How to decorate your house for Christmas on the cheap using coat hangers and paper plates
IF you’ve got some extra time on your hands this year, or need to watch the pennies, there’s never been a better time to make your own Christmas decorations.
Savvy mums have been sharing their money-saving hacks online, making incredible festive décor out of old paper plates, sticks and even coat-hangers.
It’s the perfect activity to do with the kids, or fill an evening while watching a festive movie with a glass of mulled wine.
It’s no secret that a simple wreath just won’t cut it this year, as the trend for elaborate and ornate front doors has taken off.
Celebs like Michelle Keegan and Stacey Solomon have been proudly sharing snaps of their festive facades, but if you don’t have professional help – or the budget – you can recreate a similar look with chicken wire.
One woman decided to revamp her house using the DIY staple, which she simply wrapped around her drainpipe.
She then grabbed some old decorations and branches which had fallen off Christmas tree and popped them in the holes – creating an incredible showstopper for just £15.
Revealing how she did it, she wrote on Facebook group : “Absolutely over the moon with my porch. Absolute labour of love took hours to do!
“Put chicken wire up for frame work I just put tie wraps on gutter and wrapped round pillar and folded in chicken wire, all unwanted Christmas trees saved from going in landfill, all decorations from #homebargains costing £15.”
If you didn’t fancy standing out in the cold to give your home a festive makeover, or your favourite movie is on, you can create an incredible stained-glass window effect from your sofa.
One mum simply grabbed some coloured paper – so raid your kids’ art supplies – and stuck it in her windows.
She cut up different shapes and used black tape to create a professional looking design, with the whole thing costing her a tenner.
Sharing her idea to , she wrote: “I’m not the artist sort of girl but I wanted a different Christmas window this year so I decided to do a stain glass window… cost me under £10 (already had the lights)
“Not gonna lie… this took up most of my weekend but it was worth it.”
But if you are the creative type, you can go one step further and copy another mum’s window design.
After being quoted £80 to have a professional paint her windows, she grabbed her son’s art supplies and did it herself for just a few quid.
Sharing snaps of her Christmas tree, Grinch and presents on the same group, she said: “Got quoted £40-£80 to have my widows painted (which obviously would of been better because I haven’t drew properly since school ) but with my son’s paint brush and some paints from the pound shop I done this for my son and it cost me about £6!
“Hopefully this gives someone some inspo to do the same.”
If you don’t have any art supplies to hand, one thing you’re sure to have lying around is some coat hangers.
Put them to good use by turning them into giant stars.
One mum wrapped fairy lights around her creation which she then hung outside, writing online: “So I attempted the coat hanger star.
“I did the 2 layers on 1 then 1 layer on the other one.”
Another way to make giant decorations is to use paper plates as baubles – and you can paint them to match your colour scheme.
One woman grabbed a load of leftover plates, gave them a lick of paint and some glitter, then stuck them on the wall with ribbon from the ceiling, making them look like super-sized baubles in her workplace.
She said: “To brighten the halls of work for Christmas, I made ‘bauble’ decorations for all of the walls.
“(This is just a very small walk way, the decorations spread throughout the whole area I work in).
“White paper plates – Woolworths. Kmart – paints, glitters, sparkles, card, double sided tape, ribbons, everything used to decorate.”
Another woman also created baubles from a household item – plastic balls.
She grabbed a load of multi-coloured balls for a ball-pit, and stuck them on her tree.
Writing in , she said: “When outside baubles are simply too expensive make ur own.
“Glue gun + ball pit balls + string + snow spray. = Xmas baubles 4 our outside Xmas tree.
“Balls were £6 for 100, should survive even the toughest weather and do the job perfectly fine.”
One woman fancied some festive reindeer ornaments this year, but didn’t want to fork out for a pre-made version.
So she grabbed some sticks from her walks, and some logs from B&M, to make Ralph and Roxy – her DIY deer.
She explained how she made them, writing: “Meet Ralph… when the log reindeer’s are too expensive make your own.
“Bag of logs from home bargains. £2.99 other twigs and chunky sticks collected from the woods along with conkers.
“Everything else I had… used a glue gun to put him all together.”
Another festive fan also headed to the shops for some supplies, snapping up a red fleece blanket for her front door.
She created a giant Father Christmas, complete with a beard, after shunning expensive door bows.
Writing on , she said: “I couldn’t justify spending £30+ for a bow. I made this and total spend was £2.99 for the red fleece blanket.
“For his beard I used the stuffing of a cushion. I had some card for his belt. I glued the fabric onto some scrap wallpaper just for a bit more stability.
“His hat was glued onto cardboard. There is no restriction access to the letterbox or opening/closing the door.
“I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but the kids love it.”
Meanwhile this savvy woman reveals how to get Quality Streets for half the price from Tesco.
And this mum creates incredible ‘invisible’ Christmas tree using FISHING LINE & people are in love with it.
Plus this mum transforms son’s dinosaur toys with gold paint & they make great budget Christmas decorations.