Clay Christmas Ornaments

If you have some leftover clay from other projects (if you have children, you probably have some clay somewhere in your home), make a couple of quick ornaments for your tree. I chose a simple design, and they turned out great.

Day 3 – Faux Flowers & Spays

You can use plastic in the form of faux flowers or sprays in your tree as gap fillers. Leave them as is or spray paint them to add more sparkle.

Day 4 – Wood Bead Christmas Ornaments

Make ornaments from wood beads. Leave them natural or spray paint them. These ornaments are easy to make and the longer bead ornaments add interest to your decorations.

Day 5 – Felt Christmas Ornaments

If you have felt scraps leftover from previous projects, you can easily make some more frugal Christmas Ornaments. This is an easy project and adds Scandinavian charm to any tree.

Day 6 – Leather Ornaments

You can even make ornaments out of leather! Whether real or faux, you can create some beautiful baubles for your Christmas tree!

Day 7 – Cardboard & Wire

I made a DIY Tree topper from cardboard, gift-wrapping paper and wire. I love how it looks on the tree!

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Be sure to check back here every day to see the final products!  And in the meantime, hop over to my Easy Christmas Ornaments I made last year. And if you are looking for more inspiration, head over to this Pinterest board.

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