Get Ready for Christmas With These Easy DIY Decoration Ideas

Read on for DIY decoration ideas, a recipe for salt dough ornaments and how to make dried orange slices to get your home looking and smelling like Christmas.

Olivia Higgs

Dec 7

3 mins

Dec 7

3 mins

Tis the season to deck the halls! If you're looking to get your teeth stuck into a fun creative project (and one you can also get the kids involved with) have a glance down at some of the inspiration we have rounded up for you. These food-themed DIY decorations will bring some festive charm to your home without breaking the bank.

DIY Garlands

Not only do they look nice but garlands are a great way of bringing the scents of Christmas into your home. When in the garden or out in the woods, take a pair of scissors with you and grab a few clippings of green foliage, leaves with deep ruby hues, and branches filled with brightly colored berries. You can also dry your own fruits like oranges and limes for a delicious, zesty aroma, or bake and decorate gingerbread cookies for threading.

Gingerbread men tied together with ribbon and hung across a wooden cabinet as a garland — Gingerbread Garland, Photo Credit: donnahay.com.au

‎For more things gingerbread related, have a read of our article filled with inspiration for building your own gingerbread house complete with a recipe to get baking at home.

Christmas garland made of dried oranges and winter foliage, draped across the mantelpiece, secured with ribbon — Dried Oranges Garland, Photo Credit: caligirlinasouthernworld.com

Method for dried oranges:

Slice your oranges thinly and arrange them on a baking tray. Bake at a low temperature (250F/120C fan) for 45 minutes to 1 hour, making sure to turn them over halfway through. They should be completely dry and then you can leave them to cool.

Three garlands laid out on a wooden table, made from basil leaves and eucalyptus leaves — Eucalyptus Leaves, Photo Credit: etsy

Christmas Tree Ornaments

Handmade ornaments are a great way to bring a personal touch to your Christmas tree.

Cinnamon sticks - you can bundle a few and tie them with twine or ribbon or have a go at some geometric creations (see image below).
Fill clear glass baubles with woody herbs like thyme, rosemary, and sage, or with dried flowers.
Pierce a small hole into dried oranges and thread ribbon through for a natural hanging ornament.
Glue nuts and spices to a styrofoam ball.
Salt dough ornaments are very easy to make (see recipe below) and you can decorate them with icing or imprint patterns onto them.

Recipe for salt dough:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Gradually add the water to form a dough - you want the texture to be like Play-Doh. Form into a ball and knead for 10 minutes. Whilst kneading feel free to add more flour or water depending on if the dough is too sticky or too dry. It'll then be ready to shape how you like. Use cookie cutters of your choice and bake at 250F/120C until dry and hard (approx 2 hours).

Star ornament made from salt dough, tied to a Christmas tree with white ribbon — Salt Dough Star Ornament, Photo Credit: julieblanner.com

Geometric diamond-shaped ornament made from cinnamon sticks, secured with thread and topped with wooden beads — Cinnamon Ornament

Transparent baubles filled with dried flowers and decorated with blush pink and brown ribbons — Clear Baubles, Photo Credit: afloral.com

Several baubles hanging made from acorns and pinecones — Acorn Baubles, Photo Credit: EVANNOVOSTRO

DIY Advent Calendars

The benefit of homemade advent calendars is you can fill them with your favorite homemade treats - chocolate bark, spiced biscuits, marzipan snowmen, or hard candy. Find more inspiration for homemade Christmas treats here.

Paper bags, numbered to represent the days of advent and decorated with pinecones, rosemary and cinnamon. Each bag has a clothes peg for hanging up — Advent Calendar Bags, Photo Credit: thesefourwallsblog.com

Advent calendar made up of mini gift boxes wrapped and numbered. They're hanging from a bundle of sticks, attached with string — Advent Calendar Gift Boxes, Photo Credit: maggieholmesdesign.com

Mini houses made from cardboard and numbered — Advent Calendar Homes, Photo Credit: etsy @headintclouds

DIY Christmas Wreaths

Christmas wreaths make a welcoming addition to a festive front door. You can either buy a wreath ring for cheap or make your own using sticks from your garden that you can easily bend into a ring shape and fix with string. Once you have your base ring, you can start to weave in your decorations and use wiring to secure them to the ring.

So, what to decorate with? A good place to start is with a bed of green foliage - spruce, noble fir, eucalyptus leaves, or holly leaves, all work well. Then you can start adding your smaller bits of decor on top, such as dried oranges, dried chilies, limes, pinecones, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cranberries, and nuts.

Wreath made from foliage and dried oranges, hanging on a wooden chair — Dried Oranges Wreath, Photo credit: romantichomes.com

Wreath made out of bay leaves, with a thick ribbon for hangingg — Bay Leaf Wreath, Photo credit: elledecor.com

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Christmas wreath made out of rosemary — Rosemary Wreath, Photo credit: elledecor.com