Now that we’ve stashed away the skulls, witches’ hats and scary-looking bats, the countdown to Christmas is at full blast.
While you may already have your staple Christmas decor, make fixing up your spaces for Christmas more meaningful by way of do-it-yourself trimmings. Get the whole family involved and turn it into a fun family project. Your one-of-a-kind holiday embellishments will surely make for interesting conversation pieces, too. These will be perfect when having family and friends over for those Christmas lunches and dinners you might be planning.
We’ve rounded up some easy-to-make decorations using materials that can be found lying around the house. All you need are some glue tack, electrical tape, tie wires, a dash of patience, and a sprinkling of creativity.
Wall-mounted Christmas tree
What you need: Old Christmas garlands or pieces of twigs or a roll of jute string, string lights, a blank wall of your apartment or house
Time needed: ≤ 4 hours
Difficulty level: 4/5
This is perfect especially for those with limited spaces, or if you don’t have the time and energy to move your furniture around to make room for a standing Christmas tree.
Using the Christmas garlands, pieces of twigs, or layers of jute string, do the shape of a Christmas tree on the wall. Finish off by adding the string lights as you would on an actual tree. You can also add lightweight trimmings such as small Christmas balls, stars, pine cones, and even your favorite Polaroids or Instax pics.
Christmas table lamps
What you need: Empty and clean wine bottles and jars, LED fairy lights, gift ribbons
Time needed: ≤ 1 hour
Difficulty level: 1/5
We all have that growing collection of empty glass jars and wine bottles that are taking over the spaces under our sinks and kitchen counters. Here’s a way to finally put them into use.
Tie ribbons around the necks of the wine bottles and jars (make sure you’ve scrubbed the labels off these, of course). You may add dried flowers and twigs for that rustic and homey look. Put the LED fairy lights inside the clean wine bottles and jars. Place these in clusters of three or four, on Christmas trays on your console and coffee tables and light them up.
We love DIY ornaments that are so easy to put together but give off a vibe that’s so dreamy.
Ornament mobile
What you need: A small wooden stick or log about a foot long, jute strings or any colorful strings you have at home, old Christmas tree ornaments
Time needed: ≤ 1 hour
Difficulty level: 3/5
Cut up pieces of strings in various lengths. Tie these securely, evenly spaced apart, to the wooden stick. Fasten a Christmas ornament at the other end of each string. Lastly, tie a top string to the stick so you can hang this on your door or window.
Christmas village
What you need: LEGO sets, small toys, brown paper bags, white marker
Time needed: ≤ 4 hours
Difficulty level: 4/5
We’ve yet to meet someone who isn’t enamored with LEGO. Gather your kids’ sets and other small toys and create various Christmas scenes using these. You may add elements such as LED string lights around the houses, pieces of faux Christmas pine and fake snow (you can use white air dry clay for this).
For your Christmas village’s backdrop, draw houses on the brown paper bags using the white marker. You may even use these as gift bags for those Christmas cookies and other small items.
Upcycled wreath
What you need: Christmas wreath from previous Christmases, your favorite trinkets and small toys, twist ties
Time needed: ≤ 3 hours
Difficulty level: 3/5
You’ve got your Christmas wreath you’ve been using from Christmases past. It feels old now, but you feel guilty about throwing it away.
Breathe new life into your old wreath by replacing the trimmings with trinkets and small toys that you love. You may also add all those Labubu and other bag charms you have accumulated. Use the twist ties to affix these on the wreath, that way you won’t have to glue your cherished collectibles permanently.