Searches for DIY Christmas garland are up again this year. Garland is one of the easiest things to make yourself, and a homemade one changes how a room feels more than another store-bought ornament does. All of these can be done in an evening, at a table, with a movie on. Dried orange slices The most popular homemade garland right now, and for good reason. It glows when light shines through it. ...
Carved pumpkins are done by the first week of November. Painted ones aren’t. A pumpkin with no cuts in it can sit on a shelf or a table for six weeks or more, which is why I’d rather paint than carve when the goal is decorating rather than a jack-o’-lantern for one night. The other reason: if you choose your colors right, the same pumpkins carry you from Halloween straight through Thanksgiving. ...
Place cards seem formal, but they solve a real problem at any size of table: the awkward moment when everyone stands around holding their drinks, waiting for someone to say where to sit. A name at each seat ends that. It also lets you put the chatty uncle at the far end and the two people who haven’t met next to each other. And they’re one of the cheapest ways to make a table look finished. Here are a few versions, all quick. ...
Homemade decorations look best when you make a lot of one thing in a limited set of colors. One dried orange slice looks like a craft project; a bowl of twenty looks like something from a catalog. Volume is the trick, and most of these materials are cheap enough to make in bulk. Each idea below costs under $10 in materials, most under $5. Paper 1. Paper bag stars. Nine paper lunch bags, a glue stick and string. Fold each bag in half lengthwise, glue the folded edges together in a stack, cut a point or a curve into the open end, then fan it out and tie it open. It opens into a star about 24 inches across. Use 6 bags for a smaller one, 12 for a big one. About 20 minutes, under $2, and it folds back flat. ...
Most of what makes a room feel like Christmas costs very little: greenery, warm light, something that smells good. The decorations that look cheap are usually the shiny plastic ones, and those aren’t cheap anyway. Here are twenty ideas that each come in under $25. A lot of them are close to free. Things you can pick up outside or at the grocery store 1. A bowl of pinecones. Collect them on a walk, let them dry out for a day, and pile them in a big wooden or ceramic bowl. If you like, touch the tips with white craft paint so they look a little frosted. Cost: nothing. ...