HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOME LOOK FESTIVE ON A BUDGET
As the cost of living digs ever deeper into people’s finances, Christmas risks looking increasingly forlorn. In fact, it could be a good thing in the long term. As the festive season risks being a period of unnecessary excess for many, it is a great opportunity to reduce spending volume and focus on more important issues such as spending time with family and friends.
One of the main areas in which it is all too easy to overspend is on decorating your home. To save your wallet we have come up with a few innovative ways you can kit out your home in the most seasonally decorative way possible, creating a joyous Christmassy atmosphere without breaking the bank.
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Bring the outside in
Wreaths and garlands are standard festive fodder, draped around chimney pieces, window frames and adorning front doors. Many shops sell fake wreaths and garlands which, although really good quality, can be incredibly expensive.
Look out of your window and you will see a wealth of greenery just asking to be collected and twisted into beautiful Christmas adornments that can be placed in pride of place around your home.
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Treat yourself to some Christmas flowers
Don’t wait for other people to buy you a bunch of flowers – you can treat yourself to a beautiful bunch of Christmas flowers to brighten up your room without breaking the bank. While red and green are the more traditional colours for this time of year, you can add depth and layers with pinks and creams.
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Create personalised Christmas bunting
Instead of wasting money on mass produced tinsel that is only going to shed its glitter and get eaten by the dog, get the needle and thread out and create some personalised bunting made out of old pieces of clothing, scraps of materials, anything that you can get your hands on that doesn’t cost any money. For some, using the old clothes of a now passed but much loved member of the family can bring deeper meaning to the festive spirit.
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Invest in ribbon
Get online and bulk buy some spools of ribbon, then tie them in big lows liberally all over the house. Encourage your kids to get involved and create soe new and different unique designs (they certainly don’t have to be perfect.) Get cutting, and plaiting, and weaving, and sticking, and see what wild and whacky ribbon results come up!
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Raid the family loft
If your parents are still around you can be sure that they probably have an old box of Christmas decorations tucked away in a box, somewhere, maybe in the attic or at the back of a cupboard that hasn’t been opened in a long time! This is a perfect opportunity for a bit of a trip down memory lane, unearthing long forgotten decorations from your childhood that were one year tidied away once and for all after the kids (otherwise known as you and your sibling) grew up and moved on and started creating your own Christmas traditions.
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Give your Christmas a sustainable theme
Make sure everyone knows that you are endeavouring to make the festive seasons as sustainable as possible this year. That can mean sourcing decorations and presents from second hand shops and old antique shops, re-using and recycling old decorations as much as possible, even making silver bells out of old egg boxes and a bit of aluminium foil! (Remember doing that when you were young – nothing better than recreating that tradition with your own kids!).
