The smell of snow in the air. The sound of family members' laughter filling the house. Turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie on the table. Eggnog and hot chocolate filling our bellies. The glint of the colored lights decorating the neighborhood.
The holidays are just upon us and with that comes all the wonderful moments we're about to share with our loved ones. In addition to the food, family, and gift-giving that make the holidays special, it's also the decorations around the home. It's the wreaths, the lights, the snowmen. It's the decorations that remind us it's THAT time of year.
And while this may be the first time you will be decorating your home for the holidays or the hundreth, we hope to get you started early and in the holiday spirit by sharing a few do-it-yourself ideas and also giving away some amazing holiday decorations!
Here are a few simple do-it yourself ideas that can help brighten your home:
We also want to hear from you! Share your holiday decorating secrets below and enter to WIN fantastic holiday decorations for your home this holiday season. Do you have a favorite store that you turn to for inspiration? What are your favorite scents and where do you find them? Do you make any decorations yourself? Do you have tips on creating festive centerpieces or wreaths? How do you assemble your place settings? Any advice on creating your own garlands or candles? Share your ideas by posting a comment below!
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Good luck!
My clever winter holiday decoration is our pumpkin snowman! We take our leftover uncut pumpkins from Halloween/Thanksgiving....stack them up 3 tall (we drive a metal dowel through them from the top to keep them together and standing) .....spray paint them white and add snowman attire like a scarf, eyes, buttons, pipe, etc! It allows us to reuse our pumpkins for 3 holidays! Being from the south, we don't always see a lot of snow...gives us a little winter feeling and a good chuckle to most people that see them for the first time!!!!
I love using this idea for both presents as well as place settings. You need wired ribbon and inexpensive Christmas ornaments. Form a hand-tied bow, and tie your ornament to it by looping the string through the ribbon for an elegant package/table setting.
My 1 minute holiday decorating tip is . . . . . pillows!! Holiday decorative pillows in the living room, family room, and bedrooms are easy and add a lot of WOW impact. The extra fun part is finding decor pillows that match each child's personality. I store the pillows in large tubs or bags, labeled Halloween, Christmas, etc. The kids love the pillows and I love the bright and cheerful spot they add to our rooms.
I love gathering pine cones and straw from the yard to make our own decorations. My son and I have the best time doing this.
Get everyone involved, turn on the Christmas music, light a fire, and get to decorating!!
My tip would be to keep it simple. Also use things from nature especially at this time of year with all the great colors and textures. Use fruit and other veg to decorate your table, then use the same in your cooking to tie it all together.
I have always loved the smell of a real tree, but hated the mess and expense. A friend told me she uses an artificial tree, but hangs a real evergreen wreath in the house for the smell. Works great!
I like to have my little girls help me decorate. I'm a work at home mom and have a 4 year old and 2 year old. I like to decorate the house with our arts and crafts projects. We make turkeys by tracing their hands, make noodle art, and they helped me make a floral centerpiece for my table this year. I figure with little ones running around there is no point to having really expensive decorations around. I'll save the fancy stuff for when they're older. Plus I like the homemade kids stuff
My tip is to use what you have. I have bittersweet and pine cones in my yard so I will be harvesting those and making arrangements with them.
My best holiday decorating tip is to keep it simple! I scatter a few decorative holiday leaves and gourds for Thanksgiving, and have a decorative table runner. For Christmas holidays a few candles and decorations, a small live potted Christmas tree. I have found that completely rearranging your living room for a monster Christmas tree can be exhausting and take the fun out of it.
I look through magazines like Martha Stewart to get ideas for great things to make for the holidays she has some fantastic and easy things to do
We have hand me down decorations and every year we add something , even if it's just a little thing to the collection. We make it a family affair and have the kids decorate in any way they want! We love the Holidays!
Very simple, but cute decorations I like to do are take small glass vases, and fill with colored M&Ms (The green and red Christmas candies), then just stick some artificial flower in the candy! If you do not want the unwrapped candy sitting around because they will be gone before Christmas, you can also use Hershey Kisses that are wrapped in holiday colors. I do this for the fall also but with candy corn in some, acorns and small pine cones. I even have a contest and have people guess how many candy corn or M&Ms are in the vase and give a prize!
I like to place my extra Christmas tree ornaments as decorations on a table. I fill empty large bowl with the decorative ornament balls. It really adds to a table or even a tall one to place right by the fireplace. I love the holidays!
I have been looking on PINTEREST for months now and have a ton on ideas! One of my favorite is to spray paint pine cones in bright colors (pink, green, blue, yellow) and display in a tall glass jar. It looks so cool. Maybe I will really get around to doing thins!!