Embellish your Home for the Holidays

A few fun & festive DIY ideas to spruce up that holiday home décor.

With the advent of winter, comes a lot of fun, fervour, and a whole lot of holiday preparation. One of the most daunting tasks is deciding how to put up that home décor. Now the year 2020 has been a master at tasking us, with the endless days spent at home and the endless nights of holiday reminiscing, we have earned ourselves the right to bid the best adieu to 2020! The self-isolation and the lockdowns had most of us savvying the creative side we never thought existed, whether we found that MasterChef in us, that Master Wine Maker or the Visual Content Creator, it is safe to say that we are now well-equipped to take on any mission, life throws at us.

Speaking of missions, what would you think about using that newfound creative side and the time we now have to create the best holiday décor? I’m talking about

prepping and creating everything from scratch, or well almost! So, let’s begin!

1. EXTRAVAGANT OUTDOORS

The one thing that anyone visiting

you during the holidays will set their

eyes on first is the décor put up

outside the home. Which is why it

is paramount to have your outdoors

setting the tone for the holidays. This

time, however, ensure that the décor

you have outside is enormous and

truly eye-catching. For starters, you

could turn the entire front porch and

make it festive by going green - add

lots of greenery on your front porch

for a fresh and festive greeting with

a mini tree, a beautiful garland, and a

Christmas wreath, all made from the

trees and plants you have at home

or growing out in the wild. Decorate

it with Christmas ornaments and

the colours of Christmas and don’t

forget the lights!

You can also add a huge holiday sign at the entrance to make things interesting. For example create a ‘JOY’ sign made using wood as the base, the ‘J’ and the ‘Y’ using tinsel, and a Christmas wreath as the ‘O’ in joy; you could do signs that say “Let it Snow” or “Merry Christmas”, just about anything you like! Also remember to decorate the rest of the front porch as you please but be very, very extravagant!

2. QUIRK THAT CHRISTMAS TREE

One would normally just go with the green Christmas tree and put up all the Christmas ornaments and decorate it with some lights and tinsel, just the contemporary way of doing it! Now, how about this time we quirk it up a little? What do you think of a Christmas tree entirely made up of balloons? Or a Christmas tree made from disco balls for a disco themed Christmas party. A Christmas tree made out of books for those book lovers or one just made with lights alone. Go all out and let your creativity flow, because this year

Christmas is getting quirky!

3. MAKE YOUR OWN MISTLETOE

The Mistletoe is one of the most important things about Christmas. How else would you get “kissing underneath the mistletoe” then, isn’t it? Well lucky for you, this Christmas décor can be easily made at home. The easiest way is to make a paper-cut mistletoe. First, print and cut out the template of the mistletoe, then trace it onto cardstock or felt. If using a felt, trace it with chalk, cut, layer, and glue the stems together, glue on white pom-poms or cardstock circles for the berries, and add a bow for a festive finish. Hang it up and wait for someone to meet you under the mistletoe! You can make your own DIY mistletoe with just about anything, with silver bells, fairy lights, or a green branch from a tree, just go all kinds of crazy!

4. STACK UP THOSE STOCKINGS

If you want Santa to place those extra goodies, stockings hung over the fireplace or just about anywhere in the living room are an absolute must. Just grab anything you have lying at home and start cutting and stitching. You can use some old scarves or blankets or holiday clothes and turn them into festive stockings that you'll use time and again. If you like knitting or wanted to try that out for a long time, look up some tutorials online and start knitting those chunky knit stockings. You can make stockings that don’t need to be stitched, just use a material of your choosing and glue it up!

5. GARLANDS GALORE!

Tinsel has been part of holiday décor for years; however, this year is all about minimizing tinsel and maximizing everything else. For that festive holiday décor, you can try creating Christmas garlands out of anything and everything you desire, for example a candy cane garland, ever heard of those? Well, start by tying together candy canes in heart or staff shapes and string them onto coloured rope for a truly edible garland.

You can also create garlands with felt leaves using different shades of green and finish by adding some red pom poms as berries. Similarly, to sparkle things up you can create a garland full of lights - basically use a string of lights and ornament them in that Christmassy spirit.

6. ALL NATURAL

With the end of a year and the beginning of another, it would be ideal to end things on a good note while simultaneously setting the right tone for the New Year.

How do you do this? Well, by minimising the use of materials that aren’t eco-conscious and focusing on using things that are all-natural. Use naturally grown materials, for example, making holiday garlands and wreaths from pine tree leaves with apples as ornaments, or a mistletoe made only out of edible berries, citrus rind garlands, coffee filter paper tinsel, and so much more. The idea is to innovate with natural materials easily available at home or in the backyard.

7. SWEET CENTREPIECE

What’s holiday décor without a stand-out centre piece to leave people open-mouthed or awestruck? Even better, make it sweet and purely edible, “drool”! We’re not just talking about a Ginger Bread House, but a Croquembouche Tree, a Strawberry Tree with dusted powdered sugar as snow, a table full of mini chocolate cupcake trees with sprinkles on top, meringue wreaths, candy cane sleighs, chocolate dipped marshmallows and pretzels as edible reindeers, candy garlands and more. Go all kinds of gaga and come up with the yummiest Christmas Centrepiece you can think of!

8. LIGHT IT UP!

One of the simplest things you can make for the holidays is a DIY Christmas lantern. The easiest way to make this would be by using a Mason Jar. Decorate the rim with a

Christmassy ribbon, add some pine cones beneath it, place a tea light candle above, and there you have it! You can also make an all-white mason jar. Start by covering the outer rim of the jar with some white lace, wrap the entire rim with twine, add pinecones by gluing them to the twine and then to the jar, and add some salt to the bottom of the jar to give the feeling of snow, place a battery-operated candle on top of it and voila! You can create your own Christmas lanterns or luminaries or

any bright and bold lighting décor with just about anything.

9. HOLIDAY DRESS UP

The best way to decorate your home and give it that holiday feeling is to add holiday colours to everything. Find ways to

make everything Green, Red, and White. Start by replacing your bed linen with holiday sheets. Change the curtains to reds and greens or just add lights to them. Change your upholstery to match the theme. Use a Christmas-themed rug. Ornament the furniture with Christmas garlands. Replace a plain white candle with red or green or just go with all three. Add a wreath in the kitchen, decorate the

bookshelves and the vases... add the Christmas spirit to every inch of your house.

10. SET UP THE TABLE

What’s Christmas without the traditional Christmas meal and all of the family seated around the table? With the traditional Christmas meal, comes the table set up, and this my friends is the best part about the holidays! To begin with, go with the theme you’ve chosen for your décor. If it’s ‘White Christmas’ go with a sparkling white tablecloth, white napkins, white plates, white everything! The table cloth and the napkins can be cut and stitched yourself, just look for the material you like and get sewing. You could even embroider or hand paint some holiday icons on them, a reindeer, a snowman, or anything of your choosing.

To make things creative, you can fold the napkins, make them into cute Christmas trees and place them on the plates. Use some of those DIY garlands you created as a runner and spruce up the table décor. Tie a batch of festival foliage to the back of each chair. Add glass jars to the center of the table. Start by filling up a large glass vase with water and some cranberries, then add greens picked from your backyard; place them with some candles. Bring out the silverware and that holiday-themed cutlery and you can have yourself a Merry DIY Holiday!