Decorating for the holidays can be really expensive… but it doesn’t have to be!  When you can think creatively about how to use what is around you, and how to find beauty or fun in the simplest of items, you can decorate very inexpensively!  And, I promise: you don’t need to be Martha Stewart to do it!

Here are a few ideas… but be sure to check out what Stapler Confessions and I did over at her house, where “getting organized” + “smart shopping” + “using what’s right in front of you” = “Awesome and Inexpensive Decor”!

• Use candles (don’t forget to blow them out!)

• Music sets the mood – get a playlist for the season, or turn on the digital music channel on your TV.

• Have a fake tree but want a real evergreen smell?  Go to your local Christmas tree vendor and ask if you can have some of their discarded branches.  Trim for your own use at home… even working some branches into your artificial tree.

• Decorate paintings or frames already hanging in your home by wrapping them up to look like presents:

• Wrap your throw pillows with bows, to look like presents, too.

• Hang snowflakes that your kids cut out for you.

• Decorate your white doors (outside, inside or fridge!) to look like a snowman:

Photo from http://thecreativestamperspot.blogspot.com

• Hang stockings before Christmas Eve, and put small items sticking out of them.

• Tie bows on banisters and doorknobs throughout the house.

• Invest in a timer (indoor or outdoor) to make sure you’re efficiently managing how long your lights stay on.

• Use holly and evergreen cuttings in vases from your own property or from a neighbors (be sure to ask them first!)

• Use the beautiful and personal holiday cards you receive all season as decor (Check out what Stapler Confessions and I created together!).