Cheap Christmas Decorating for Apartments

Decorating an apartment for Christmas can be a challenge. There's not a lot of space, and you don't want to buy expensive decorations that you may not be able to use in your next home. Don't despair, there are a lot of cheap decorating ideas for your apartment that are fun and sophisticated! These are my top five ideas for cheap apartment decorations that have won me compliments over and over again.

Wrap doors, pictures, and cabinets with wrapping paper. Wrapping paper can make great cheap, easy decorations for any apartment. Just use the paper to wrap pictures, cabinets, or doors as you would any gift. Stick a bow on it, and you've got festive décor at a very low price. If you want to get really inventive, you can even cut name tags out of old cards or paper for the final touch. Use bright, patterned paper, or use foil papers in gold, blue, red, or silver with matching bows for a more sophisticated look.

Use glass jars with small holiday ball ornaments to brighten any table. Dollar stores and many home centers such as Lowe's and Home depot, carry very inexpensive glass ball ornaments. Grab a vase or glass jar from your closet, or find one at your local second hand store, and fill it with these ornaments. You can mix sizes and colors to create different effects. Tie a ribbon around the top or middle of each jar or vase. Place the jars on tables, bookshelves, or wherever you need a touch of sparkle and color. This is a sophisticated decoration that you can make at home cheap!

Forget the tree, use a bough! Christmas trees can be expensive, and often don't fit well into apartments. This year, eschew the tree and pretty up your apartment on the cheap with boughing. Many nurseries and home centers carry pine boughs for $5-10 for 25 feet. Use releasable plastic fasteners or small nails to hold the boughs near the top of your walls, then decorate with your holiday ornaments. If you don't have holiday ornaments, just buy some red, gold, and silver ribbon and make some bows. Boughing looks elegant, and adds a wonderful smell to the whole apartment.

Use washable window markers and washable flocking on Windows & mirrors. Use washable window markers to decorate your windows with a holiday theme, then use washable window flocking to add snow, fuzzy scarves, or fur to Santa's coat! You can even use this on your idea to decorate your bathroom or bedroom mirrors, using the markers to make a wreath border and the flocking to add some snow detail. This is a cheap apartment decoration you can have the kids help with.

Candles from the dollar store on a mirror will add sparkle to your season. Dollar stores usually have candles cheap. Choose Christmas colors colors, or colors to match your décor, and buy a variety of sizes. Grab a cheap mirror from the dollar store's home isle, and use it as a platter for your candles. Arrange the candles in a cluster, with taller candles in the center, and don't be too organized about it. To dress it up, you can tie ribbons around the bottom of the candles (don't let the candles burn down to the ribbon). You can put oranges studded with cloves, pomegranates, or cinnamon sticks on the platter, too, for a distinctive, festive look.

Resources:

Crayola Washable Window Mega Markers.