Christmas on the Cheap

MERRRYYYYYY CHRISTMAS!

What? Not yet? Oh, OK.

Hrm, well, even though I can't wish you a Merry Christmas yet (dude, calm down, it's not even Thanksgiving yet...sheesh, some people get so ahead of themselves!), I WILL show you a few ways to decorate on a dime. Yep, that's really why I already put up my decorations. That's me...takin' one for the team.

Here's the tree in my living room, which you may remember from a few days ago.

So bright, so sparkly.

Let me preface this by saying that all of the Christmas decorations were new; the tree, stockings and all decor items (like ornaments and scented pine cones).

I snagged the 6-foot tree for $20 at Target. GREAT start. I also bought a multi-pack of classic white lights and decorative LED lights disguised as gold poinsettia-looking flowers (see close-up in the very first picture above). Fundamentals done.

My living room is chocolate brown with robin's egg blue accents, so I knew I wanted to stick with that color scheme. I found a jumbo pack of assorted brown/bronze/cream ornaments for $15 (I like to buy in bulk where I can). It came with 50 ornaments - ten ornaments each of five different styles. Some look like pearls, some are sparkly, some are ridged and shiny. This provided a lot of different visual interest while remaining neutral in the color scheme. Then I bought a smaller pack of blue ornaments to be used on the tree and around the room. I found a great branch with leaves that were very similar to those on the poinsettia lights and used it as the topper.

I found these cute stockings that matched the blue color for $3. The tip here is layering! The silver snowflakes hanging in front of the stockings were $1 for a package (the rest are on the tree). I then cut out little name tags for Cooper and I and hung them in front with blue thread that matched the color of the stockings.
I had also purchased a box of these teeny silver ornaments for $1, but they were really too small to hang one-by-one on the tree, so I made garland out of them with the same blue thread I used for the stocking tags.
Another way to spread Christmas throughout the house is to arrange ornaments in bowls or other decorative containers (like vases or on top of candle sticks). Below is a teak wood bowl I had (snagged at Goodwill last year for a couple of bucks!). In it is my jade plant (purchased at the farmer's market for $2) in my garage-sale Pottery Barn ceramic planter (can you tell I REALLY love bargain-hunting???). However, what makes this seasonal is the cinnamon-scented pine cones and extra ornaments (some big and some small). This arrangement is probably around $5 of materials (not including what I already owned).
Here's another example; I found this crazy-cool antique glass bowl at an antique shop in Wichita last year. I'm always looking for different ways to incorporate because I think it has so much unique character (I'm a sucker for things made out of glass). So I filled it with pine cones and ornaments and wah-la!...Christmas. (Dog not included.)

Here's my mini Christmas tree (it's around 18 inches tall)...I've been using this tree for around 10 years, so this year I moved it to my bedroom. :)

Whew! What a DAY. Cooper and I were POOPED after all of this decorating.
Psst....like Cooper's corduroy jacket? Found it in the dollar section of Tar-jay. He's so handsome.

And that, my friends, is a few ways to decorate with not a lot of money. Now that I've taken one for the team by putting up my decorations early, I now release you to do that same.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! :-D