Full Confession, this post has been written for a few weeks and I am just now posting it. Why you ask? Honestly, I needed to take a few pictures and I just didn’t get them done. So, please enjoy this post even though the timeline is a little off. I do hope you find these tips useful.

I am taking a break from my book recommendations to talk about winter and holidays. We are at that time of year. We had our first snow of the season last week and even broke records for the amount of snowfall on such an early date. It is pretty, but I am not quite ready for all of the cold!

However, when you have a snow day and school is cancelled due to several inches of snow on the ground, it really gets you in the holiday spirit. Since school cancelled my daughter and I really propelled into the holiday spirit. Makenna asked us to decorate for Christmas a few times that day, Christmas music filled the air and we enjoyed some coffee together this morning taking in the pretty snow. Full disclosure, I couldn’t take it and started decorating about a week later. I have never decorated before Thanksgiving before, but I am not hosting Thanksgiving dinner and I just was too excited not to start!

I love Christmas and look forward to decorating my home every year. It is so cozy and warm feeling with all of the lights. It is fun to have special decorations I only see once a year. Last year was our first Christmas in our new house and, at the time, the Christmas decorations were the only decorations I had up, so our house looked super bare when I took everything down. Christmas is an enjoyable time for me and I really am excited for it to come!

I have always been fairly “crafty” and enjoy repurposing items, but I have not used those creative juices lately. I have always liked to take something and restore it or use it in a different way. I always look at clearance items and see if I can make something out of it. It takes me a little bit to get the mind flowing and come up with some new decorating ideas, but once I start I am ready to roll.

Today I wanted to write about ways you can prepare your home for the holidays without having to spend a lot of money. It is amazing how a few sprigs of greenery and some lights can transform a room. You can make really cool things out of finds from the Dollar Store and really have fun with it all! So let’s dive in!

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One thing I was super excited about was a few lanterns I found at Aldi on clearance. I think they were marked down because they considered them a Fall item, but the were black, so I snatched four of them up! They were only $2.50 each and then I picked up a few winter flower picks from the Dollar Tree and made a pretty cute addition to my decor. Here is a pic of one of them. I decided not to glue anything on because I wanted to be able to use the lanterns other ways. (I will have a grad party to plan next year… I mean, Makenna is only a junior, but time flies and you need to be prepared!)  🙂

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I recently watched a story on Instagram and the girl talked about some fun decorating ideas she found at Wal-Mart. I am not typically a Wal-Mart shopper, but I loved the ideas and have found some pretty inexpensive goodies there too. I bought this wreath for my front door and added a few picks and wala, an adorable wreath ready for Christmas! I didn’t add anything for Fall, but I will next year. I love how you can just move around a few picks and you have a new look! Plus, it was a good price! I also found some really nice flower picks in Wal-Mart too.

Some of the picks were $.97 and some were $5, you cannot beat that price! I have always wondered why craft stores charge so much for theirs. Some of them may be more elaborate, but in the scope of things, who really can tell? You just have to be careful what you choose and look for items that look nice. Make sure to avoid too much plastic and look for the most authentic you can find. 

Another thing you can do is use a scarf for a tree skirt. I saw a display of this and thought it was a great idea. You can find some pretty inexpensive blanket scarves at places and you have a great addition to your tree. Especially those of us who have several trees in our home. 🙂

Often I take something from the Dollar Tree and transform it to use in a different way. For example, I haven’t done anything yet, but I found these signs with metal words that say “Jingle all the Way”. I am going to pop the saying off and either paint the background to fit my style, or add it to something else. The more you think out of the box, the more you find some neat things to make. They look like they cost a lot and, in actuality, they didn’t cost much at all!! 

As I come up with more ideas, I will let you know. What are your favorite inexpensive decorating tips? I would love to know, comment below! 

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