How to Decorate Your Christmas Tree on a Budget - DIY Tips

If you are anything like I was when I bought my first house, you worry how you will accumulate all of the things necessary to live on your own. When the holidays creep up on you, and you aren't prepared, some people may panic. No need to get upset, just get creative.

My mother bought me a 7 foot fiber optic tree for Christmas when I got my first house. It was beautiful, and I didn't have to worry about lights, but I had never decorated for the holidays before owing to the fact that I lived in a tiny apartment. I did not own any decorations, let alone tree ornaments. I had an extra 75 dollars, so I went to the mall, thinking I would be able to get enough to make the tree look somewhat decent. Needless to say, I was unpleasantly surprised to find out how expensive these items were. The cheapest topper I could find was 30 dollars, and even the low end ornaments were going for 3 to 5 dollars a piece. I felt defeated, and as I was getting ready to leave empty handed, when I walked by a pre-decorated tree in the front of the store. It had some artificial pine cones on it as part of its decorative theme. This gave me an idea.

I quickly turned around and went to the home improvement section of the store. I picked out spray paint in two of my favorite colors costing me 7 dollars. I then continued on to the arts and crafts section to find an opaque white colored glitter which cost me another 3 dollars. I bought the 30 dollar topper and left the store with 35 dollars to spare.

As soon as I got home, I walked around my yard (which happens to be less that three-quarters of an acre), and picked up every interesting natural artifact I could find. I picked up pine cones, gum balls (from gum trees), brown dried out pine needles, and some small twigs. Proceeding inside, I looked for anything I could find that could potentially be an ornament. I created icicles from some plastic shish-ka-bob skewers, I balled up aluminum foil and wrapped it in some old white T-shirt material to make Christmas balls, and I got some old ribbon from birthdays past make bows with the curly cues.

Using the spray paint, I took all of these items outside and colored them. Before the paint dried, I sprinkled on the glitter, and left it all to dry for 2 days. I then set up my tree and placed all of my home-made ornaments on it. Then I plugged it in, and called my 6 year old daughter down to see my creation. She was awestruck. We now had a tree with all of the trimmings, and she was able to celebrate Santa's visit knowing that her tree was beautiful.