Holiday Decorations on a Budget?

With the festive holiday season already here and Christmas just right around the corner I thought I'd share some home decoration ideas with everyone. Now, I am definitely not the most talented in that area nor am I the "artsy" type, but when I have a budget I need to stick to and still want a good living space I invest in key pieces and DIY the rest! Same goes for holiday gifts! If it's worth the money and will last for a long time there's nothing wrong with spending a few extra bucks for it, but if you have the time DIYs are the best way to go. Have cool home decoration ideas for the holidays? Feel free to post them down below in the comments section. Sharing is caring ;).

The Tree.  I was excited for Christmas this year because 1) Andy and I live on our own and 2) It's our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. Vang. Right after Halloween, I told Andy that I wanted to purchase a Christmas tree for our house. It's going to be a tree that we can use year after year even when we have kids. Obviously, it's not a real tree because for some reason I just can't deal with the pine wood smell. Plus, we would have to toss it out right after the holidays and it would just be a waste. Anyways, it was 8pm on a Monday night and we stopped by Walmart to look for "the" tree.  We ended up going with the one below - standing just at 6.5 feet tall. I didn't want to spend loads of money on ornaments so I only got 2 boxes of gold and silver ones and a star for the tree topper. I already had lights from our wedding so I wasn't going to purchase more. Initially I only wanted gold and silver, but I eventually added a little bit of red in there as well. It doesn't matter how expensive your ornaments are, it's about the style and your creativity. The tree itself was only $40 and ornaments were a total of $20. The tree topper was $9. Then I bought a roll of 9 ft. shimmery white ribbon and wrapped it around the whole tree. The ribbon was only $2 because it was 50% off at Hobby Lobby. I went back to Walmart and found a pack of 24 red glitter snowflakes for $8. The last thing I did was cut paper snowflakes and used them as ornaments. I kept seeing beautiful trees with crystal snowflakes/ornaments on Pinterest and wanted a similar look without breaking the bank so I decided to DIY the snowflakes. All I did was cut them out and placed them on the tree. It was super easy and FREE since I already had white printing paper. That meant that I only really spent $79 on the whole tree! I also bought 2 boxes of candy canes, but those are optional. They were only $1 each.

The Decorations. Since Andy and I live on our own now we feel that we should invest in making it more "homey" and cozy. I don't know about you, but I can't do anything with a messy house. Of course, everyone's taste is different but these are just ideas for those who are interested. Andy and I disagree on a lot of things when it comes to decorating and organizing the house - he can attest to that and tell you I like things a certain way, but I like to call it cleanliness or having a sense of organization.

The first thing I did after putting our tree up was stopped at Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's to look for Christmas decorations. I wanted to DIY a wreath for our front door, but didn't want to spend hours on it, so I opted for a finished wreath with a few ornaments and gold leaves. Then I just added some color by purchasing two sets of mistletoes and holly then gluing them on. Ta-da! The finished product! It was an easy, quick, and inexpensive idea for decorating your home. The wreath was $15 at JoAnn's.

I also found cute centerpieces for both the coffee table in the upstairs living room and the basement. I bought wooden Christmas tree figures, a white lantern, and added the leftover holly to the centerpieces. It was still looking a little plain so I pulled out the leftover burlap table runners from our wedding and cut the ends to fit our dinning room table. I frayed the ends of the table runner so that it had that rustic feel to it. Then I stopped at Target and bought the metallic PEACE wood sign. I ended up spending around $100 for all the decoration pieces including the wreath.

Hopefully, this gave you ideas for when you're decorating your home and you're on a budget for the holidays. If I had more time I could have thrifted most of these items. Sometimes you can find really good items at thrift shops like Goodwill, Bethesda, and the Salvation Army. When I was planning my wedding I stopped by these places before ordering things online. I was able to find items like mason jars, vases, and candleholders for cheap which saved me a lot of money. JoAnns always have coupons or you can sign up for their weekly emails and you will get coupons you can print before going in. Same goes for Hobby Lobby and Target. With the holiday season already here, many of these stores will have discounts on "holiday" items and decorations. Anyways, I hope you guys are having a wonderful day. Enjoy the holidays and Happy New Year! God bless!