Christmas is a magical time for the family with food, presents and decorations making an enchanting atmosphere for little kids and big ones alike. It can also be a time of hidden stress, with exorbitant costs and the pressure of keeping kids entertained while on holidays. Thankfully there is a cheap way to bring Christmas cheer and keep youngsters from climbing up the walls at the same time.
Here are some ideas for creating Christmas decorations from recycled materials. Spend quality time with your children and create fun decorations for the home without breaking the bank!
Plastic Bottle Snowmen
Here is an easy and fun craft for kid. Simply take some used plastic bottles, (preferably opaque, but clear bottles can also be used and stuffed with cotton wool or shredded white paper), use a permanent marker pen or some glue and buttons to create a friendly snowman face. Cut a scarf from some leftover material and presto! You’ve got one very charming Christmas decoration! Rinse and repeat!
Christmas Card Decorations
The previous year’s Christmas cards can provide the perfect source of materials to create attractive festive adornments. With the help of a pair of scissors, a stapler and some string, you can make a variety of decorations, from pom-poms to garlands. Just be sure to collect all this year’s Christmas cards and put them somewhere safe for use next year. Having to buy new cards to make your ornaments kind of defeats the purpose.
Lightbulb Christmas Tree Ornaments
Save all your burnt out lightbulbs from throughout the year and transform them into sparkling Christmas tree ornaments. Use glue to stick glitter or shredded tin foil to the bulbs and then hang them from your tree using some string or ribbon. You can use a variety of different materials to keep things interesting and save yourself a pretty penny to boot!
Cork Reindeer
Save all of your wine bottle corks throughout the year and create these adorable cork reindeer! Simply take two corks to use for the head and body and use twigs from the back garden as the antlers, tail, legs and neck! Genius!
Tin Can Lanterns
Take used soup or vegetable tin cans and strip off the labels. Using a screwdriver, carefully punch holes in the side of the cans in your desired shape. Place a candle inside and light in the dark hours. An easy alternative to expensive Christmas lights!
Paper Snowflakes
Everybody remembers making these as a kid! The variety of different shapes you can create is endless and only limited by your imagination. Simply get hold of some unused white computer paper and cut into squares. You can then experiment with different shapes by folding and cutting appropriately. Check out a few of the numerous tutorial videos on YouTube to get a better idea of how it is done!
Our guest contributor is Aurore Balmay, a staff writer for the popular second-hand bargains website https://www.used.forsale/
