Cheap Outdoor Christmas Decorations for Your Yard

Decorating your yard for Christmas can get very expensive. The good news is it doesn't take much time or effort to save money on your outdoor Christmas decorating. There are many cheap Christmas decorations that you can use in your yard. These Christmas decorations are also good for the environment, but nobody will know that when they see the gorgeous Christmas display in your yard.

LED Christmas Lights

LED Christmas lights typically cost more upfront than traditional incandescent Christmas lights. However, LED lights can also save you a small fortune on your electric bill. They also last longer than ordinary Christmas lights. They are also cooler, which makes them safer than incandescent Christmas lights, which can cause fires. LED Christmas lights come in as wide a range of sizes, colors and shapes as regular Christmas lights. You can even trade in your old incandescent Christmas lights at hardware stores such as Home Depot to receive a discount on LED Christmas lights. You can also use LED Christmas rope lights to create your own homemade Christmas light sculptures. For safety, use only Christmas light strands rated for outdoor use. Inspect the light strands carefully before installation to ensure there are no exposed wires or loose bulbs. Whether you use LED or standard, make sure that your Christmas lights don't come in contact with water or snow.

Outdoor Christmas Trees

If you have an existing evergreen tree in your yard, such as a pine, spruce, cedar or fir tree, you can decorate it to create a cheap and easy outdoor Christmas tree. If you don't already have an evergreen tree outside, consider planting one a few months ahead of Christmas or purchase a cheap potted tree to decorate. Just trim it with some outdoor string lights and some extra garlands and shatterproof Christmas ornaments that won't fit on your indoor tree. If you don't have any spare ornaments, you can pick up some cheap new or used Christmas ornaments from your local thrift store, craft store or on Craigslist or eBay. You can also make cheap homemade Christmas ornaments from materials such as chenille stems, beads, wood, craft sticks, ribbons, pine cones and Sculpey polymer clay. Check out a crafting website such as FamilyFun.com or Kaboose.com for homemade Christmas ornament ideas and instructions.

If you don't have an evergreen tree in your yard and don't want to buy one, you can decorate the deciduous trees in your yard. Wrap the trunk and branches of the trees with Christmas lights. You can also put lights on the bushes in front of your home.

Another idea is to make small lighted Christmas trees to decorate your yard. Use a wooden pole, battery powered LED rope lights, a circular wreath form and two straight double rail wreath forms. Cross the two straight wreath forms inside the circular form and secure them with cable ties. Screw a large eyelet screw into the top of each pole, then attach the bottom of the pole to the place where the two straight wreath forms cross. Attach the rope light strand to the eyelet with a cable tie. Run the rope light down to the wreath form and secure it with a cable tie. Then run the rope light strand back up to the eyelet screw on top of the pole, doubling it back up on itself. Attach the rope light to the eyelet again with a cable tie. Run it back down to the wreath form and secure it a few inches away from where the other part of the rope light is attached, then double it back up to the eyelet and attach it with another cable tie. Continue running the rope light strand up and down from the wreath form to the eyelet until the decoration looks like a conical Christmas tree.

For more ideas, read Cardboard Candy Cane Christmas Ornament Craft Project and Sculpey Gingerbread Man Christmas Ornament Project.

Sources:

"LED vs. regular Christmas lights a question of save now or save later." TCPalm.com
"The Home Depot to Expand Its Recycling Efforts With Christmas Light and Power Drill Exchange." HomeDepot.com