The Holidays are about celebration, time with family, and, of course, giving. It’s also a time of year that encourages creativity, arguably, more than any other.
The Holiday Season is upon us and with all the hustle and bustle, gift shopping, food preparation and entertaining, there comes a profound desire to create welcome coziness and warmth in our homes.
There really isn’t any other time of the year when people actively decorate so specifically and with such fervor. The Holidays bring out not only the festive, but the whimsical, in us all (or at least most of us!).
But, decorating doesn’t have to be extravagant or worthy of a home decor magazine. No way!
All you need to create unique and festive decorations for your home is to draw upon your own sense of fun and individuality to create truly beautiful decorations with relative ease—no artistic ability required!
Just an open mind and maybe a smidge of creativity.
Ice Lanterns
Warm up your porch, stoop or front walkway with these easy DIY ice lanterns—might as well put the cold winter weather to good use!
While there are any number of commercial options for the molds, they’re actually super easy to make with just about any container you’ve got on hand. Old milk cartons or jugs, kids sand buckets, 5-gallon pails, anything that will allow you to easily remove the form once frozen.
Simply fill a small vessel with water and put it inside a larger container. This space will ultimately provide for the candle. Fill the large plastic container—the size and shape of the lanterns are only limited by the containers you find—with water, and for added color and texture, add twigs of evergreen, berries, or anything else available to the water.
Set outside on a level surface (or carefully in your freezer if your overnight temps aren’t yet freezing) and allow several hours or, even better, overnight.
Once solidly frozen, run the container under warm water just enough to allow the ice to separate and slide from the container.
For interest and impact vary the size of your lanterns and be sure to choose candles relative to their size. For instance, large pillars to fit the 5 gallon pails.
No Tree? No Worries!
If you’ve got too small a space for a full-sized Christmas tree, or would like the perfect and festive seasonal arrangement for your table or credenza, a vessel filled with winter greenery offers big festive punch in a small package.
Wire ornaments to the branches, add natural items of the season, perhaps a little twinkle with tiny LEDs. You can even add presents beneath to give it true Christmas flare.
As with any cut centerpiece, or Christmas tree for that matter, just be sure to change the water regularly—every few days or so—to keep your greenery looking its best through the Holidays.
Dress Up Your Store-Bought Wreath
If you’ve gone the easy route and bought your wreath at the grocery or hardware store, not to worry … you’re not alone!
Really, why reinvent the wheel, when a beautiful wreath is so readily available and is one the easiest ways to spruce up the front door?
This year, consider dressing it up, adding a few unique touches to reflect the personality of you and your family. Bring in natural elements (pinecones and berries), cinnamon sticks, fruit.
Perhaps have the kids create little decorative items that can be incorporated to truly make it a one-of-a-kind welcome for your guests.
A Pretty, and Lasting, Wooden Christmas Tree
Decor that we can keep from year to year holds a special place and it’s so much fun bringing out the boxes of Holiday decor and discovering all the wonderful, festive, and often quite sentimental items collected over time.
Handmade makes them just that much more extraordinary.
This simple, rustic, and pretty tree can be made either from branches collected from around your home, or perhaps another place of personal significance (driftwood from your favorite beach, for instance); or from dowels of varying thicknesses; cut to lengths that reflect the shape of a tree.
A thin dowel or metal rod will provide the trunk. You’ll need to drill holes through the pieces of wood of the branches, and possibly a glue gun to help secure them in place. If you’re using dowels to create your tree, consider painting the pieces in a neutral color (it doesn’t have to be green!) to provide a unique variation to the classic Christmas Tree.
Decorate as you like, ideally in keeping with the style of your tree, including a lovely star, secured with glue to the tippy top!
Snowflake Garland and/or Chandelier
Outside of the Christmas tree, there’s really nothing so ubiquitous with the Season as snowflakes. Paper snowflakes, enjoyed for almost as long as the world has known snow, make for not only a beautiful and versatile final product, but they’re tremendous fun to make—for the entire family!
Easy to make, either in simple shapes or in fine detail, these paper treasures can be connected as a garland for the fireplace mantle or stair rail; or suspended whimsically from your dining-room chandelier. The more the merrier!
This is a wonderful family project and these intricate gems can be enjoyed throughout the Holidays and beyond, not to mention packaged away carefully to enjoy again in the years to come. Perhaps a new family Holiday tradition!
Need some paper snowflake inspiration and instruction? Click HERE for detailed instruction.
Happy creating!
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